Sudan refugees forced to dismantle camp
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-30 09:02

Egyptian security troops in full riot gear forced hundreds of Sudanese refugees Friday to dismantle a protest camp where they had lived for three months demanding resettlement outside of Egypt.

The Sudanese set up the camp Sept. 29 as a protest against the U.N. refugee agency nearby after it stopped hearing the cases of Sudanese seeking refugee status in the wake of the January peace deal that ended their home country's 21-year civil war.

Asylum-seekers generally must gain the status to be resettled in countries such as the United States, Australia and Britain.

Thousands of security forces moved in before midnight and closed off the area, surrounding the camp. In the early hours Friday, the Sudanese began dismantling the protest camp, while white buses waited nearby to transport them away.

At times, the Sudanese numbered up to 2,000 in the impromptu camp, crammed onto an area a little larger than a tennis court. At least three refugees have died in the camp, including a 4-year-old boy who succumbed to pneumonia earlier this month.

About 30,000 Sudanese are registered as refugees in Egypt, and estimates of Sudanese living in this country have ranged from 200,000 to several million.