Protests as Egypt vows to expel hundreds of Sudanese refugees
-03/01/06
In spite of pro
Protests as Egypt vows to expel hundreds of Sudanese refugees
-03/01/06
In spite of promises to the United Nations, protests from human rights groups and the concerns of the church helping to rehabilitate them, Egypt plans to expel around 650 Sudanese refugees later this week, a government spokesperson announced today.
The move comes despite assurances to the United Nations’ refugee agency from Egypt that it would not do so, after 28 refugees were killed when police violently ended a protest about their treatment.
Foreign Ministry representative Fatma el-Zahraa Etman declared that the Sudanese would be repatriated by boat on Thursday.
“There are 645 Sudanese who are going to go back to Sudan. They are leaving by boat on Thursday … They may be illegal immigrants. Why should we send a refugee back? If they have broken the law of the host country,” she said.
Astrid van Genderen Stort, speaking on behalf of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry had not informed the organisation that there would be deportations.
Egyptian police used sticks and water cannons on Friday to move some 3,500 refugees who had camped outside United Nations offices in an affluent Cairo district demanding to be resettled in the West.
The encampment had lasted for several months, and talks between the Sudanese and the UNHCR office to end the protest broke down after many refugees rejected a deal signed by their leaders.
The agreement included reviewing the status of the protestors, giving asylum seeker status to those not yet registered with the agency, and inviting applications for “one off” financial aid.
Ms Stort said this offer was still open. But the protestors have seen it as a set of concessions which disguise the Egyptian governmentís basic unwillingness to provide proper refuge. They say they are desperate.
Officials at the church in central Cairo where up to 2,000 of the Sudanese had been housed since the protest ended, said the refugees had been dispersed by security officials and that UNHCR had given them grants to find accommodation.
“Today UNHCR was able to give out a grant which allowed people to rent houses,” Father Claudio Lurati explained.
The refugees have faced racism, unemployment and a lack of education and health care in Egypt since they fled violence in Sudan.
UNHCR says it is not practical or feasible to move all refugees to the West at the moment, so on site help is needed.
Sudan’s north-south civil war lasted over two decades and made 4 million people homeless. A separate conflict in the Western Darfur region has produced a further 2 million refugees.
A peace agreement in January 2005 ended the north-south civil war but human rights groups say it is still not safe to return home, and some describe the treatment meted out to the victims of militias around Darfur as genocidal.
The UNHCR has more than 20,000 Sudanese registered in Egypt. It puts the total number of Sudanese living in Egypt at two million to three million.
[Also on Ekklesia: US church aid agency chief backs action on Darfur; Churches urge Sudan government to end hostilities; Mediator who brokered sudan peace tells of Christian faith; War And Faith in Sudan (book); Peer attacks UNís ‘impotence’ and ‘collusion’ over Darfur; Darfur development workers kidnapped as situation worsens; UN warns of worsening situation in Darfur; Urgent appeal launched for Sudanese refugees]
Protests as Egypt vows to expel hundreds of Sudanese refugees
-03/01/06
In spite of promises to the United Nations, protests from human rights groups and the concerns of the church helping to rehabilitate them, Egypt plans to expel around 650 Sudanese refugees later this week, a government spokesperson announced today.
The move comes despite assurances to the United Nations’ refugee agency from Egypt that it would not do so, after 28 refugees were killed when police violently ended a protest about their treatment.
Foreign Ministry representative Fatma el-Zahraa Etman declared that the Sudanese would be repatriated by boat on Thursday.
“There are 645 Sudanese who are going to go back to Sudan. They are leaving by boat on Thursday … They may be illegal immigrants. Why should we send a refugee back? If they have broken the law of the host country,” she said.
Astrid van Genderen Stort, speaking on behalf of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry had not informed the organisation that there would be deportations.
Egyptian police used sticks and water cannons on Friday to move some 3,500 refugees who had camped outside United Nations offices in an affluent Cairo district demanding to be resettled in the West.
The encampment had lasted for several months, and talks between the Sudanese and the UNHCR office to end the protest broke down after many refugees rejected a deal signed by their leaders.
The agreement included reviewing the status of the protestors, giving asylum seeker status to those not yet registered with the agency, and inviting applications for “one off” financial aid.
Ms Stort said this offer was still open. But the protestors have seen it as a set of concessions which disguise the Egyptian government’s basic unwillingness to provide proper refuge. They say they are desperate.
Officials at the church in central Cairo where up to 2,000 of the Sudanese had been housed since the protest ended, said the refugees had been dispersed by security officials and that UNHCR had given them grants to find accommodation.
“Today UNHCR was able to give out a grant which allowed people to rent houses,” Father Claudio Lurati explained.
The refugees have faced racism, unemployment and a lack of education and health care in Egypt since they fled violence in Sudan.
UNHCR says it is not practical or feasible to move all refugees to the West at the moment, so on site help is needed.
Sudan’s north-south civil war lasted over two decades and made 4 million people homeless. A separate conflict in the Western Darfur region has produced a further 2 million refugees.
A peace agreement in January 2005 ended the north-south civil war but human rights groups say it is still not safe to return home, and some describe the treatment meted out to the victims of militias around Darfur as genocidal.
The UNHCR has more than 20,000 Sudanese registered in Egypt. It puts the total number of Sudanese living in Egypt at two million to three million.
[Also on Ekklesia: US church aid agency chief backs action on Darfur; Churches urge Sudan government to end hostilities; Mediator who brokered sudan peace tells of Christian faith; War And Faith in Sudan (book); Peer attacks UN’s ‘impotence’ and ‘collusion’ over Darfur; Darfur development workers kidnapped as situation worsens; UN warns of worsening situation in Darfur; Urgent appeal launched for Sudanese refugees]