Egypt said today it had released 156 Sudanese detained since December when police broke up their sit-in protest to demand resettlement in Western countries.
A Foreign Ministry statement said the Sudanese were technically illegal immigrants but the government would not deport them in order not to break up families.
Some 3,500 Sudanese had been protesting in a central Cairo square for more than three months until police broke up the sit-in. More than two dozen Sudanese were killed in clashes with the police.
The statement said all Sudanese citizens held in "shelter centres" had now been released.
Some 600 Sudanese had been detained after the clashes.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says there are up to 3 million Sudanese living in Egypt, of which 20,000 are registered with the agency. UNHCR officials were not immediately available for comment.