EGYPT has carried out unlawful deportations of thousands of Sudanese refugees fleeing war and famine, Amnesty International reported today.

Amnesty said that it had documented 12 incidents in which Egyptian authorities returned about 800 Sudanese nationals between January and March without giving them the chance to claim asylum or challenge deportation decisions.

Refugees had been held in cruel and inhuman conditions ahead of their deportation, it added.

Egypt has an agreement with the European Union, funded by €7.5 billion (£6.33bn), to prevent mass migration across the Mediterranean.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country and more than 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict between military and paramilitary leaders which reignited on April 2023, according to the United Nations.

On Tuesday, the Sudanese government accused the United Arab Emirates of fuelling the 14-month war in the African country by providing weapons to rival paramilitary forces.

Sudanese ambassador to the UN Al-Harith Mohamed accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of “destructively launching” its war with the Sudanese military and attacking civilians, aided by weapons from the UAE, during a security council meeting.

He said Sudan has evidence of the UAE supplying weapons and that the government will submit a file to the International Criminal Court.

The UAE dismissed the allegations, calling them “ludicrous” and a “shameful abuse by one of the warring parties.”

UN experts monitoring an arms embargo in Darfur reported “credible” evidence in January that the UAE sent weapons to the RSF several times a week from northern Chad.

Edem Wosornu, operations director for the UN humanitarian office OCHA, told the council that indiscriminate bombings are affecting millions of people in Darfur, sexual violence remains rampant and “famine is imminent.”

Almost five million people face emergency levels of food insecurity and over two million in 41 “hunger hotspots are at high risk of slipping into catastrophic hunger in the coming weeks,” she said.