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Egyptian soldiers slaughtered sudanese refugees { December 30 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/12/30/egypt.sudanese/http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/12/30/egypt.sudanese/
Annan slams Cairo protest deaths
Friday, December 30, 2005; Posted: 2:43 p.m. EST (19:43 GMT)
CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has condemned as unjustified the killings by Egyptian soldiers of between 10 and 20 Sudanese refugees in a park in wealthy Cairo neighborhood.
The violence on Friday took place as the troops tried to force up to 2,500 Sudanese refugees from the capital's Mostafa Mahmoud Park where they had been living since September 29 to protest the U.N. refugee agency's refusal to consider them for refugee status.
They want to be resettled in a third country, such as the United States or Britain, rather than return home after a peace deal ended the 21-year-long civil war in Sudan.
Security forces began using water cannons to fire high-pressure streams of water at the refugees. When the protesters resisted, fighting back with sticks, security forces moved in, using force to drive the refugees onto buses.
The Egyptian Interior Ministry said Friday that security forces had killed 10 of the refugees, but health officials put the toll at 20 dead with more than 50 wounded. Health officials said two of the 20 killed were children.
Boutros Deng, one of the protest leaders, told The Associated Press that 26 Sudanese were killed. He said the dead included 17 men, two women and seven children.
Annan said he regretted that the situation was not resolved peacefully and through dialogue, as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had strongly urged, according to a statement from his office.
"The secretary-general was deeply saddened to learn of the violent deaths of a number of Sudanese migrants in Cairo today as a result of clashes with police.
"Their deaths are a terrible tragedy that cannot be justified. The secretary-general extends his heartfelt sympathies to the families of all of those who were killed and injured."
The commissioner, Antonio Guterres, also issued a statement expressing "deep shock and sadness."
"Although we still do not have all of the details or a clear picture of what transpired, violence left several people dead and injured," Antonio Guterres said in a written statement. "There is no justification for such violence and loss of life."
The Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman said the Sudanese who died in the scuffles were "old and sick," adding that refugees pelted security forces with "bottles of alcohol."
Officials at the South Center, an independent Sudanese human rights group, said 1,280 refugees were taken by bus to three locations outside Cairo. In a statement faxed to AP in Cairo, the group described the police assault as "savage."
The attempt to round up the protesters began before dawn and lasted several hours. At the end, the protesters were put aboard buses and taken to a camp south of Cairo.
Three Egyptian police officers and 20 Egyptian soldiers were also wounded in the clashes, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
The authorities had long warned the migrants that the camp could not continue indefinitely. Journalist Shahira Amin, who went to the scene, said the refugees had been living in crude conditions in the park.
Guterres announced last week that it had reached a deal with some of the protest leaders, promising to resume hearing some migrants' cases and offering a one-time payment of up to $700 for housing in Egypt.
But most of the migrants rejected the deal, saying they wanted promises of resettlement abroad.
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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