Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07CAIRO2816
2007-09-17 16:25:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Cairo
Cable title:  

EGYPT SEIZED WITH GROWING AFRICAN MIGRANT PROBLEM

Tags:  PREF PHUM EG IS 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9504
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #2816/01 2601625
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 171625Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6931
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 0300
RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA 0134
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 1144
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 0338
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0361
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 002816 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/13/2017
TAGS: PREF PHUM EG IS
SUBJECT: EGYPT SEIZED WITH GROWING AFRICAN MIGRANT PROBLEM

REF: A. SECSTATE 129817


B. SECSTATE 125576

C. TEL AVIV 2744

D. GENEVA 1914

E. CAIRO 2320

F. 2006 CAIRO 170

Classified by Minister Counselor for Economic and Political
Affairs William R. Stewart for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 002816

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/13/2017
TAGS: PREF PHUM EG IS
SUBJECT: EGYPT SEIZED WITH GROWING AFRICAN MIGRANT PROBLEM

REF: A. SECSTATE 129817


B. SECSTATE 125576

C. TEL AVIV 2744

D. GENEVA 1914

E. CAIRO 2320

F. 2006 CAIRO 170

Classified by Minister Counselor for Economic and Political
Affairs William R. Stewart for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Pol Econ Minister Counselor delivered refs A
and B demarches to MFA Counselor for Refugee Affairs Mohamed
Fathi on September 16. Fathi described continued active GOE
interagency efforts to develop a comprehensive solution to
the issue of African migrants attempting to reach Israel.
Fathi emphasized that the GOE needs both to adhere to
international commitments on refugees and to ensure that
Egyptian law, which stipulates that illegally crossing
borders is a crime, is upheld. Fathi said that the GOE
distinguishes between those with refugee or asylum-seeker
status and those without, and that this will be a factor in
the disposition of the approximately 50 African migrants that
Israel returned to Egypt in August. Egypt is not ready to
engage trilaterally with Israel and UNHCR to come to a
comprehensive solution to the migrant problem.
UNHCR-reported increased Egyptian efforts to interdict
migrants west of the Suez Canal may help contain the problem
within Egypt. End summary.

--------------
GOE Interagency Wrestling With Migrants
--------------


2. (C) Pol Econ Minister Counselor discussed refs A and B
demarches on September 16 with MFA Counselor for Refugee
Affairs Mohamed Fathi, registering concern over reports of
violence against African migrants on the Israeli border and
pushing for a comprehensive solution. Fathi acknowledged
that shootings occurred in early July, though injuries were
"accidental" and violence was "of course a last resort," but
reaffirmed GOE denials of further reported violent incidents
in August (ref E). Echoing previous interlocutors, he said
that GOE agencies are still "examining all options" to
determine the best approach that adheres both to
international and Egyptian law, and noted that a wide variety
of GOE officials are seized with this issue (ref E). He
emphasized that all those who cross from Egypt into Israel

without permission are breaking Egyptian law, and that Egypt
"will have to do something" to deter such behavior.


3. (C) However, Fathi was quick to raise Egypt's commitments
not to deport refugees or asylum seekers to countries where
their lives might be in danger, as per the 1951 Geneva
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. He emphasized
that neither Egypt nor Israel "are doing anything wrong." In
fact, he said, the GOE has gone out of its way to help the
between one and five million Sudanese in Egypt by "not being
strict about legality" when it comes to allowing them to
reside in Egypt.


4. (C) Responding to Minister Counselor's concerns for the
fate of the approximately 50 migrants that Israel returned to
Egypt in August, Fathi said that they are "not in jail, but
under the supervision of the government" while GOE determines
a course of action. Of the group, he said, approximately 26
individuals either have refugee status or are asylum seekers
in Egypt, which dictates for them a different outcome.
However, refugees or not, "all still have broken Egyptian
law," and even those who have the protection of refugee
status may have to face legal consequences.

