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Egypt to Deport Sudanese Asylum-Seekers


Egypt says it plans to deport some 650 Sudanese asylum-seekers dispersed by police from a make-shift camp in downtown Cairo last week.

A foreign ministry spokeswoman, Fatma el-Zahraa Etman, said that those set for deportation on Thursday were found to be illegal immigrants or had broken Egyptian law.

The Sudanese migrants were among a group of about 1,000 who clashed with police last week. Twenty-seven people were killed in the violence. Egyptian officials said the deaths were caused by a stampede, but witnesses said police beat the Sudanese.

The migrants had been camped out for three months near the offices of the U.N. refugee agency, demanding to be resettled in a third country.

Officials for the U.N. agency expressed shock at the last week's clashes, saying they had been trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.

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