Sudanese refugees in Egypt stage sit-in to demand UN help
Oct 10, 2005 (CAIRO) — More than 2,000 refugees from all over Sudan staged a sit-in in a Cairo park Monday, and criticized the United Nations not helping resettle them in the West or listening to their cases.
Many of the Sudanese, who have slept outdoors for 12 days on a median near a mosque, also accused Egyptian authorities of doing too little to protect and assist them.
The protest is taking place less than 200 meters from the Cairo office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which last year stopped interviewing all Sudanese seeking refugee status – an essential requirement for resettlement to countries such as the U.S., Canada or Australia.
Armed police watched the protest but did not intervene. Between lampposts around the park, refugees strung banners in Arabic and English accusing the world of turning its back on them.
Many fled to Egypt from southern Sudan during a 21-year civil war that killed more than 2 million and displaced many more. Others arrived from the western Darfur region, where fighting has left 180,000 dead since 2003, and the eastern Beja area, where low-level violence persists.
But with a deal last January ending the southern war, and huge numbers of Sudanese still seeking refugee status here, the UNHCR has decided to indefinitely freeze interviews for all Sudanese refugees.
“We started this protest because we have claims against the UNHCR, which has stopped resettling and interviewing all Sudanese to determine if we are refugees or not,” said protest organizer Ahmed Khalid, 25, from Sudan’s Nuba Mountains region.
UNHCR assistant protection officer Ahmed Mohsen acknowledged the freeze on interviews, saying the end of the war created the potential for southern refugees to return home. The agency did not want to continue interviewing refugees from other parts of Sudan as the southerners would accuse it of bias.
If the UNHCR interviewed Sudanese according to their origins, “this would cause more problems,” Mohsen said. “Southern Sudanese would say it is unfair if Darfurians were interviewed and they weren’t.”
But Mohsen said the freeze “won’t last forever.” He added that all Sudanese refugees are granted the right to stay in Egypt for renewable terms of six months, plus work and find a place for their children in a state-run school.
The estimate of Sudanese living in Egypt ranges wildly from 200,000 to 4 million. About 30,000 have been recognized by the UNHCR as refugees.
Most Sudanese see neighboring Egypt as a transit point, wanting the UNHCR to interview them and grant refugee status. But they run the risk of being sent back to Sudan if the UNHCR rejects their bids.
For those refugees with the most need, the UNHCR provides monthly aid ranging from 150 Egyptian pounds ($26) to EGP600 ($104). Limited medical and educational assistance is also offered.
(AP/ST)