Muryelle Cordemans30 december 2005 – 18:47

About 5 or 6000 Sudanese refugees are demanding justice, since 3 months occupying the square in front of Mustapha Mahmouds mosque
Some have only recently reached Egypt, escaping the violent wars that divides their country. The so called peace agreements everybody was cheering about, are not credible, and while the war between North and South has reached its end, according to the UN, unrest started in the West.
Others have been a long time in Egypt, some for 5 years, some for 25 years, being welcomed by racist treatment from the majority of the locals. Underpayed, exploited, raped, being throwed stones at and being called dirty names, some even found death. A 21 year old girl, of whom the picture adorns the slogans written on sheets all around the square, was found dead in the swimming pool of the house where she was a cleaner, drowned. No justice till now has been done to punish the accused.
And so plenty of other stories from living as a refugee in Egypt.
Here in the squat, 11 people have died already.Some from cold, some from hunger, some from exhaustion.
Even the church and the mosque have closed their doors to these people, whom are being accused now of being dirty, but where else do they have to wash, to cook, to clean, other than in the streets, if even the religious institutes have signposted :"no blacks allowed".?
When night falls the pedestrian walks are filled with wrapped bodies in blankets, trying to get some sleep in these horrible circumstances.Not only did they have to leave everything behind, they re not even granted some human warmth upon arrival.
And the local organizations which are supposed to assist refugees, don t move!
Even the international community doesn t move!
Mr Koffi Annan, CNN, and others have been on a visit, but noone is moving....
Egyptian authorities and the Sudanese government surely have a corrupted deal, otherwise, how can a country like Egypt be in denial of such misery?

"I have 5 children, I was working and earning 300 egyptian pounds a month, how am I supposed to take care of my children, to give them proper education, food and shelter?
We ll catch any plane which will take us out of this situation, no matter where else in the world, we will all leave!" exclaims one of them.
When I left the camp, I saw some police surrounding the place, as I wanted to take pictures, they all shouted, NO NO NO
A man came up to me, I believe an official asking me whether I had been taken picturs. I pretended not to understand, .... Clearly Egypt doesn t want the world to know.

Refugees have rights too, human rights, but here they are unashamedly violated.

So I ask you, what can we do, we in the lucky West?
I am asking for a solution, not an excuse...

Even though there is still poverty in Egypt, and a lot of people struggle for their daily life, the UNHCR is granting the Egyptian government money to help these refugees.Where does that money go? Certainly not to the hands of the people who need it.

Muryelle Cordemans