Sudan: Information regarding mistreatment of Eritrean refugees in Sudan. Are Eritrean refugees being forcibly returned to Ethiopia?

The Director of the Ethiopian Community Centre in Washington DC reports that ordinary Sudanese, themselves caught in war and economic decline, reportedly resent the refugees in their country. [ As stated by the Director of the Ethiopian Community Centre in Washington DC during a telephone interview with a member of the IRBDC on 19 June 1990.] The reasons he stated were the number of refugees (about 660,000 from Ethiopia) and the assistance they receive from international agencies and UNHCR. [Ibid.] Jobs, reportedly given to some of the more qualified refugees from Ethiopia, have contributed to the resentment allegedly felt by Sudanese nationals. [ Ibid.] Harassment of refugees has been reported many times, stated the Director, where refugees have voiced their concerns regarding the anxiety-filled laborious process for obtaining the mandatory refugee status cards. The recovery of a lost refugee card reportedly causes much hardship including the payment of cash and sexual favours to those involved in the issuance of the cards. [ Ibid.]

The Director suggests that Eritrean refugees would not be identified by the Sudanese for special mistreatment and that he is unaware of the forcible repatriation of any Eritrean refugees to Ethiopia. [ Ibid.] A professor at Howard University in Washington DC corroborates the above information, stating that there are hardships facing all the refugees from Ethiopia. He suggests that Eritrean refugees are not specially targeted. The new fundamentalism of the Sudanese government has been evidenced in the restrictions placed on their women. Attempts are being made to decrease opportunities for women's public appearances, thereby affecting refugee women who eek out a living by selling foodstuffs and other effects on the streets. [ As stated by the Howard University professor in Washington DC during a telephone interview with a member of the IRBDC in May 1990.]

During a telephone interview with the UNHCR on 5 July 1990, the IRBDC was informed that Sudan has always been a difficult country for all refugees, be they Zairians, Ugandans or Ethiopians. The reasons cited were that in Sudan as in many other Third world nations, the economic hardships prevalent in the host countries, the added burden of accommodating great numbers of refugees, political instability, civil strife and armed insurgencies, all contribute to an environment whereby nationals, in their fight against economic or political oppression, take advantage of foreign refugees. Many refugee women have been forced into prostitution.

The UNHCR further stated that Eritrean refugees are not singled out for mistreatment, but share the fate of all refugees in the Sudan. There have been reports that some refugees who had fled to the Sudan during the famine in 1984-85 were prevented from returning to Ethiopia voluntarily by the Sudanese authorities in cooperation with rebel movements.

Corroborating information is currently unavailable to the IRBDC.

Attached please find excerpts from the following documents:

"Soudan: bilan accablant", Liberation, 29 June 1990.

"Under Bashir's Boot", New African, No. 274, London: IC Publication, July 1990, pp. 9-13.