Amid dam row, Ethiopian refugees in Egypt protest rising xenophobia

Ethiopian refugees complain of increasingly frequent assaults and harassment amid Egypt's ongoing dispute with Addis Ababa over latter's planned Nile dam project

Hazel Haddon, 

Dozens of Ethiopians protest in front of the 
Egypt UNHCR office on Sunday. (Photo: Al-Ahram Arabic news website)

Protesters, mostly from the Oromo ethnic group, said that embers of their community had faced several violent attacks in Egypt in recent weeks.

The apparent trend comes against the backdrop of mounting tensions between Ethiopia and Egypt over a plan by the former to build a dam on the Blue Nile.

"We have some reports of people being attacked just because of their nationality,"

 protest organiser Jeylan Kassim told Ahram Online.

"We need the UNHCR's protection; and we need the

 UNHCR to raise the awareness of the Egyptian community 

[about our plight]."

Egyptian media has been dominated by speculation regarding

 the new Nile dam project since Ethiopian engineers began partially

 diverting the course of Blue Nile on 28 May to prepare a site for the

 new dam's construction.

Last week, fiery rhetoric reached a climax when a group of leading

 Egyptian politicians, speaking at a meeting with the president, suggested

 sabotage or covert interference in Ethiopian affairs to prevent the dam from

 negatively affecting Egypt’s share of Nile water – without realising the meeting

 was being broadcast live on television.

Ethiopian refugees at Sunday's protest argued that they were suffering the brunt

 of mounting Egypt-Ethiopia tensions.

"Two of my friends were beaten; one was sent to hospital, but they refused to trea

t him," claimed Mulis, an Ethiopian refugee in Egypt since 2011, while speaking to

 Ahram Online.

According to UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative for Egypt Elizabeth Tan, 

a number of Ethiopian refugees in recent weeks have reported being evicted from

 their homes or losing their jobs because of their nationality, along with facing difficulties

 obtaining medical care at Egyptian hospitals.

"The UNHCR is concerned about these allegations and calls on all Egyptians to

 differentiate between the political dispute with the Ethiopian government and their

 treatment of Ethiopian refugees who fled their country seeking asylum in Egypt,"

 commented Tan in a written statement to Ahram Online.

"I was threatened by the owner of the building I live in," Mulis told Ahram Online.

 "He said, 'since you are cutting the river from us, I won't give you shelter'."

"But we're not part of the problem," he added. "We're against the Ethiopian

 government, and against its policies."

Around 2,500 Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers, of different ethnic groups,

 are currently registered with UNHCR Cairo.

english.ahram.org.