As the small fishing boat is tossed around by a stormy Mediterranean, fear grips the African migrants crammed inside when they realise their flimsy vessel has begun to sink.
As the small fishing boat is tossed around by a stormy Mediterranean, fear grips the African migrants crammed inside when they realise their flimsy vessel has begun to sink.
The scene is all too real for the thousands attempting the treacherous sea voyage to Europe each year in search of a better life.
It has been recreated in Boat of Death, a play performed by Sudanese artists to highlight the perils of the wave of migrant sea crossings. Sudanese actors perform the play ‘Boat of Death’ at the Ethiopian embassy in the capital Khartoum
“The main theme of the play is to deliver a message to the youth, to stop illegal migration and human trafficking,” director Maher Saad told AFP after a performance at the Ethiopian embassy in Khartoum last weekend.
Dozens of spectators, including many Ethiopians, attended the show. “I believe that theatre can deliver such a message because it has a direct and immediate impact,” Saad said.
The play comes as the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR accused Sudan, a key transit route for migrants, of forcibly deporting more than 400 Eritreans last month.
Many of those sent back were allegedly arrested as they tried to enter Libya from Sudan, which the European Union is working with in a bid to manage the flow of people hoping to cross the Mediterranean.
Human Rights Watch also criticised Khartoum, saying that those sent back to Eritrea were likely to face abuse from authorities there.
The United Nations says that around 5,000 Eritreans risk their lives each month to flee their country.
“Many of those travelling through Libya or perishing along the way have transited through Sudan,” said Dalia El-Roubi, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration, which funded “Boat of Death”.
The 45-minute play, already performed three times in Khartoum, is expected to be staged in other cities as well.
“Boat of Death”, with its haunting background score, ends in tragedy when migrants perish after their boat sinks.
Before setting sail, the characters negotiate with a smuggler, who subjects them to abuse and beats them.
“I wrote this play so that we reflect on these tragedies,” said its author Rabia Youssef. “We have tried to keep the play simple, so that it can be performed on a small stage.”
Roubi said people smugglers were to blame for tragedies such as that depicted during the performance. “A sophisticated network of smugglers and traffickers enable movement of people from and through Sudan towards other countries,” she said.
As Europe struggles with its worst migration crisis since World War II, UNHCR said last month that some 204,000 migrants and refugees had crossed the Mediterranean to Europe since January.
