They fled war as child refugees, now they’re playing at World Cup 2026
In a World Cup for everyone, as it has been dubbed by FIFA, players carry historic stories of war and displacement.
![A Sudanese woman receives a dose of a cholera vaccine in Khartoum in September [El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2025-09-24T120010Z_1914595450_RC2XWGA0D5NF_RTRMADP_3_SUDAN-POLITICS-OUTBREAKS-1763052429.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
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Children float on rafts made from plastic bottles on a flooded street in the Kinyinya III neighbourhood of Gatumba. [Luis Tato/AFP]
A house is submerged in floodwater in the Kinyinya III neighbourhood. [Luis Tato/AFP]
Lake Tanganyika is known for its cyclical fluctuations in water level, but these have been worsened by global warming. [Luis Tato/AFP]
Students carry schoolbags as they walk down a flooded street in Gatumba. [Luis Tato/AFP]
The UN lists Burundi as one of the 20 countries most vulnerable to climate change. [Luis Tato/AFP]
Burundi ranks among the world’s poorest nations, standing 187th out of 193 on the United Nations Human Development Index. [Luis Tato/AFP]
In 2024, pounding rains, magnified by the El Nino phenomenon, displaced nearly 100,000 people and claimed numerous lives, although no official figures have been released. [Luis Tato/AFP]
Internally displaced women gather during an educational community activity at the Gateri IDP camp in Gateri. [Luis Tato/AFP]
Women displaced by the rising waters of Lake Tanganyika carry their babies on their backs in front of the shelters where they live at the Gateri IDP camp. [Luis Tato/AFP]
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A Burundian government official speaks with newly arrived Congolese refugees awaiting relocation while weighing a sack of rice from the final batches delivered by the now-dismantled US Agency for International Development (USAID). [Luis Tato/AFP]
Since January, more than 71,000 people fleeing violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo have crossed into Burundi, the United Nations says. [Luis Tato/AFP]
Congolese refugees look through a corrugated metal fence at the final batches of food delivered by USAID in a storage area at the Musenyi refugee camp in Giharo in southeastern Burundi. [Luis Tato/AFP]
A refugee receives a sack of food and bottles of cooking oil as others wait in the hopes of also receiving aid during a food distribution at the Musenyi camp. [Luis Tato/AFP]
A worker carries sacks of aid on his back as refugees gather during food distribution. [Luis Tato/AFP]
Aid cuts have forced NGOs to axe support for victims of sexual violence, of whom there are many in the camp. [Luis Tato/AFP]
A Congolese refugee waits for a meal to be cooked at a communal cooking area at the Musenyi refugee camp. [Luis Tato/AFP]
Newly arrived families of Congolese refugees wait for clearance after unloading their belongings from a truck upon arrival at the Cishemere Transit Centre near Buganda in northwestern Burundi. [Luis Tato/AFP]
Refugees move around rows of tents as a storm approaches at the Musenyi camp. [Luis Tato/AFP]
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Lake Tanganyika fishers fight for their future amid declining catches
From 2020-2024, fish production dropped 20% in the world’s longest freshwater lake serving Tanzania and its neighbours.
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