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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 3 of 4
Today, Dong's youngest son is in an Egyptian prison, serving a six-month sentence because of allegations he got into a brawl while a member of a Sudanese street gang called the "Lost Boys," named after the hundreds of Sudanese orphans who made their way on foot out of the country in the 1990s.
The Lost Boys and another Sudanese gang, the Outlaws, emerged here in Cairo about two years ago, after the Egyptian police killed 26 refugees participating in a sit-in strike outside the UNHCR's offices in central Cairo. That incident resulted in a suspension of meetings between the UN and Sudanese community leaders in Cairo. The UNHCR also moved their offices to the Cairo suburb of 6th of October City, which is much more difficult to reach.
Members of both gangs say their focus is on self-defense against Egyptian gangs, though other Sudanese, who asked that their names not be used, say they're mostly involved in brawling over girls and petty crimes, including mugging fellow refugees. Dong says his son wasn't really a member of the gang, but since he lived in the neighborhood they controlled, he was viewed as an enemy by the Outlaws.
He says a member of the Outlaws lied to the police to get his son arrested. At his trial, the boy couldn't face his accuser, who had fled across the border to Israel.
"He's never had a chance at an education, but he's a good boy," Dong says. "The real reason he's in jail is because the Egyptians don't want us here."
From prosperity to prison
Ahmed Khader, a refugee from Darfur, says he's safer in Cairo than he was at home, but still feels at risk. In 2003, he was a reasonably prosperous minibus driver in El-Fasher and owned his own vehicle. But that year, he was accused of supporting Darfur rebels and ended up spending six months in prison. His arms are covered with burn scars that he says are the result of torture during his incarceration. "I was actually a lucky one," he says. "I knew one of the guards from before the war and he got me better treatment."
When he was released from jail in February 2004, he fled to Cairo. Here, he's been attacked on three occasions. The first time, Egyptian men knocked on the door of his one-room apartment. He let them in, and they picked him up and threw him out the window. Fortunately, he lived on the second floor. While he was lying on the sidewalk, they came out and kicked him.
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