Egyptian authorities said they deported 178 Sudanese nationals who had entered from Libya, transferring them to Sudan via the Arqin border crossing in Northern State, according to an official letter from Egypt’s Passports and Immigration Administration addressed to Arqin authorities and seen by local media.
A deportee who asked not to be named told media that hundreds of Sudanese remain in detention in Egyptian facilities along the Libya–Egypt frontier in dire humanitarian conditions. He said he spent more than six months in custody with other Sudanese and blamed delays at Sudan’s consulate in Aswan for slow issuance of emergency travel documents, adding that the consulate had ignored the detainees’ situation.
He estimated the group deported represents about 1% of those being held, including women and children awaiting removal. Most detainees, he said, entered Egypt from Libya through smuggling routes and are being held in army and police facilities in Alexandria, Matrouh and Sallum.
Another former detainee who returned with the deported group said Egyptian prisons lack humane treatment. He asserted that Sudanese caught on the Libyan border are first confined in army camps in Sallum and Alexandria for extended periods before being handed to police. From there, detainees are referred to prosecutors and can wait more than six months for deportation procedures to conclude. He also criticized Sudan’s embassy for not actively tracking or seeking the transfer of Sudanese nationals in custody.
