Half the Episkopi hunger strikers end their fast

THE NUMBER of boat people on hunger strike in protest at their detention in the British Sovereign Bases (SBA) has dropped by half since the fast began on Wednesday, SBA spokesman Capt Jon Brown said yesterday.

Only 21 of the 40 boat people – out of 68 illegal immigrants being held – at the Episkopi base were still fasting yesterday, he said. These included 16 men and five women, and no children.

Earlier in the protest, 12 children had joined the adults in refusing food to dramatise the demand of the boat people, mostly Arabs and Iraqi Kurds, for a quick resolution of their status.

The boat people, who came ashore on SBA territory last October from a leaky fishing vessel, have applied for political asylum. They want to be moved from SBA guarded housing to a civilian area of Cyprus, pending resolution of their status.

Brown said all their applications for asylum are now under review at the Home Office in London, and their final status will be worked out by Britain, Cyprus and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

He declined to speculate on what the ultimate resolution might be or what country might be asked to accept the boat people as refugees.

Three meals a day continue to be prepared for all 68 of the boat people, Brown said, adding: “They’ll eat when they’re hungry.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.