At least 10 Sudanese asylum seekers killed following stampede

At least 10 Sudanese asylum seekers died on Friday following a stampede as Egyptian police tried to move them from a sit-in protest in Cairo. Some 3,000 protesters had been camped near UN offices for three months. Their demands ranged from better rights and conditions in Egypt to resettlement in another country. See previous report: UNHCR office temporarily halts operations However, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has said many were simply not entitled to the demands they were making. “Resettlement isn’t a right,” UNHCR public relations officer Amina Koreya told IRIN in November. On Friday morning, riot police fired water cannons at the protesters who refused to leave. This reportedly resulted in a stampede and the deaths. "There was a stampede that left 30 of the protesters injured, most of them the elderly and young and they were immediately taken to the hospital where 10 of them died," the interior ministry said in a statement. “Thousands of police armed with sticks and shields stormed the small park where the migrants had been camping, at about 0500 (0300 GMT),” the BBC said. Between 1994 and 2004, 31,000 Sudanese were given refugee status and more than half were resettled. Now, however, due to the peace process in Sudan and improved conditions there the vast majority of asylum seekers are provided with basic services and renewable six-month visas, but are denied refugee status, explained van Genderen Stort. The lack of refugee status precludes the possibility of resettlement and has led to a perception among Sudanese refugees that their rights have been infringed. However, those who do meet the necessary requirements continue to be recognized as refugees and resettled. In 2005, close to 3,000 Sudanese were given the opportunity to live in third countries. UNHCR was forced to temporarily close its offices processing applications for asylum seekers in mid November as the protest grew in numbers preventing it from continuing its work. Several people have died and a number of babies have been born at the site since the protest started, the BBC reported. Out of an estimated 90,000 refugees currently living in Egypt, some 20,000 are Sudanese or Somali.