Who is to Blame for the Deaths of the Sudanese Refugees?
By BEHZAD YAGHMAIAN On December 30, 2005, some 26 unarmed Sudanese asylum seekers were killed by the Egyptian riot police in a makeshift encampment across from the office of the United Nations High Commissionaire for Refugees (UNHCR). Many condemned the unnecessary use of force, and the Egyptian government ordered an investigation. But the underlying causes of this human tragedy remain unaddressed. The Cairo tragedy can be repeated unless a solution is found to the Sudanese refugee crisis. The Cairo tragedy was the result of the Western governments’ unwillingness to accept refugees from Sudan despite the continuing violence in various parts of the country and the mass killing of innocent people in Darfur. The civil war in Sudan killed nearly two million and displaced four million. Thousands left Sudan for Egypt where they applied for asylum with the UNHCR. Those accepted as refugees either were given protection in Egypt, or were resettled in third countries, including Europe and the Un
