Wed Aug 25, 6:50 AM ET     

Sudanese refugees stoning Egyptian riot police Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2004 as about 500 refugees from Sudan 's volatile Darfur region clashed with tear gas-firing Egyptian police outside the U.N. refugee headquarters in Cairo . The protestors demanded better treatment from the U.N. agency and called on international peacekeepers be sent to Darfur to disarm Arab militias blamed for killing 30.000 people and driving more than 1 million from their homes. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

Egyptian police disperse protesters who fled Sudan 's Darfur

Wednesday August 25th, 2004.

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

CAIRO , Aug 25, 2004 (AP) -- Egyptian police fired tear gas Wednesday outside the local U.N. refugee agency to disperse demonstrators who fled Sudan 's volatile Darfur region and were demanding refugee status from the United Nations and peacekeepers for their troubled homeland.

After angrily accusing the U.N. of failing to provide them with the formal refugee status that would ensure they won't be forced to return to Darfur , some among the 500 demonstrators began hurling stones at the U.N. building and the outnumbered riot police forces.

Vehicles were damaged and police said at least two demonstrators were hurt; one man was seen with a gash on his forehead. Police also said some demonstrators had been arrested, but it wasn't clear how many.

Security forces responded with barrages of tear gas and called in reinforcements. Police began chasing demonstrators through the streets of Mohandeseen, a crowded Cairo neighborhood.

A U.N. employee said most of the staff inside had been moved to a secure area within the building. Messages left for a U.N. spokesperson weren't immediately returned.

Demonstrators complain the U.N. agency isn't helping them enough to get formal refugee status in Egypt , which would ensure they aren't sent home.

They also called for international peacekeepers to be sent to Darfur, in western Sudan , to disarm Arab militias there blamed for killing 30,000 people in the past 18 months and driving more than 1 million from their homes. The United Nations has described the Darfur situation as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

IOL

August 25 2004 at 06:11PM

Cairo - Seven Sudanese refugees and three Egyptian police officers were injured on Wednesday as a demonstration against a perceived lack of United Nations refugee services degenerated into street clashes between anti-riot police and a crowd of around 1 000 protestors.
The protestors, all Sudanese refugees in Egypt , were staging a demonstration in front of the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cairo to protest the lack of services provided by the commission, when violence flared.
Demonstrators threw stones toward the UNHCR building, breaking window panes and damaging cars parked in the area.
They carried banners demanding better services by the United Nations.
A building security kiosk was also destroyed as demonstrators demanded to meet the UNHCR director.
There was no reaction or comment from the UNHCR offices. The angry crowd was left to be controlled by anti-riot police, who used tear gas to disperse them.
Security sources said 15 Sudanese were arrested following the clashes.
Around 50 000 Sudanese are registered as refugees in Egypt but unofficial figures indicate that the true number may be ten times as many. Most hail from southern Sudan , and have fled a 20-year civil war in which up to two million people have died. - Sapa-dpa

Mistrust and confusion grip Sudanese community in Egypt

Friday August 27th, 2004.

By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO , Egypt , Aug 26, 2004 (AP) -- The U.N. refugee agency says the situation is too fluid in Sudan to determine the status of people who have fled that country's troubled south and west. Its suspension of refugee interviews while continuing to grant protection has added to the fear and uncertainty for the almost 1 million Sudanese in Egypt .

Darfur refugees clash with Egyptian police

Scores of Sudanese including some from strife-torn Darfur staged an emotional and violent protest at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Cairo offices on Wednesday.

"We were caught by surprise yesterday. We never expected to see what we saw yesterday," Damtew Dessalegne, the assistant regional representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Cairo, told The Associated Press a day after his building was pelted with rocks, leaving some windows shattered.

Riot police firing tear gas and wielding clubs clashed with the protesters. Around 40 Sudanese were injured and 22 were detained and may face assault or other charges, according to an Egyptian security official speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Nobody asks about us and nobody cares about us," protester Hassan Ishak, who said he was from Darfur , told the AP Wednesday.

In both Egypt and Chad , officials said, the UNHCR in June indefinitely suspended attempts to determine on a case-by-case basis who is eligible for refugee status. Until the process of making individual determinations resumes, though, Sudanese in both countries receive blanket protection.

"UNHCR is still registering Sudanese refugees," said Marie-Helene Verney, spokeswoman at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva . "Once they're registered with UNHCR they are being given a yellow card. Once they have that yellow card they have residency in Egypt , they can work in Egypt , they have protection from UNHCR. What the office cannot do at this stage is to be able to decide each case one by one."

Verney said that with the changing situation in Sudan , the Cairo office, which was getting about 150 new cases a month, decided it was unable for the moment to continue with the complicated process of deciding each case individually.

Verney said Wednesday's protest was the first anywhere since individual assessments were suspended. She said that may be because there are so many Sudanese in Egypt .

Dessalegne, the Cairo-based official, also questioned the involvement of the South Center for Human Rights, a group that presented a petition to the UNHCR last week urging it to resume refugee interviews and then called for the protest. Desslaegne said the center appeared to have a poor understanding of what the agency could do for refugees.

Wagdi Abdel Aziz, the head of the South Center, responded by accusing the U.N. agency of doing little to help the protesters Wednesday and now "pushing" Sudanese to return home.

Sudanese have been coming to neighboring Egypt for decades, some as economic refugees, others to escape the long-running war in the south, and others fleeing the more recent violence in Darfur . The Sudanese government is accused of unleashing Arab militia on African civilians in response to a rebellion by two African groups in Darfur .

The Sudanese government and southern rebels began a final round of peace talks in June aiming at ending 21 years of war unrelated to events in Darfur . Darfur peace talks are in the early stages.

Essa Mohammed Ahmed Younis, who was among the protesters in Cairo , was concerned that the refugee agency might be swayed by a possible peace agreement in the south. Younis is from Darfur .

"My problem with the Sudanese government will not be solved if peace prevailed in the south. I have nothing to do with the south," he said.

Younis said he arrived in Egypt seven months ago after Arab militia known as the Janjaweed attacked his village and killed his brother.

Ishak, another protester, said he worked as a cattle merchant until the day "the Janjaweed attacked our village" in Darfur . He said he made his way to Cairo seven months ago.

"I can't find job. I have no source of income," he said.

Verney, of UNHRC, said few of the Sudanese in Egypt were from Darfur . Most refugees from Darfur, the western Sudanese region that the United Nations has said is the scene of the world's worst humanitarian crisis, are in Chad .

"We have a lot of Sudanese people in Egypt basically saying they are from Darfur who are clearly not from Darfur at all never been near Darfur," Verney told the AP.

At the same time, she said, "it's quite sure that some genuine refugees from Darfur escaped to Egypt . Rather than taking the risk of penalizing some of these people, we just thought we'd better just issue blanket protection."