Saturday 2 July 2011

ERITREA-SUDAN: Refugees battling for a better life

KHARTOUM/KASSALA, 1 July 2011 (IRIN) - The first official Eritrean refugees arrived in Sudan in 1968; today, an estimated 1,600 cross the border every month to seek refuge in Shagarab, a large camp in the east of Sudan.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that northern Sudan has more than 100,000 Eritrean refugees but in 43 years, the profile of the refugees has changed.

"The new arrivals are generally young and well educated; they come from the highlands and have no cultural or ethnic ties with local populations," said Mohamed Ahmed Elaghbash, Sudan's Commissioner for Refugees. "Most of them take Sudan as a transit country. They stay here for some time until they get the opportunity to move northwards. Sometimes, they try to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa in order to reach Europe."
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