Sudan-Israel deal fuels migrants’ fears
Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, is a city segregated along ethnic lines: its outskirts are inhabited by those who have fled from the war zones in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains and other marginalised communities; the central suburbs are home to the more Arabic-speaking elite.
The city is also known as the capital of the “Three Nos” in the Arab world after it hosted an Arab League summit in 1967 with its the famous resolution to boycott relations with Israel: “No peace, no recognition, no negotiation.”
Yet this hard line has not been shared by all of Sudan’s people as those on the outskirts of Khartoum will attest.
Hundreds of their homes – built of mud and wood – are normally destroyed every year when the rains come.
In recent decades, some are being rebuilt using steel and cement thanks to the money being sent home from relatives seeking refuge in Israel after making the perilous journey across the Sinai desert where Egyptian border guards patrol. Some die in their attempt.
But the temporary refuge granted to those who make it to Israel may be threatened by the deal – negotiated by US President Donald Trump’s administration – to normalise relations between Israel and Sudan, something most Arab nations said would happen only after the Palestinian dispute was settled.
After the announcement, Israel’s Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen suggested Sudanese asylum seekers should go back home.
Yet most of them come from places still facing conflict in Sudan.
According to the UN, there are more than 6,000 Sudanese migrants in Israel and the vast majority have not been granted official refugee status.
