• Text size Normal size text | Increase text size by 10% | Increase text size by 20% | Increase text size by 30%
  • Also available in French

UNHCR begins interviews of Sudanese detainees in Cairo

News Stories, 5 January 2006

CAIRO, Jan. 5 (UNHCR) – UN refugee agency staff on Thursday began interviewing more than 600 Sudanese who have been held in three detention centres on the outskirts of Cairo since last week.

The Sudanese were detained by police after their three-month sit-in protest in a Cairo park ended tragically last Friday in a confrontation that left several people dead and injured.

Egyptian authorities, who have announced their intention to deport some of the Sudanese, have given UNHCR three days to assess the legal status of the detainees and their possible need for international protection.

A total of 22 UNHCR staff divided into three teams and began work at 10 a.m. Thursday in three detention centres on the outskirts of Cairo. Team member Astrid van Genderen Stort said the UNHCR staff would continue conducting interviews late into the evening.

More UNHCR staff were on their way from Geneva headquarters to Cairo to help with the interviews and to support the refugee agency's work in the Egyptian capital.

"This is a positive development," said Ekber Menemencioglu, director of the UNHCR regional bureau responsible for the Middle East. "We are going to do our best to get these interviews completed as soon as possible to ensure that everyone in need of protection gets it."

Earlier in the week, authorities released most of the Sudanese initially detained who were holding UNHCR cards identifying them as either refugees or asylum seekers. UNHCR and its partners have been providing assistance to them in various Cairo locations, including a church in the Sakakini district where a medical clinic was set up over the weekend to treat the injured. UNHCR also delivered medical supplies to the clinic, along with 1,160 blankets. More than 580 medical cases have been seen by medical staff at Sakakini since the night of 31 December. Cases of fractures, shock and trauma have been referred to the Italian Hospital in Cairo.

UNHCR also began a project Wednesday to provide a one-time emergency housing allowance to benefit any homeless families who participated in the demonstration. The one-time grants are being distributed with the assistance of the NGO, Caritas, through four branches of a local bank.

UNHCR is also identifying other vulnerable cases and on Thursday began distributing food parcels that included milk, sugar, rice, lentils, cooking oil and other items. The refugee agency is also working on family tracing to reunite any families that have become separated.

• DONATE NOW • • GET INVOLVED • • STAY INFORMED •

 

Related Stories

more documents

UNHCR country pages

Protection considerations with regard to people fleeing from Libya. Update No.1

The Nubians in Kenya

In the late 1880s, Nubians from Sudan were conscripted into the British army. The authorities induced them to stay in Kenya by granting them homesteads and issuing them British colonial passports. The Nubians named their settlement near Nairobi, Kibra, or "land of forest." In 1917, the British government formally declared the land a permanent settlement of the Nubians. Since independence, Kenyan Nubians have had difficulty getting access to ID cards, employment and higher education and have been limited in their travel. In recent years, a more flexible approach by the authorities has helped ease some of these restric¬tions and most adult Nubians have been confirmed as Kenyan citizens, but children still face problems in acquiring Kenyan citizenship.

The Nubians in Kenya

Stuck at the Egyptian border

Some three weeks after the Libyan displacement crisis erupted in mid-February, thousands of people were still stuck at the border between Libya and Egypt waiting for onward travel to their home countries. Many have arrived exhausted at the Sallum crossing after travelling for days without adequate food or water. Some told harrowing tales of armed men going door to door at night, forcing people from sub-Saharan Africa to leave after destroying their identity papers and taking their money.

More long-haul flights to Bangladesh and other Asian destinations are needed to decongest the border, although people from countries like Eritrea and Somalia cannot go home. As a result, many people have been stuck at the border for days, sleeping outside in the cold. UNHCR has provided blankets, plastic mats, food and water for those waiting to be repatriated.

More than 100,000 people have arrived at the Sallum border since the start of the Libyan uprising. The majority have been migrant workers from Egypt who were allowed through immigration and customs quickly, but many nationalities have also turned up at the border and having to wait.

Stuck at the Egyptian border

Crisis in Libya

UNHCR is working with the Tunisian and Egyptian authorities and aid groups to manage the dramatic influx of tens of thousands of people fleeing Libya. By the beginning of March, two weeks after the violence erupted in Libya, more than 140,000 people had fled to the neighbouring countries, while thousands more were waiting to cross. Most are Egyptian and Tunisian nationals, though small numbers of Libyans and other nationalities are managing to escape. UNHCR is particularly concerned about thousands of refugees and other foreigners trapped inside Libya, especially people from sub-Saharan Africa. The following photo essay gives a glimpse into what is happening at the borders.

Crisis in Libya

Sudan: A Perilous RoutePlay video

Sudan: A Perilous Route

Kassala camp in eastern Sudan provides shelter to thousands of refugees from Eritrea. Many of them pass through the hands of ruthless and dangerous smugglers.
Sudan: Heading for a New HomePlay video

Sudan: Heading for a New Home

UNHCR is offering to help move hundreds of people from Sudan to newly independent South Sudan, where they will build new lives. Almost 250 families with ties to the south are waiting for a ride.
South Sudan: Blue Nile RefugeesPlay video

South Sudan: Blue Nile Refugees

Refugees are streaming in from Sudan's Blue Nile Region into South Sudan, many to Doro Camp.