Sudanese refugees launch hunger strike in Cairo
Nov 12, 2005 (CAIRO) — Hundreds of Sudanese refugees staging a sit-in outside UN offices in Cairo began a hunger strike to press their case for asylum, a spokesman for the group told AFP.
“We are starting a hunger strike beginning today,” Ibrahim Mursal said as the demonstration outside the offices of the UN refugee agency UNHCR entered its 44th day. “It will be open-ended and continue until our demands are met.”
The protesters have been sleeping under the city’s polluted skies, with no access to clean drinking water and sanitation since September 29. Five have died from complications related to conditions, protest leaders said.
The majority of the protesters hail from south Sudan, but the group also includes refugees and asylum-seekers from the war-torn western region of Darfur, as well as people from the troubled east.
They are demanding that the UN refugee agency review cases of asylum-seekers whose applications it has rejected and resume resettling refugees in a third countries, mainly the United States, Canada and Australia.
The protesters charge that the United Nations often turns a blind eye to reports about abuses that the handful of refugees who find jobs suffer from their employers.
They also accuse police of routinely harassing them, including arbitrary arrest and detention for days.
The agency said earlier this month it has a list of nearly 20 refugee demands. “Most of the demands of the Sudanese demonstrators are beyond the UNHCR’s control,” it said on November 2.
“There are, obviously, some issues within UNHCR’s ability to influence but this can only be achieved through consultation and constructive dialogue, not by means of intimidation.”
(AFP/ST)