Abdullah*, a Sudanese English teacher from Khartoum, had never imagined that fleeing one conflict would mean running straight into another.
After escaping his country’s civil war and seeking refuge in Ethiopia, he found himself on the run again after a refugee camp he’d settled in came under attack from bandits and militias fighting Ethiopian government forces.
The 27-year-old was among thousands of Sudanese refugees who fled UN-operated camps in Ethiopia’s Amhara region this year, setting up makeshift encampments in the Awlala forest, a few kilometres farther east of their original shelter. Away from authorities and sources of sustenance, their vulnerability was only exacerbated.
He recalls an evening in the forest’s pitch darkness, sitting with a friend whose silhouette was barely visible, when their conversation was punctured by the crackle of gunfire. “I could hear the screams of women and children,” he said. “Every night we only hoped to survive.”
Three refugees who spent the summer in the Awlala forest have spoken to the Guardian, sharing their ongoing ordeal 19 months after fleeing their home country due to a brutal civil war that is estimated to have claimed between 20,000 and more than 100,000 lives.
Two of the refugees, Abdullah and Mahmoud*, are now residing in a UN-operated transit centre near the Sudanese border, while the third, Karam*, has travelled to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Their experiences provide a glimpse into the uncertain search for safety that millions of Sudanese refugees, within and outside the country, have undertaken with little hope for an end to the fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Abdullah said he left Khartoum for Ethiopia after the war broke out in April 2023, making his way to Gallabat, a checkpoint village on the Sudanese side of the porous shared border. He said he was wrongly detained while in Gallabat and beaten by prison guards. Upon his release he crossed the border into Metema in Ethiopia’s Amhara state.
Three months after his arrival, fighting broke out between the Amhara militia and government forces over a dispute related to the agreement that ended the Tigray war.
In August, a state of emergency was declared in Amhara, and the internet was shut down as fighting intensified between the federal government and local Fano fighters.
Armed men frequently attacked their camps, he recalls, tearing down tents, frightening children, beating people and looting their mobile phones, little cash and other belongings.
Mahmoud, a construction worker originally from Darfur who had been living in Khartoum before the outbreak of fighting, also fled Sudan into Ethiopia. After spending weeks in the Awlala forest, where he suffered direct attacks, he says he lost hope. “I initially thought that someone would come to help us in that situation. But nothing happened. For months, I worried every single day that we might die.
“Some people in our group lost their lives, our belongings have been stolen and we never had anything. Every night was terrifying.”
Over the phone, with resignation in his voice, Abdullah said: “I thought I’d be safe in Ethiopia. Now there is nowhere to turn.”
The UN had deputed a local Ethiopian force to protect the refugee camps, but it failed to do so, the three men said. “When I asked the commander why he wouldn’t stop the attackers, he said he was afraid of possible retaliation by the armed men against his own family,” Abdullah said.
In a statement, the UNHCR – the UN refugee agency – said when the group arrived from Sudan and settled in Amhara, the region was a relatively stable place for them to seek refuge; however, “clashes between government forces and armed groups in the region” undermined overall security.
“This, coupled with the negative impact of a progressively challenging economic environment, has led to increased incidences of criminality in the region impacting all segments of society, including refugees and asylum seekers and humanitarian agencies operating in the region,” the statement said.
The Ethiopian government did not to requests for comment.
In July, the UNHCR and the Ethiopian government’s agency for the protection of refugees said they would set up a more secure camp and “gradually” close down Awlala and Kumer, another refugee site, but Abdullah said many people rejected the offer, fearing the new camp would also come under attack.
Images and videos shared by the three men show families pitching makeshift tents along a main road, while others settled inside Awlala forest, many sleeping outdoors. The attacks on the group continued until they were forced to disperse in early August.
“Some people went back into Sudan, hoping to reach Libya or Egypt and others returned to the [UN] transit centre near the Sudan border,” Abdullah said.
Human Rights Watch said the federal government established the camps in areas known to be dangerous and didn’t take enough mitigating measures. It has urged the Ethiopian government to do more to protect the refugees.
The names of the individuals in this story have been changed to protect their identities.