-------------- --------------
Trilateral Engagement With Israel, UNHCR Unlikely
-------------- --------------


5. (C) MFA Deputy Assistant Minister for American Affairs
Mohamed Aboul Dahab, discussing ref B demarche with Minister
Counselor on September 9, said that "now is not the time" to
engage trilaterally with Israel and UNHCR. Given the
interagency GOE uncertainty as to its eventual course of
action, similar uncertainty from the Israeli side, and still
lingering bad blood with UNHCR over the GOE's violent
solution to a sit-in by Sudanese outside of UNHCR/Cairo
headquarters in December 2005, he thought that such an
approach would not be useful. (Note: UNHCR publicly
condemned GOE use of force to quell a three-month long

CAIRO 00002816 002 OF 002


Sudanese sit-in outside UNHCR's Cairo headquarters in
December 2005, killing almost 30. GOE officials may feel
that UNHCR bore some responsibility for that problem, as the
sit-in began when UNHCR changed its policy to encourage
repatriation, rather than resettlement, for South Sudanese
after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended Sudan's
north-south civil war. See ref F for more information. End
note.)


6. (C) Fathi said that the GOE defers completely to UNHCR
determination of who in Egypt is a refugee or asylum-seeker,
and treats them accordingly. UNHCR Deputy Regional
Representative for Protection Katharina Lumpp told poloff on
September 11 that UNHCR has good and regular working-level
relations with Egyptian State Security Investigative Service
(SSIS),with whom they engage as to the disposition of
specific asylum-seeker cases. UNHCR also runs training
programs for Egyptian security personnel throughout Egypt,
with the exception of the Sinai, to sensitize them to refugee
issues, she said. On a policy level, however, Lumpp reports
that even after multiple offers of assistance, her MFA
contacts have no interest in coordinating on developing
policy towards migrants. Fathi confirmed this, saying that
the GOE is not working with UNHCR to determine how best to
handle the approximately 50 returnees from Israel, or any
other persons who are not strictly defined as refugees or
asylum-seekers.


7. (C) Asked about coordination with Israel, Fathi was vague
but hinted that Egypt and Israel had on-going general,
high-level discussions on the migrant issue. However, he
said that working-level coordination between Egyptian and
Israeli border forces was probably minimal, intimating that
the GOE was not ready to increase its engagement at this time.

-------------- --
New Egyptian Tactics Reducing Border Incidents?
-------------- --


8. (SBU) Lumpp assessed that Egyptian security forces are
increasing their efforts to interdict African migrants west
of the Suez Canal. (Note: The Suez Canal is a natural choke
point for those traveling from Cairo to the Sinai as there
are limited crossings, making it easier for Egyptian security
to comprehensively inspect those traveling across. End
note.) According to Lumpp's contacts in SSIS, and to the
asylum seekers themselves, Egyptian security forces have
increased detentions of Africans crossing the Canal that they
suspect are being smuggled across the Sinai to Israel. The
Africans are then returned to Cairo, sometimes after a brief
detention. Wael Aboul Magd, Director of the MFA's Office of
Human Rights, confirmed to poloff on September 17 that Egypt
is focused on intercepting potential migrants west of Suez.
Lumpp attributed this new "arrest campaign" to a decrease in
the number of inquiries UNHCR receives from SSIS as to the
status of African migrants that they interdict on the border.
Although UNHCR received a "very high" average of about 50
inquires per month in July and August, she said, the numbers
since then "seem to have slowed."

--------------
Comment
--------------


9. (C) Egypt faces a genuine dilemma in dealing with African
migrants. Egypt cannot accept migrants returned from Israel
without prosecuting or deporting them, as this would send a
message that Egyptian law is meaningless. However,
prosecuting people who are only seeking a better life could
harm Egypt's image given the spotlight on border issues and
Darfur. On the other hand, deporting refugees or
asylum-seekers to their countries of origin would violate
international commitments, and deporting economic migrants
might cause social unrest - always a top GOE concern - among
Egypt's large African, particularly Sudanese, population.
Reports of stepped up efforts west of Suez, if true, may help
to contain the problem within Egypt and lessen incidents on
the border.
RICCIARDONE