SUDAN REFUGEES: ALL UNHCR `PERSONS OF CONCERN'

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000783

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: ALL UNHCR `PERSONS OF CONCERN'
RELEASED FROM DETENTION. GOE CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVES TO
DEPORTATION FOR REMAINDER.


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY

Reference: Cairo 639 and previous.

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Summary
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1. (SBU) Emboffs met separately February 9 with MFA and
UNHCR to discuss the status of Sudanese asylum seekers in
Cairo. All UNHCR `persons of concern' have been released,
leaving the fate of the remaining 156 detainees in question.
MFA contacts rule out deportations in the short term, and
believe none of the Sudanese will be prosecuted. The GOE
promises to share contents of its investigation of the
December 30 incident with the Embassy but does not expect
GOE security personnel to be punished. The GOE is
considering tightening its restrictions on Sudanese entry
into the country but has patched relations with UNHCR and
does not intend to change the way refugees are dealt with
here. UNHCR is still checking for discrepancies in the
numbers of those detained and killed and has begun an
analysis of the legal entitlements available to Sudanese in
Cairo to enable it to identify gaps and to target assistance
needs. The numbers of asylum seekers coming to UNHCR's
Cairo office have now dropped to manageable levels. End
Summary.

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No `Persons of Concern' in Custody
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2. (SBU) Emboffs met separately February 9 with Nasser
Hamzawy, Head of MFA's Office of Refugee Affairs, and UNHCR
Chief of Mission, Saad Al Attar, to discuss the status of
the Sudanese asylum seekers remaining in detention following
their forcible eviction from a sit-in in a downtown park
December 30. Al Attar is satisfied that all UNHCR `persons
of concern' have been released including all women and
minors, all Darfurians, those with valid visas or residence
permits, those with refugee status, and those who had
previously registered with UNHCR.

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Deportations in Doubt
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3. (SBU) Hamzawy seemed to cast doubt on a January 8 GOE
statement asserting that those found to be in the country
illegally would be deported. He suggested that `some way'
would be found to release them and to legitimize their
presence in Egypt at least for a while - perhaps by giving
them temporary visas or residence permits - and then to
consider deportation for those who subsequently failed to
adjust their status.

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GOE Investigation Nearly Complete
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3. (SBU) Hamzawy said that a GOE report of an investigation
of the December 30 incident was now with the Office of the
Prosecutor General and the Ministry of the Interior and
would probably be completed next week. Hamzawy promised to
share its contents with us. He is confident that the report
will exonerate the Egyptian security forces who took part in
the eviction and will instead blame the Sudanese for the
debacle and the subsequent loss of life. He confirmed that
the death toll stood at 27 - not counting a subsequent
suicide and the death a few days ago of a demonstrator
injured in the incident. Hamzawy gave us a list of the
deceased.


4. (SBU) UNHCR has been unsuccessful in its attempts to
obtain a list of those evicted from the park on the morning
of December 30 - if such a list exists. It wants to check
this list against the names of those deceased, the list of
4,000 demonstrators provided by leaders of the sit-in on
December 17, and the list of those who have received UNHCR
assistance after the incident. UNHCR believes this would
show up any discrepancies in the death toll and the numbers
still in detention.

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GOE May Restrict Visas for Sudanese
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5. (SBU) We asked Hamzawy if the GOE intended to adopt any
new measures to deal with Sudanese asylum seekers in the
future. For example, would the GOE consider tightening
entry restrictions on Sudanese migrants? Would it consider
sharing some of the burden of identifying and assisting
asylum seekers in Cairo? Hamzawy hinted that, as an
imperative, the GOE was reviewing the current situation
where three-month visas are freely available to Sudanese in
Khartoum. The GOE also wanted more money to deal with
refugees but did not envisage taking on any more
responsibility for registering, recognizing, or assisting
refugees. This was UNHCR's responsibility, Hamzawy said.

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UNHCR to Analyze Gaps in Legal Status of Sudanese
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6. (SBU) The team from UNHCR's Office of the Inspector
General (OIG) has completed its lessons-learned
investigation (reftel) and has returned to Geneva. In the
meantime UNHCR has begun an `analysis of the legal
framework' for the status of Sudanese in Egypt. It will
examine the provisions and implementation of the Four
Freedoms Agreement and other commitments that establish the
legal status of Sudanese in Cairo. UNHCR hopes that this
review will help it identify any gaps in the entitlements
available to Sudanese - for housing, employment, health
care, and so on. UNHCR believes such an analysis is the
first step towards developing proposals for a program of
finely targeted assistance measures.

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UNHCR Cairo Under less Pressure
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7. (SBU) Al Attar reports that the Cairo office is under
less pressure than two weeks ago when it was dealing with up
to 800 asylum seekers a day (reftel). The numbers coming to
the office have now dropped to manageable levels of around
150-200 per day. The office had been closed during the
demonstration and has handed out around 1,600 applications
for registration since it reopened a month ago. About 1,500
of these are Sudanese. Some are newcomers and some are ID
renewals. The remaining 100 are a mixture of Somalis and
Iraqis. UNHCR is also looking to move its offices to a more
functional location outside Mohandeseen.

Ricciardone