ICERAS

News from Eritrean Refugees in Sudan indicates an organized campaign by local security personnel to arrest, imprison, and extract money from desperate and impoverished Eritrean refugees.

Evidence is continuing to be received that, since mid-February 2022, police and soldiers have been rounding up Eritrean refugees in Sudan from the street, their workplaces and their homes and taking them to prisons.

The police/soldiers are reported to have been checking the refugees’ residence permits.  If the permit is found to have expired, then refugees are asked to pay a fine of between 200,000 – 400,000 Sudanese pounds. Those who cannot pay the fine continue to be detained. It is not clear whether the fines paid ever reach the official accounts of the state or whether the police corruptly retain these monies for their own purposes. Human rights activists say the Sudanese police regard the Eritreans as a source of income. But, for the impoverished and desperate Eritrean refugee community, the strain of collecting and paying these fines is unbearable. readmore