The head of the United Nations refugee agency said he was ”deeply shocked” that Egyptian riot police forcibly broke up a three-month protest outside UN offices in Cairo in which 10 Sudanese refugees were killed on Friday.
”I am deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic events early today in Cairo,” High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in Geneva.
”Although we still do not have all of the details or a clear picture of what transpired, violence left several people dead and injured.
”There is no justification for such violence and loss of life. This is a terrible tragedy and our condolences go to all the families of those who died and to the injured,” he said.
Police armed with sticks and shields stormed the small square where the Sudanese had been camping at around 5am (3am GMT).
”There was a stampede that left 30 of the protesters injured, most of them elderly and young, and they were immediately taken to the hospital where 10 of them died,” the Egyptian interior ministry said.
An AFP reporter saw several people being dragged away from the mayhem as the refugees — including dozens of women and small children — tried to resist their evacuation.
The refugees are demanding that the UN refugee agency review the cases of asylum-seekers whose applications it has rejected and resume resettling refugees in third countries, mainly the United States, Canada and Australia.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has offered to provide more assistance to the refugees but has refused to resettle them in a third country.
But most of the Sudanese refugees say they simply want to leave Egypt, where they say the UN office has ignored their plight.
”They are primarily protesting living conditions,” UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told Agence France Presse in Geneva.
”We can’t possibly resettle all the people. Resettlement is normally reserved for the most vulnerable cases,” she added.
There are around 24 00 Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers in Cairo, although the majority have not applied for formal refugee status, Pagonis said.
Overall, they make up between one and two percent of the millions of Sudanese who have fled to Egypt to escape conflict at home.
A 21-year north-south civil war in Sudan which ended a year ago displaced about four million people, while an ongoing conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur has also forced tens of thousands to flee the country. – Sapa-AFP