The situation of Sudanese refugees in Cairo has become very critical and I believe that it is time for those of us who live in the countries where there is freedom to agree on a day for demonstrations all over the world in front the Egyptian embassies and UNHCR offices. I hope that the demos will take place next week. So let us exchange ideas on a day when the demos will take place.

I hope those of you who know individual refugees in Egypt to contact them to send us the list of their demands so that we can adopt one speech that will include most of the demands which they consider as the most important and which we consider as relevant. I learned that one of their demands is the transportation to sub-Saharan African countries.

At the same time I urge leaders of our (Sudanese) associations throughout the world to send letters and meet with relevant individuals in African embassies in the countries where they are based and talk to them about the possibility of accepting some of these Sudanese in their countries.

My reach experience and I life as refugee in Egypt sincerely witness that Sudanese in Egypt are sentenced to slow death: they are not allowed to work, their not citizens, most of them are not recognized as refugees, all of them (recognized refugees or otherwise) are not protected, they are often arrested and detained for no reason and not released until they pay the prison authorities, several of them were killed by individuals for whom they work, in the streets they are irritated by social slurs (such as samara, bungabunga, shakshuka, ibn mitnaka,etc.), etc., etc.

Unfortunately, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that is based in Cairo never tried to play the role of advocacy for Sudanese refugees. The study, which I conducted last year with Sudanese refugees in Cairo, uncovers that NDA never had any programs for them. They mainly depended on their ethnic community associations to address some of their concerns.

Last year I attended several meetings between refugee community leaders in Egypt and representatives of UNHCR during which the latter talked to the former about repatriation. My only comment to the UNHCR officials was that it was premature to talk to refugees about return since there is enough evidence about the resumption of wars after the repatriation of refugees and instead suggested to them that all Sudanese be voluntarily regroup in one or two fringes of Cairo because that would have lessened the problems they are encountering.

I seriously believe the Sudanese problem was never solved and the agreements, which NIF has signed with SPLM/A in Naivasha, with NDA in Cairo and possibly with both SLM/A and JEM in Abuja, will only further complicate the situation. Most of the NIF members were trained since junior high in how to destroy and terrorize their opponents; and unfortunately many of those NIFs who remained in power are those who had already acquired racism and ethnocentrism before they joined the destructive NIF institution. Therefore the concepts such as democracy, freedoms, human rights, equality, etc. are not understandable to them. They are only using these agreements to legitimize their continuation in power.

So I urge all Sudanese in the dispora and human rights activists throughout the world to quickly exchange ideas and agree on a day on which they will demonstrate next week in front of the UNHCR offices and Egyptian embassies in support of the Sudanese refugees in Egypt.