In the sandy courtyard of a converted school serving as a shelter in northern Sudan, two children casually toss a football to one another. In their midst, numerous adults wait, caught in limbo between a conflict and a border.
In the border town of Wadi Halfa there are few diversions, a local support group reports that more than 20,000 displaced individuals are stranded in a state of uncertainty, unable to cross the northern border into Egypt and escape the ongoing five-month conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces.
Out of the over five million people who have been compelled to leave their residences due to the conflict, as reported by the United Nations, at least 323,000 have managed to make their way into Egypt.
But not everyone has made it.
“I lost my passport, and I’ve been waiting to have a new one issued since the middle of May,” he told media at a classroom that has been turned into a temporary home for the displaced.
The 36-year-old rests on the ground, with his support provided solely by cushions placed atop a thin mat.
“I sent my family ahead to Cairo. This was back when travelling was easy,” he said.
When the conflict erupted in April, only males under the age of 50 were required to seek visas to gain entry into Egypt, which enabled numerous individuals to escape during the initial weeks of the conflict.
However, in June, Cairo imposed stricter visa regulations that encompassed children, women, and older men. This change has led to a decrease in the refugee influx across the border and has left many individuals stranded in Wadi Halfa.
Delivery of goods delayed
“The most recent figures show that 8,150 people are staying in 53 shelters in Halfa,” as stated by Oday Mohammed, a 23-year-old who serves as the coordinator for the Halfa “Emergency Room,” one of several volunteer organisations offering assistance throughout Sudan.
“There are many more, over 15,000, being hosted by families in local homes or renting accommodation,” he said.
Those marooned in what was primarily a transit town “in need of food, medicine, shelter and health care, as well as the central problem that they need their visas issued and passports renewed,” Mohammed informed media.
Human Rights Watch has asserted that Egypt’s stricter visa regulation, which lacks swift visa processing, “violates international standards by creating unreasonable and life-threatening delays in processing asylum seekers.
Egyptian authorities explained that they strengthened visa procedures to curb “illegal activities by individuals and groups on the Sudanese side of the border, who forged entry visas” for financial gain.
As individuals encounter challenges in leaving the area, the flow of goods into the region is also experiencing delays.
In August, the United Nations refugee agency disclosed that numerous commercial trucks loaded with food and hygiene supplies were stranded at the border, awaiting clearance to enter Sudan, leading to “the delay of essential goods reaching Wadi Halfa” and other regions of Sudan.
A tough choice
Families who hastily collected whatever cash they could and left their residences amid the conflict soon depleted their funds. Subsequently, they have depended on mutual support and any available assistance.
The continuous barrage of gunfire, air strikes, and artillery bombardments that have ravaged Khartoum, located 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) to the south, has not encroached upon the tranquility of Halfa.
But the war is never too far off.
Siham Saleh, a 45-year-old journalist, spends her days nervously refreshing social media feeds on her phone to stay updated with the latest news about the conflict.
“Leaving was an incredibly difficult choice, but for us as journalists, it got too dangerous,” she told media, carefully weighing each word.
Journalists and activists have frequently been singled out as targets by both opposing factions.
Many of them have been compelled to seek refuge elsewhere, and those who remain operate mostly in clandestine conditions, striving to record the atrocities perpetrated amid the clashes involving opposing generals, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
“People are risking their lives. They could be targeted or detained at any point. That’s why you decide to leave, and you hope maybe then you’ll be safe,” Saleh said.
She is among the over 4.2 million people internally displaced within Sudan who, even after finding relative safety, confront additional hurdles.
The conflict has devastated an already vulnerable infrastructure, resulting in the closure of 80 percent of the nation’s hospitals. Global humanitarian organisations reported last month that over six million people are on the verge of famine due to these dire circumstances.
From April 15 onward, the conflict has claimed the lives of nearly 7,500 individuals, based on a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
