More than 4 million refugees have fled Sudan since war began, UN says
FILE PHOTO: A Sudanese woman, who fled the conflict in Geneina in Sudan's Darfur region, talks to her relative through a fence next to makeshift shelters, in Adre, Chad August 5, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
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The Star
11 hours ago
- The Star
Roundup: On World Refugee Day, Sudanese still taking perilous routes in search of safety
KHARTOUM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- As the world observes World Refugee Day on Friday, thousands of Sudanese continue to embark on dangerous and uncertain journeys to escape a war that has shattered their country and made safety an increasingly distant prospect. For Ekhlas Abdul-Rahim, a 41-year-old widow and mother of four, the flight from Sudan's conflict has become an exhausting odyssey across borders and continents. After months of hardship, she and her children reached Egypt. "The plan was to stay in Egypt and find work to support my children, but I encountered major difficulties," Abdul-Rahim told Xinhua. Without legal residency or stable employment, they spent days sleeping on the streets before finding shelter with acquaintances. Unable to secure a future in Egypt, Abdul-Rahim decided to press on, setting her sights on Libya. But the journey grew even more perilous. After four months in Libya, she secured passage on an overcrowded rubber boat headed for a Greek island. "That was the biggest risk, the most dangerous part of our escape from Sudan," she said. "I feared for my children in the rough seas." Now living in a refugee camp outside Athens, Abdul-Rahim remains uncertain about what lies ahead. "We don't ask for much - only to live in peace, safety, and dignity, and for my children to grow up in a nurturing environment," she said. Others fleeing Sudan have taken different routes. Abdel-Aal Siddiq traveled east to Ethiopia's Metema region, where he spent more than 18 months in a refugee camp. "It was a painful experience, relying on meager aid. I'll never forget it," Siddiq said. Eventually, as security in Khartoum improved slightly, he returned home, but concerns remain. "Clean drinking water is scarce, electricity is mostly out, and diseases like malaria, fevers, and cholera are widespread. It's still tough, but we persevere," he said. Yahya Abdalla, a Sudanese journalist living in exile in Kampala, Uganda, for nearly two years, described being a refugee as "a fate imposed by war." "Being a refugee is not a choice; it is a destiny forced upon us by conflict and the collapse of livelihoods," Abdalla said. He warned that the world is losing sight of Sudan's crisis. "Sudan's crisis has become a forgotten one," he said, adding that even basic refugee registration often meets obstacles and assistance is minimal. Abdalla has no plans to return. "There is nothing left for us to return to," he said. "Everything was looted -- our homes, our offices. We lost everything." Despite limited improvements in security in parts of Sudan, migration and asylum expert Ahmed Abdel-Halim expects the exodus to continue. "Even before the war, Sudan struggled with poor services and limited livelihoods. Since the war, the suffering has only deepened," he said. "Anyone who finds a chance to migrate won't hesitate. All the conditions for migration are still there." According to the United Nations, one in three Sudanese have been displaced. Of those, 3.8 million have crossed into neighboring countries, primarily Egypt, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and South Sudan. Sudan has been locked in a brutal war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023. The conflict has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee their homes.
The Star
a day ago
- The Star
Meet the 'Python Huntress', who has more than 600 dead pythons under her belt
Siewe is a professional hunter of the invasive Burmese python in Florida. — Photos: Reuters Amy Siewe was a successful real estate agent – but her life changed after she captured her first python in Florida's Everglades in the United States. 'I just had this fascination with snakes. So when I learned that there was a python problem here in Florida... I went on a hunt, I caught a 2.75m python, and that was it. I was hooked!' she said. Within two months she had sold her business in Indiana and moved to Florida to become a python hunter. Now, with more than 600 dead pythons under her belt, she is known as the 'Python Huntress' – one of a handful of women among hundreds of men hunting the invasive Burmese python in Florida's Everglades wetland ecosystem. 'This python is about 3m long,' she says as she wrestles a snake she has just captured in the tall grass in the middle of the night. 'It's probably about three years old, and to date it's eaten about 200 of our native animals, including mammals and birds.' The snakeskins are tanned into leather and dyed, then turned into fashion accessories and other goods. Burmese pythons have been spreading through the Everglades National Park since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 destroyed a breeding facility for the pet trade, freeing some 900 snakes. Originally native to South-East Asia, the python can grow up to 5.5m long and has a voracious appetite, consuming the local wildlife, including mammals, birds and even alligators. The Everglades is a unique subtropical ecosystem, with the largest continuous mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. It is home to a vast array of unique species, including the endangered Florida panther, the American alligator and the American crocodile. But it provides no natural predators to the Burmese python, allowing the population of the invasive species to balloon. Scientists have noted dramatic declines in raccoons, opossums, bobcats, and rabbits in the region. 'There's an estimated 500,000 pythons out there,' Siewe said. Siewe and her boyfriend Dave Roberts measuring a python they caught in Ochopee, Florida. The pythons, which are hunted by night, cannot legally be transported alive, so they are killed on site after being captured and measured. Once home, Siewe skins the dead snakes, and then has the skins professionally tanned into leather to be made into purses, wallets, watch bands and other goods. It takes an average of 12 hours to catch one. 'So it's not that effective, right,' she admits. 'We're always going to have pythons in Florida. What we're trying to do is figure out how to decrease their numbers. Hunting right now is the most effective tool that we have.' – Reuters
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
Indian canteen worker's hopes dashed, no second miracle in air crash
FILE PHOTO: A fire officer stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. - Photo: Reuters AHMEDABAD, (India): Ravi Thakor had been hoping his mother and two-year old daughter had escaped just before an Air India jet crashed into the building they were in. A week after one of the world's worst aviation disasters killed more than 270 people in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, Thakor's hopes were dashed when doctors matched his DNA on Wednesday (June 18) with the remains of his mother Sarla and daughter Aadhya. A canteen worker in a college hostel, Thakor and other family members had left the hostel around 30 minutes before Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft crashed into the building. Sarla had stayed back, cooking and looking after Aadhya, who was asleep. Thakor and his wife Lalita searched for them in hospitals and the morgue after the crash. After not finding them for days, they said they were hoping for a "second miracle", referring to the lone passenger aboard the plane who survived the disaster. On Thursday, the dead bodies were handed over to Thakor's family for the final rites. "We are going to cremate my mother and daughter. It is very difficult for me to say anything right now, but at least we know what happened to them," Thakor said, struggling to speak. At least 211 DNA samples had been matched, and 189 dead bodies handed over to families, Rakesh Joshi, the medical superintendent at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital told reporters on Thursday. The dead included 241 people on board the plane and at least 30 on the ground. - Reuters
