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| Young Sudanese play dominoes in Cairo. Many can't get jobs or schooling. For some, gangs are a lure. Tara Todras-Whitehill / Special to The Christian Science Monitor |
For Sudanese refugees, a cycle of flight
In Cairo, once thought to be fairly safe, many consider fleeing again – to Israel.
from the August 30, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 4
Abeer Etafa, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR in Cairo, says Sudanese from the south like Dong haven't been considered for third-country resettlement since 2004, when a peace agreement was signed between the south and the central government. Though refugees from Darfur are still theoretically eligible for resettlement, Ms. Etafa says, they generally have to demonstrate some added vulnerability in Cairo – for instance, a need for medical care that's not available in Egypt – before being recommended.
How it began
In 1983, with his village "razed to the ground," Dong headed north to Khartoum, where he chafed at the government-imposed Islamic law, but where his family was relatively safe. Eventually, he got a job with international aid agencies dealing with the flow of refugees from southern Sudan into the central Sudanese town of Babanusa.
Babanusa was a chosen destination for thousands, particularly members of the Dinka tribe, because it was on the rail network. But in 2000, Dong became aware of a human trafficking network, run by Sudanese who identify as ethnically Arab, which targeted children and women coming into town on the train.
He says he was particularly concerned because his eldest son was captured and enslaved for two years in 1990, though he eventually escaped to Khartoum. When his son's owners came to Khartoum looking for him, the family smuggled the boy to Cairo. At the time, resettlement was easier; that son is now living and studying in Melbourne, Australia.
Because of his past experience, he says, he became an informant to aid agencies seeking to expose the problem at Babanusa. Allegations of treason followed from the central government, which alleged he was fabricating the reports, he says. That prompted the whole family to flee to Egypt in 2001.
Though his story could not be independently confirmed before going to press, UN reports from the mid-1990s noted the practice of taking slaves off the train to Babanusa, and a US State Department report in 2002 said the practice continued.
"They say there's peace in the south and the only answer for us is to go home," says Dong. "Well, I made a lot of powerful and wealthy people very angry. Why would I gamble my family's life on the chances they'd forgive me?"
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