July 10, 2024 (NAIROBI) – A New York based human rights group has expressed concerns over the lack of a clear protection or evacuation strategy for the over 1 million refugees living in Sudan when conflict started in the country in mid-April 2023. Majority of the refugees either fled repression in Eritrea or atrocities in Ethiopia. Concerns have been expressed after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) recently attacked towns across Sennar State, which borders Gedaref State where more than 40,000 refugees from Ethiopia are currently hosted. Also, to the further east of Sudan, Eritreans fleeing repression and indefinite forces conscription at home have continued to arrive in the camps in Kassala state. “If the fighting approaches Gedaref and Kassala, we will not be safe,” an Ethiopian refugee told Laetitia Bader, Human Rights Watch Director for Horn of Africa. According to the US=based human rights body, since conflict erupted in Sudan, Ethiopian refugees, mainly hosted in Gedaref, have been raising very real concerns about their safety and the lack of humanitarian support. Some have independently sought ways to leave the camps, but many thousands remain. Without a clear protection or evacuation strategy, there are concerns that those in the camps could …

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