Two children drown in Lake Nubia, displaced Sudanese face hardship Northern State

Two children of displaced people stranded in Wadi Halfa in Sudan’s Northern State drowned in Lake Nubia* on Sunday. Intense heat is taking its toll, while extreme poverty is driving increasing cases of malnutrition, especially among children.

Thousands of Sudanese civilians displaced by the war, who fled northwards to Wadi Halfa in the hope of crossing the border in to Egypt, are now stranded at the border, facing long waits for visas, and log vehicle queues at the border crossing.

Two children who took to the waters of Lake Nubia to cool down, drowned on Sunday, callers told Radio Dabanga.

Sources told Radio Dabanga that a number of Egyptian international transport drivers have died due to the high temperature at the border crossings with Sudan. A woman also died of heat stroke in the border town last week.

Malnutrition

Medical sources lament an increase in cases of malnutrition among children in Wadi Halfa in due to the low standard of living among families.

Tens of thousands, including women, children, the elderly, and people with critical medical needs, lack essential provisions, including food, drink, and cash.

Stranded people told Radio Dabanga that thousands have been waiting for more than a month for visas to be issued. They expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision, noting that families will face great difficulties to travel together if their visas are not issued at the same time.

The Egyptian authorities reduced the validity of entry visas to Egypt to one month instead of three. The Egyptian authorities also demand that any Sudanese who have been in Egypt for three months should renew their residency and pay an amount of EGP 1,700 (USD 55 / SDG 33,000).

More than 200,000 Sudanese have crossed the border into Egypt since the war began.

As reported by Radio Dabanga last month, Egypt has deported several Sudanese nationals, and people of other nationalities to Sudan, through the Oseif border crossing in Red Sea state. Sudanese stranded at the Argeen border in Northern State were offered to be relocated to a ‘shelter of their choosing’.

* Lake Nubia is the Sudanese section of what becomes the much larger (83 per cent) Lake Nasser in Egypt, one of the largest man-made lakes in the world, created by the Awan High Dam.