The Slow Death of Darfurians out of Sight in Egypt

Sudanese refugees and migrants, pictured below, stand defiantly as Egyptian security troops fire water cannons on them before storming the protest camp housing hundreds of Sudanese where they had lived for three months demanding resettlement outside of Egypt, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday.


(CP/AP/Ben Curtis/Yahoo)

Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, founded by leaders of the representatives of the Massaleit Community in Exile (RMCE) asks the UN and the international community to:

"Provide immediate aid to the Sudanese refugees, many of whom are homeless and lack basic necessities such as food and protection. UNHCR should continue to protect refugees until conditions in Sudan allow their return in security and with dignity. That protection must include the usual resettlement activities. If Egypt provided protection, including protection from hunger, refugees would not think of moving to other countries. Some refugees crave resettlement in third countries as a way to enhance protection, since the options of staying in Egypt or being forced to return to Sudan provide them with no hope for their future lives."

Damanga advocates for the human rights of the people of Darfur and for the preservation of their ethnic communities. Damanga seeks guarantees of equality, freedom and democracy for the people of Sudan and elsewhere in the world.



Photo: Human Rights Watch counsel Jamera Rone listens to Western Darfur native Mohamed Yahya, Damanga's Chairman, talk about the genocide in Darfur at the University of Virginia, School of Law.

Read 'The Slow Death of Darfurians out of Sight in Egypt' authored by Leben Nelson Moro, a D.Phil. candidate at University of Oxford, UK and Gamal Abdel Rahman Adam, a PhD candidate at York University, Canada.

More photos - Sudanese refugees protest UN policies in Cairo, Egypt



Photo: Egyptian riot policemen storm the protest camp housing hundreds of Sudanese refugees where they had lived for three months demanding resettlement outside of Egypt, after firing water cannons at the site in Cairo, Egypt Friday, Dec. 30, 2005. After a night-long standoff during which the camp was surrounded by thousands of riot police, the security forces charged in wielding batons and sticks. (AP/Ben Curtis)

See post and pictures at Opinionated Voice and photoset on Flickr created by Fahamu and Pambazuka News.



Photo: Sudanese refugees and migrants stand with their makeshift tents behind rows of Egyptian security troops who fired water cannons on them. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis/Yahoo)



Photo: A Sudanese man is beaten by Egyptian riot police. Egypt is under fire over the deaths of 25 Sudanese refugees after riot police wielding sticks and water cannon forcibly removed hundreds of demonstrators camped outside UN offices in Cairo. (AFP/Cris Bouroncle)

U.N. refugee agency will repatriate 60,000 refugees to S Sudan by May?



Photo: Jean-Marie Fakhouri, the head of operations in Sudan for the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees tells journalists in Nairobi, Kenya Monday Dec. 19, 2005, that the U.N. refugee agency will repatriate about 60,000 refugees to southern Sudan by May. He said that it could take up to five years to repatriate all 560,000 southern Sudanese refugees in seven neighboring countries Central African Republic, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi/Yahoo).