EMBASSY TRYING TQLT EGYPTIAN REFOULEMENT OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 002583 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, AF/E, PRM FOR LANGE, PRM FOR MCKELVEY E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/30/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF PREL ER EG SUBJECT: EMBASSY TRYING TQLT EGYPTIAN REFOULEMENT OF ERITREAN MIGRANTS REF: A. CAIRO 1972 ¶B. CAIRO 2053 ¶C. CAIRO 2384 Classified By: Ambassador Margaret Scobey for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Embassy Cairo is engaging with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA),Egyptian State Security (SSIS),and UNHCR to halt the Government of Egypt's (GOE) forced repatriation of Eritrean migrants. On December 23, the Ambassador asked the MFA to give UNHCR access to the Eritreans to determine protection needs. She also encouraged the GOE not to forcibly return the migrants to Eritrea given the deplorable human rights situation in the country. On December 29, we provided UNHCR's Cairo office with the names of six Eritrean refugees, that were to be sent back to Eritrea the following day. UNHCR agreed to send a note to the Egyptian MFA offering emergency resettlement for at least three of the refugees. The Ambassador also provided these names to MFA on December 30. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Comment: According to UNHCR information the number of registered Eritrean refugees has increased by nearly 200% over the last 1.5 years. Egyptian authorities are using arrests and refoulement as a means to deal with this increase. Our conversations with Egyptian authorities on the Eritrean situation reveal that any problem in the Sinai is considered to be a "national security issue." Thus, any refugee apprehended in the Sinai will be deported to their country of origin by the Egyptian security services. The Egyptian MFA does not appear to have any specific knowledge about these Eritrean cases, and it is unlikely that the MFA will have a role in the decision of what to do with them. Rather, the Egyptian security apparatus will take the lead in the decision making and implementation. ¶3. (SBU) According to international press reports, the Government of Egypt (GOE) forcibly repatriated 25 Eritrean migrants to Asmara on December 24. Heba Kassem, our contact that works closely with the Eritrean refugee community, confirmed that the 25 Eritreans were forcibly deported, and were arrested upon their arrival in Eritrea. The 25 Eritreans are part of a larger group of around 98 Eritreans that is reportedly being held in al-Nakheel prison in Sinai. Some of our contacts told us that these Eritreans are "hot returns" from Israel, while others said they were captured attempting to cross the border into Israel. We are coordinating with the local UNHCR office to try to stop the refoulement. ¶4. (C) The Ambassador asked Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shadia Farrag on December 23 to provide UNHCR access to the Eritreans to determine protection needs. She also encouraged the GOE not to forcibly return the migrants to Eritrea given the deplorable human rights situation in the country. Poloff highlighted the same points during a conversation with the Director of the MFA's Refugee Office, Tarek Maaty, on December 23. Maaty told us that he received a letter from UNHCR asking for access to the Eritrean migrants in Sinai. He said that he did not have any specific details on this group of Eritreans, but he told us that he passed the UNHCR letter on to the "security authorities." Maaty stated that many Eritreans are now traveling directly to the Sinai so as to cross into Israel, instead of registering with UNHCR in Ethiopia, Sudan or Egypt. He said this action--"as per the refugee conventions"--prohibits the migrants from being considered refugees or asylum seekers. Maaty told us that Canada agreed to resettle 118 Eritrean migrants, arrested last summer in Aswan. He appealed for the U.S. to accept some Eritreans to "solve this problem." Maaty has consistently asked us take some refugees to alleviate Egypt's dilemma of what to do with them (reftels A-C). ¶5. (SBU) The Embassy received word on December 29 that Egypt would forcibly deport six Eritrean refugees on December 30. We contacted State Security (SSIS) to register our opposition to this action, as it violates the refugee conventions to which Egypt is a signatory. We also spoke with Katharina Lumpp, Deputy Directory of UNHCR in Cairo. We provided her with the names of the Eritrean refugees, and she agreed to send a note to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs offering emergency resettlement for at least three of the refugees. The Ambassador provided Assistant Foreign Minister Wafaa Bassim the names of the six refugees on December 30. She told Bassim that UNHCR was sending a letter offering emergency resettlement for at least three of the refugees. We will follow up with the MFA's Refugee Office later in the day. SCOBEY