Egypt to release detained Sudanese refugees
Jan 17, 2006 (CAIRO) — Egypt said it would release more than 143 Sudanese detained after police forcibly broke up a three-month protest by refugees and asylum-seekers last month.
The foreign ministry said Egypt would release 56 people from the war-torn region of Darfur as well as 87 women and children who were among more than 600 Sudanese faced with deportation after the raid against the demonstrators that left at least 28 people dead.
The move followed an appeal by the UN refugee agency for them to be freed.
The UNHCR had called on the government to postpone the deportations in order to give it time to interview the detainees in case there were people in the group that needed international protection.
The ministry said the authorities have agreed to give the UNHCR until January 26 to complete interviewing 326 other Sudanese still being held after an earlier deadline expired on Sunday.
It said the deadline was being extended to allow the refugee agency assess their legal status, but did not say what would happen to those Sudanese in detention that the UNHCR decides do not merit international protection.
Earlier, presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said Egypt would allow the Sudanese to remain in the country to enable the refugee agency to review their cases.
“The UNHCR had refused for three months to re-examine the cases of Sudanese asylum-seekers whose requests had been rejected,” Awad told reporters.
“Now that the UNHCR has changed its mind, we want to give the asylum seekers a chance to stay in Egypt and have their files reviewed.”
(AFP/ST)