HIGH-LEVEL GOE FOCUS ON TIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 004241 SIPDIS SIPDIS DOJ FOR BRUCE SWARTZ E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/05/2016 TAGS: PGOV KCRM PJUS EG SUBJECT: HIGH-LEVEL GOE FOCUS ON TIP Classified by Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) During his recent visit to Cairo (meetings reported septel),Attorney General Alberto F. Gonzales received assurances from President Hosni Mubarak and Public Prosecutor Counselor Maher Abdel Wahed that the GOE is actively engaged in combating Trafficking In Persons (TIP). In a July 1 meeting, Mubarak remarked to AG Gonzales that he had recently read a full report on TIP from his wife. AG Gonzales praised Mrs. Mubarak for her continuing activism on TIP issues. ¶2. (C) In a June 29 meeting with AG Gonzales, outgoing Public Prosecutor Counselor Abdel Wahed noted with concern that the GOE had received a DOS report critical of GOE efforts to combat TIP. After passing the AG a lengthy report (in Arabic) detailing Egyptian initiatives to fight TIP and recommendations for future USG-GOE cooperation on the issue, he asserted that the GOE is working actively to deal with the problem. He said that their efforts to address the smuggling of European women to Israel via the Sinai are complicated by what he saw as the lack of full GOE law enforcement authority over the Sinai. He claimed that the border between Israel and Egypt is "administered by the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO)," and the appropriate Egyptian authorities have "difficulty" entering the border area. ¶3. (C) Comment: Abdel Wahed, who was promoted to head the Supreme Constitutional Court since this conversation, misunderstands the MFO role. The Sinai is administered by the Egyptian military, and access is not restricted by the MFO. Abdel Wahed's engagement on the issue is positive, though he will have no direct official responsibility for this issue from his new post. We will brief his successor on the issue, and urge him to carry forward the Public Prosecution's support for greater GOE law enforcement attention to TIP. End comment. RICCIARDONE