SUDAN REFUGEES: UNHCR COMPLETES ITS WORK WITH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000639 SIPDIS SENSITIVE FOR PRM/A, PRM/AFR, PRM/ANE, PRM/MCE, NEA/ELA, AND AF GENEVA FOR RMA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL ASEC CVIS EG SU UNHCR SUBJECT: SUDAN REFUGEES: UNHCR COMPLETES ITS WORK WITH DETAINEES BUT HAS CONTINUING SECURITY CONCERNS. SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY Reference: Cairo 480 and previous. -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Although some Sudanese asylum seekers were released during the week, 155 remain in detention following their forcible eviction from a sit-in in a downtown park December ¶30. UNHCR has completed its evaluation of all of those still in detention and will present its final report to the GOE February 2. It will report that 14 have valid refugee claims after all appeals have been processed. About half the valid claims are by newcomers who were not previously registered with UNHCR. The remaining valid claims are from old `closed files' who were able to establish a valid refugee claim by producing new evidence. On humanitarian grounds, UNHCR will officially request that the GOE not deport any of the detainees, at least for the time being. UNHCR was advised some time ago that the GOE will conduct an investigation into the December 30 incident but UNHCR cannot confirm that this is under way. In the meantime investigators from UNHCR's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) are in Cairo on a lessons-learned mission. According to Sudanese government media reports the Sudanese will also send a delegation to Cairo to investigate the incident. UNHCR's Cairo office is struggling to deal with large numbers of angry Sudanese - most of them previously denied cases - demanding refugee status. End Summary -------------- -------------- UNHCR Completes its Work - 14 Given Refugee Status -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) UNHCR Cairo's Deputy Representative, Damtew Dessalegne briefed RefCoord February 2 about the status of the Sudanese asylum seekers still in detention following the violent eviction of 2,100 demonstrators from Mustafa Mahmoud Park December 30 following a 14-week sit-in. During the past week, 28 have been released - including several minors and those who had lost their UNHCR registration documents - leaving 155 in detention. UNHCR has completed its evaluation of all of them and will present its final report to the GOE tonight (February 2). It will tell the GOE that it has determined that only 14 of those in detention have valid refugee claims. Half of the valid claims are by newcomers. The remaining new claims are from old `closed files' who have now been able to establish a valid refugee claim by producing new evidence. -------------- - UNHCR Will Ask the GOE Not to Deport - For Now -------------- - ¶3. (SBU) In its February 2 Note Verbale, UNHCR will ask the GOE to refrain from deporting any detainees on humanitarian grounds, at least for the time being, to give them time to recover from the trauma of the December 30 police action. It will also ask for the release of those who have family members in Cairo with valid UNHCR registration documents. UNHCR has been unable to confirm media reports that the GOE has decided not to deport any of the demonstrators. -------------- Investigations Under Way -------------- ¶4. (SBU) RefCoord met February 2 with Clementine Nkweta- Muna, Head of the Inspection Unit in UNHCR's OIG. Nkweta- Muna's team of four from the OIG and from the International Protection Department has been in Cairo for a week conducting a lessons-learned exercise. They have met with the GOE, embassies, NGOs and the American University's Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Department and will return to Geneva tomorrow. We were able to brief Nkweta- Muna about the activities of the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program in Cairo and to discuss the lead-up to the December 30 incident and our response to it. Dessalegne noted that the GOE's MFA had advised UNHCR some weeks ago that it would conduct its own internal investigation of the incident but UNHCR has received no confirmation that such an investigation is under way. In the meantime, the official Sudanese news agency, SUNA, has reported that the government of Sudan will send a delegation to Cairo to probe the deaths of 27 Sudanese during the December 30 incident. -------------- -------------- UNHCR Cairo Operating in a `Very Tense Environment' -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Dessalegne reports that the Cairo office (which had been closed during the demonstration) continues to be under considerable pressure from angry Sudanese demanding refugee status. The numbers of Sudanese coming to UNHCR's office has dropped to between 400-600 a day from the peak of around 800 a day last week (reftel). Some of these are newcomers requesting registration and some are filing for replacement documents, but most are old, denied (and appealed) cases clamoring for their cases to be reopened and to be given refugee status. According to Dessalegne, this is a `very tense environment' with many of the previously denied cases showing up every day. UNHCR is concerned for the safety of its staff and is seeking guidance from Geneva about how to deal with the situation. Ricciardone