Posted on Thu, Jan. 05, 2006   

Sudanese people in Fargo say relatives killed in Cairo riots


Associated Press

FARGO, N.D. - Sudanese residents who fled here during their country's civil war say their relatives were killed during rioting in Cairo last week.

Egyptian riot police swept into a tiny Cairo park on Dec. 30 to evict thousands of Sudanese squatters. A protest leader said seven children were among at least 25 people killed, though others put the death toll much higher.

In Fargo, phones in Sudanese homes rang with updates, some from relatives and friends who witnessed the attack.

Brothers Sunday Mabor and Daniel Akeig, college students who live together in a Fargo apartment, said their stepfather was beaten to death by the police. Kenneth Masungu, a U.S. citizen since November, said his sister-in-law and her 10-year-old son were killed.

Alice Isaac said her husband's sister-in-law, five months pregnant, also died.

"People don't know what to say," said Masungu, sitting on a couch in his home, surrounded by relatives. "It is beyond human nature."

The Egyptian government has said more than 70 police were wounded in the riots and that the Sudanese victims died in the crowd's stampede.

Local leaders say the Fargo area is home to nearly 1,000 Sudanese.

When a peace treaty was signed last year, many Sudanese who sought resettlement lost priority to refugees from more dangerous countries, said Bill Frelick, refugee policy director for Human Rights Watch.

Mabor, Masungu and others in Fargo said the peace deal is tenuous, and Sudan is still dangerous.