Cairo keen to help Sudanese refugees – FM
Jan 4, 2005 (CAIRO) — Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit affirmed on Wednesday that Egypt dealt with the issue of Sudanese refugees out of its keenness on their interests and to provide the best security measures to protect the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offices in Cairo.
He said Egypt tackled the issue with wisdom and patience in its capacity as a host country of the regional office of UNHCR.
During a meeting with diplomatic editors, the foreign minister said Egypt’s decision to intervene to break up the protest was adopted after repeated breaches by the sitters-in of Egyptian laws adopted in conformity with the 1950 Geneva Convention governing the status of refugees, in addition to the difficult humanitarian conditions the refugees, who included children and women, had been enduring in the square.
Abul-Gheit pointed out to the failure of efforts to convince the strikers to end the protest peacefully through mediation by prominent Sudanese figures from south and north Sudan.
The foreign minister pointed out that the regional office of the UNHCR informed the Foreign Ministry on 27 October that most of the demands of the sitters-in were beyond its powers, adding that the office called on Egyptian authorities concerned to immediately intervene to end the strike peacefully.
Abul Gheit regretted the incident, saying the whole matter had started when a large number of Sudanese refugees gathered at the square early in September outside the UNHCR office in Cairo. He said the United Nations had indicated that the terms of asylum did not apply to the Sudanese refugees, especially as some of them were illegal immigrants.
The foreign minister said the Sudanese authorities showed an interest in the issue, with the Sudanese embassy in Cairo reviewing the outcome of a meeting organized with the sitters-in by Sudanese Vice-President Ali Uthman Taha during his recent visit to Egypt.
He said Sudanese officials, including Vice-President Taha, issued directives encouraging the refugees to return to Sudan and forming a committee to receive them and assess their conditions.
(ST)