(AFP Photo)
A brawl between Egyptian and Sudanese students at the Cairo University dorms broke out on Monday night, prompting the Sudanese embassy to intervene and students to call for a sit-in. According to the state-owned Al-Ahram, the embassy representatives appeared after the students failed to mediate the situation.
Ezz El-Din Saudi, head of the university dorms, had referred the incident to the university’s legal affairs department after both the embassy and the students failed to mediate the situation.
According to Vice-President of the Cairo University Student Union Mustafa Saad, a fight broke out at the dorms around midnight and resulted in a number of injuries. Consequently, students called for a sit-in at the dorms, barring the Sudanese students from entering until the problem could be solved.
“Some students had to be sent to the hospital because of the fight,” Saad said. “We have to separate the students until we can resolve the problem.”
Saad said he is unsure why the fight began, and was attempting to contact the university to organise a meeting to discuss the specifics of the incident. “After I meet with the university administration I will call for a union meeting to discuss what to do,” he said.
Al-Ahram reported that the fight began after an Egyptian female student had suffered physical and verbal abuses from a Sudanese student in the dorms. Female students demanded the Sudanese student issue a public apology, citing insults to their dignity.
Cairo University and the Sudanese embassy could not be reached for comment.
