Sudan: Ethiopian mother reunites with daughter forced to flee Tigray conflict in refugee camp

An Ethiopian woman working in Sudan was reunited with her daughter, who was forced to flee due to the conflict in the Tigray region, in a refugee camp in Al Fushqa, near the border with Ethiopia, on Monday.

"I was in Khartoum, and my sons were with their grandmother in Hamra. When the war broke out, they fled to the church. There is no safety, and their grandmother is too old to be able to come to Sudan, so they came with their uncle to Sudan. I have three children, and I came to them from Khartoum to receive them," explained Basrat, alongside her daughter.

"When the war started, a shell landed near our house. We ran away from the house and spent two nights in the street, and then went to a church called Jaber. There was also no safety, so we fled with my uncle to Sudan," said her daughter, Alina Isaias.

The Tigray region in northern Ethiopia has been the scene of intense fighting since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation on November 4, after a collapse in relations between the region's ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) party and the central government, and an alleged Tigrayan attack on a national army base in the regional capital.

Between 40,000 and 45,000 Ethiopians have since taken refuge in neighbouring Sudan with families struggling to reunite with their loved ones fleeing the conflict.

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SOT, Basrat, Ethiopian refugee (Arabic): "I was in Khartoum, and my sons were with their grandmother in Hamra. When the war broke out, they fled to the church. There is no safety, and their grandmother is too old to be able to come to Sudan, so they came with their uncle to Sudan. I have three children, and I came to them from Khartoum to receive them."

SOT, Alina Isaias, Basrat's daughter and child refugee (Arabic): "When the war started, a shell landed near our house. We ran away from the house and spent two nights in the street, and then went to a church called Jaber. There was also no safety, so we fled with my uncle to Sudan."

SOT, Barsat, Ethiopian refugee (Arabic):"I am trying to take them (her children) with me to Khartoum because I can work, raise and educate them since the situation there is better than here. I can't find a job here with the war still raging and amid lack of security and shutdown of schools. People can't live in their houses. There are many problems around. Hopefully it gets better soon".

SOT, Alina Isaias, Basrat's daughter and child refugee (Arabic): "I saw a woman hit by something coming from a bomb and it fell, and they tried to go to the hospital. All our neighbours fled to the church and we were running in the streets. Shells were falling down to the border with Hamdayit."

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