‘Enough Refugees’: Coordinated campaign against Sudanese refugees in Egypt

Amani Mabyuo, a 50-year-old Sudanese refugee living in Egypt since 1999, was shopping at a grocery store in Cairo when an Egyptian woman loudly complained that refugees had ruined her country. She then bullied her until she gave up her space at the till.

This type of incident has become relatively common in Egypt over the past years. Fake news and disinformation campaigns regarding migrants further distort the reality of migration. Today, this is also the case in Egypt, which was once tolerant and welcoming of Sudanese refugees.

The war in Sudan

The war broke out in Sudan in April 2023 — between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — and by some, it was called the world’s worst humanitarian disaster, with a death toll of 150,000 and more than 11 million displaced people who were forced to leave their homes. Since the start of the conflict, more than half a million people crossed the border to Egypt, seeking shelter. However, as reported by Amnesty International, many were denied the right to claim asylum, arrested, and deported back to the war-torn country.

These actions are the tip of the iceberg. A report published on 14 May 2023, less than 2 months after the outbreak of the war documented the reactions in detail. In an interview with the Japanese newspaper ‘Asahi’ in early May 2023, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said the following: ‘there are already millions of Sudanese people in Egypt. We do not refer to them as refugees, but as guests, …. Once the situation stabilises, those who fled their countries will return to their homes because Egypt cannot bear this burden.’ In similar remarks, the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, told media personality Ahmed Moussa that Egypt cannot bear this burden (without the help of the European Union). These official statements by the president and foreign minister prompted virtual support groups rallying behind the Egyptian president, along with nationalists opposed to refugees and resistant to the presence of foreigners in Egypt, to launch synchronised social media campaigns. These groups perceived a ‘shift in tone’ or stance towards refugees in the remarks made by Shoukry and Sisi.

These statements fueled the hate speech that surfaced against refugees and Sudanese arriving in Egypt. Both government-supportive and anti-immigrant groups engaged in a campaign against refugee arrival in Egypt.

In the same period, at the beginning of the war, over ten active hashtags emerged across various online groups: #Enough_Refugees, #Enough_Refugees_in_Egypt_We_are_Disgusted, #Expel_Sudanese_from_Egypt, #Not_Welcome_Sudanese_in_Egypt, #Close_the_Borders, #Refugees_are_a_threat_to_Egypt, #Close_the_Commission_and_expel_refugees, #Closing_borders_is_a_popular_demand, #No_to_Canceling_Egyptian_Visa_Requirements and #No_to_Canceling_Egypt_Entry_Visa_Requirement, coinciding with the influx of Sudanese citizens fleeing war in their country. Hashtags such as #Closing_borders_is_a_popular_demand and #Close_the_Borders, which could be found on Facebook from the early period of the conflict, called for closing the borders to Sudanese refugees, canceling their entry visas, and deporting them from Egypt, as well as shutting down the headquarters of the High Commissioner for Refugees.

By analyzing thousands of tweets and active accounts, Beam Reports identified significant evidence suggesting a coordinated effort to perpetuate negative perceptions of refugees in Egypt. The findings reveal how these narratives are crafted and disseminated to influence public opinion, the role of influencers in normalizing these narratives, and the methods used to ensure these messages dominate public discourse.

Hashtags like #Deportation_of_Sudanese_from_Egypt and #Deportation_of_All_Refugees_Is_a_Popular_Demand were posted by many accounts in 2024 when it became apparent that the war might not end soon. Online hate speech has skyrocketed not only on Facebook but also on X #Stop_the_Refugees_Chaos, #Boycott_Refugees_Shops, #Deportation_of_Refugees_is_the_People’s_Demand, and #Deporting_Refugees_Is_National_Duty are among some of the hashtags on X from 2024.

Economic reality

Like many countries worldwide, Egypt is grappling with a cost-of-living crisis driven by inflation and a high level of state debt service, which hinders investment in critical infrastructure and social services. Between 2021 and 2024, Egypt’s total external debt doubled, reaching almost 30 billion USD, according to the National Bank.

Adding to the strain, Egypt hosts 800,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers from 62 nationalities including Sudan, according to the UNHCR, with many more unregistered. Refugee programs in Egypt rely heavily on international aid, such as the UNHCR’s operational budget of $151 million in 2023, yet this funding often falls short of adequately supporting refugees and host communities.

Amnesty International and the Refugees Platform in Egypt have reported widespread arbitrary arrests and unlawful deportations of Sudanese refugees, including those detained while being smuggled across the border. These measures — primarily aimed at curbing migration to Europe — extend to random crackdowns in predominantly Sudanese neighbourhoods. Notably, Egypt’s actions are supported by European Union (EU) funding intended to enhance state surveillance and border control to stem migration flows to Europe.

These overlapping economic, social, and geopolitical pressures have fueled a narrative that scapegoats refugees and migrants for the country’s broader challenges. This narrative is often driven by misinformation, with many people in Egypt claiming that refugees are responsible for driving up rent prices. A common false narrative suggests that landlords evict Egyptians to rent to Sudanese refugees because they pay more, supposedly with financial support from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR). These claims are widely shared online and have become popular everyday misconceptions.

According to the executive director of Refugees Platform in Egypt, Nour Khalil, ‘some Egyptian officials also apply this rhetoric and blame the presence of refugees for the exacerbating economic crisis. They attribute the administrative and economic failures of the Egyptian state to the most vulnerable groups who won’t be able to defend themselves’. Meanwhile, though, an International Organisation for Migration (IOM) 2022 report estimates that 37 percent of these foreigners work in “stable jobs and businesses […] positively contributing to [Egypt’s] labor market and economic growth.”

A November 2024 report by Code for Africa identifies Hala Sarhan, a verified X user with 1.06 million followers, as a key promoter of anti-refugee rhetoric. As a well-known Egyptian media personality, her influence amplifies disinformation, shaping public perception and fueling misinformation.

The account supports the narrative that ‘Sudanese refugees are the main cause of Egypt’s economic crisis’ and attributes problems such as ‘power and water outages’ to them. Additionally, the account promotes theories that ‘refugees are an external force seeking to destroy the Egyptian state.’ The account’s involvement in spreading anti-refugee rhetoric in Egypt has played a significant role in ‘legitimising’ these harmful narratives and reaching a wider audience, exacerbating public fears and fostering resentment toward refugees in Egypt. The report also states that posts and hashtags published by Hala Sarhan dehumanise the refugees and use racist language.

The case of Sudanese refugees in Egypt underscores how disinformation campaigns and economic strain can combine to create a hostile environment for vulnerable populations. By analysing hashtags, social media trends, and influential figures like Hala Sarhan, it becomes evident that targeted rhetoric can be part of a larger, coordinated effort to shape public opinion and policy. This case study highlights the dangers of weaponising misinformation to fuel xenophobia, revealing the need for robust monitoring mechanisms and cross-border cooperation to combat the spread of disinformation and address its harmful impacts.

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This article was co-written by Justice Nwafor, freelance journalist, working with the Pravda Association, and Jakub Śliż. The article was edited by senior editors Eva Vajda and Aleksandra Wrona and iLAB managing editor Janet Heard.