Refugees

The increase in displacements has raised fears of an escalation in violence despite ceasefire talks being held in Saudi Arabia.

Air strikes and ground battles are continuing in the capital Khartoum.

Entire neighbourhoods have become empty as residents flee their homes.

Khartoum had a population of 5.4 million, but the once-peaceful city has been devastated by the conflict that broke out on 15 April between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Reuters reports hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded over 16 days of battles since disputes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into conflict on 15 April.

There seems little prospect of a quick resolution to the crisis, which has unleashed a humanitarian disaster, damaged swathes of Khartoum, risked drawing in regional powers, and reignited conflict in the Darfur region.

President Joe Biden said the US was temporarily suspending operations at its embassy in Khartoum but remained committed to the Sudanese people, reiterating calls for a ceasefire that have so far gone largely unheeded.

"The belligerent parties must implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and respect the will of the people of Sudan," Biden said in a statement.

One of the attackers held a gun to the head of one of the refugees while the other two were armed with bush knives.

The stolen items included mobile phones, laptops and speakers.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said no one was injured in the attack at the Koki Apartments, but the refugees had been further traumatised.

The refugees came from the Australian offshore detention camps in Manus (Papua New Guinea) and Nauru, and were brought to the mainland for medical treatment.

They are being held at the Park Hotel in Carlton, where 22 of them now have Covid-19, with one hospitalised.

The Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul claimed the proper protocols of separating the infected from those without the virus had been ignored by Australian officials.

He said the Australian government has created a Covid incubator in the Park Hotel.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said resettlement arrangements with both countries were only open to refugees, and the family was not legally considered to be refugees.

The family has been detained on Christmas Island since 2019.

They were removed from their home in the regional Queensland town of Biloela in 2018 by Australian Border Force officials after their visas expired.

The Government says it condemns the actions of refugee and asylum seekers parents who put their children at risk by intentionally hurting them, ordering them not to eat or drink, or encouraging them to self-harm, in order to influence legal proceedings or create a medical emergency so that they can be taken to Australia.

“As we have stated many times, this has happened and continues to happen, and those who deny this are misinformed or simply don’t want to admit the truth.”  

Since 2013, about 900 refugees have been exiled to Nauru where the forum's annual leaders meeting concluded yesterday.

Mr Waqa, who earlier denied reports of widespread suffering among the refugees, says the Pacific is not interested in their stories.

NGO groups have been pressuring leaders to get conditions for refugees in Nauru on the agenda.

But Peters says he hasn’t gone to Nauru to talk about that issue.

“What we're not going to do is hijack the whole purpose of a huge part of the world that is a blue conference, so to speak. It is critical that we get our agenda completed as well.”

Peters attended the forum’s official opening ceremony last night.

He’s expected to have his first bilateral meeting with his new Australian counterpart, Marise Payne today.

Nauru, which is home to an Australian immigration detention centre, is hosting this year's leaders' summit, which will get under way on September 1.

Amnesty International has co-signed a joint open letter representing a coalition of 84 NGOs, which addresses Forum leaders and observers about conditions for refugees on Nauru, and also PNG's Manus Island.

Amnesty's Pacific researcher, Roshika Deo, said the system is clearly broken if children on Nauru are considering self-harm.