EGYPT: LIMITED UNHCR ACCESS TO ERITREAN ASYLUM

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001322 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, PRM/AFR GENEVA FOR RMA E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2018 TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL EG ER SUBJECT: EGYPT: LIMITED UNHCR ACCESS TO ERITREAN ASYLUM SEEKERS REF: A. SECSTATE 67937 ¶B. CAIRO 1258 Classified by Minister Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs William R. Stewart for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On June 23, we again pressed MFA Deputy Assistant Minister for Refugees Tarek El Maaty for the GOE to cease forced repatriations of Eritrean asylum seekers and to allow UNHCR complete access to those held in Egyptian custody. El Maaty, uncomfortable and defensive, stressed that most of the Eritreans were not genuine refugees but rather fleeing from military service, "which would be a crime in Egypt." He again portrayed the issue as one of "national security" and lamented that so few other countries were willing to "help us share the burden." ¶2. (C) El Maaty criticized the UNHCR for not tackling the problem with the requisite alacrity or adequate resources, but admitted when pressed that the UNHCR had requested access to detained Eritreans "for months." He said that the UNHCR now has access to about 200 Eritreans in two locations near Aswan and promised that Egypt would allow anyone the UNHCR designates to be a genuine refugee to stay in Egypt. He denied knowledge of any other Eritreans in Egypt, but acknowledged that there might be "some" held by the security forces in other locations. ¶3. (C) On June 24, UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative for Protection Katharina Lumpp told us that the UNHCR does have access to almost 200 Eritrean asylum seekers held near Aswan for refugee status determinations, and that she expected processing to be completed by June 29 at the latest. However, she said that the GOE has denied UNHCR access to Eritreans reported to be held elsewhere in Egypt until the UNHCR completes processing in Aswan; "'we'll see' is all they told us." Lumpp said that the problem is not one of UNHCR's capacity; they have another team ready to deploy elsewhere in Egypt concurrent with the team in Aswan. ¶4. (U) Also on June 24, the MFA issued a statement on its web site "severely criticizing" western countries for criticizing Egypt on the Eritrean refugee issue while at the same time declining to resettle Eritreans themselves, to the point of "humiliating" asylum seekers. Egypt, the statement says, is seriously trying to balance its security needs and its international obligations. ¶5. (SBU) On June 25, Lumpp opined that between 100 and 200 Eritreans likely remained in Egyptian prisons in locations other than Aswan, but said that "it's very difficult to tell." "Reliable sources" had told her that, at least sometime in the past week, about 100 Eritreans were in a prison in Borg Al Arab near Alexandria and that about 40 were either in or being moved from Kanater prison in Cairo. She noted that, prior to the repatriations, the UNHCR had repeatedly sent the Egyptian authorities the names of about 1400 Eritreans to which the UNHCR was requesting access. Even after eliminating potential duplicate names, Lumpp said that the UNHCR had expected to eventually find at least 1200 Eritreans in Egyptian custody if none had been deported. SCOBEY