SOME 200 people have held a protest outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh to highlight the human rights situation in Sudan.

Asylum-seekers from Darfur and other regions of of Sudan joined forces with Scottish activists yesterday evening to raise awareness among MSPs at Holyrood.

They have sent a letter to all MSPs with an urgent appeal for a review of European Union policy towards Sudan.

The letter expresses “profound concerns about the way EU funds tackle migrant flows which have benefited the security apparatus.”

There are allegations that the EU is paying for Sudanese border guards in order to to stop refugees crossing the Sahara to seek asylum in Europe.

Campaigners from Sudanese Communities-Scotland said the policy “needs urgent review, and funds to Sudan should be halted or suspended.”

The protesters also called on Scotland to protect its Sudanese refugees. An inspection last year of Scotland’s only immigration detention centre, Dungavel, found that 7 per cent of people held in the Home Office facility were from Sudan.

The protesters said in their letter that the current wave of demonstrations in Sudan represented “the biggest public protests since the brutal Sudanese regime seized power from an elected government in 1989.

“People of all backgrounds and political affiliations are calling for the downfall of the Islamist military dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir, now in its 30th year.

“Braving tear gas, live bullets and torture in detention to do so, hundreds of thousands have protested peacefully in the face of brutality.”

Dozens of demonstrators in Sudan have been killed by security forces over the last month. Hospitals have been tear gassed by pro-government militias and internet access throttled.