This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000058 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR PRM/A, PRM/AFR, PRM/ANE, PRM/MCE 
ROME FOR DHS/CIS 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/02/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PREF CASC EG SU UNHCR
SUBJECT: EGYPT: NO UNHCR ACCESS TO SUDANESE DETAINEES 
 
REF: JONES-DIBBLE E-MAILS 
 
Classified by DCM Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (C) UNHCR still has no access to the Sudanese being held 
by the GOE in temporary camps following a violent 
confrontation that occurred when GOE security forces ended 
the Sudanese group's three month protest over refugee policy. 
 While the GOE has not formally declined UNHCR's access 
request, the UNHCR assistant regional representative in Cairo 
reports that the GOE is linking access to a new statement 
from UNHCR in Geneva that backs away from the critical 
comments Geneva made immediately following the violence.  The 
UNHCR regional representative was at the MFA late on January 
3, but no report on that meeting is yet available.  DCM and 
other Emboffs have stressed with MFA and MOI Assistant 
Ministers and other officials the importance of UNHCR access 
to the Sudanese being held at temporary camps and the need to 
coordinate deportations with UNHCR.  Although the GOE 
confirmed that at least 26 Sudanese refugee protesters died 
in the incident, it has tried in public fora to highlight its 
efforts to reach a negotiated solution to the impasse as well 
as alleged efforts to avoid injuring women and children, who 
represented a significant number of those killed.  GOE 
officials have also confirmed that they have detained the 
Sudanese protesters in detention centers around Cairo and are 
screening them to determine their legal status.  We 
understand from MOI sources that deportations may occur, but 
not before consultation with the UNHCR.  The Embassy learned 
separately that an American dual citizen who worked for a 
U.S.-based NGO was among the detainees.  Egyptian State 
Security sources said on January 2 that the man had been 
released, but we have not heard from him.  End summary. 
 
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UNHCR lacks access to detainees 
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¶2.  (C) UNHCR Assistant Resident Representative Damtew 
Dessalegne told ECPO Counselor and Embassy Refugee 
Coordinator January 3 that UNHCR's request for access to 
detained Sudanese has still not been granted.  UNHCR's 
Ministry of Interior contacts, through whom UNHCR gained 
access to Sudanese in Egyptian custody prior to the December 
30 violence, have told UNHCR to make all further access 
requests, including routine requests unrelated to the 
December 30 incident via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
According to Dessalegne, the MFA is still smarting over UNHCR 
Geneva's public criticism of the GOE's actions on December 
¶30.  Dessalegne says that Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit's Chef 
de Cabinet, Wifaa Bassem, told Dessalegne not to call her 
again about access to detainees until UNHCR Geneva has made a 
public statement more to the GOE's liking.  Dessalegne, 
asking Emboffs to treat the information carefully, said that 
the quid pro quo between access to detainees and a new UNHCR 
statement was explicit.  Dessalegne reported that UNHCR may 
issue a new statement as early as January 3. 
 
¶3.  (C) Dessalegne said he could not confirm or deny rumors 
that deportations have begun; MFA denies any deportations. 
UNHCR Khartoum employees went to Khartoum airport January 2 
in response to reports that 100 refugees were arriving on a 
flight from Cairo.  The reports turned out to be false. 
According to Dessalegne, there were over 2,000 Sudanese in 
the park when the GOE cleaned it out.  Since then, 
approximately 1,500 Sudanese have taken refuge at a Catholic 
Church in Cairo.  Dessalegne believes that many of these, 
perhaps 1,000, were Sudanese at the park who had been 
released from GOE custody once they showed Egyptian visas or 
UNHCR refugee documents.  Dessalegne had little to report on 
the remaining detainees.  The GOE told him that they had 
recovered documents from the park and were reuniting those 
documents with their owners in detention, releasing those who 
are properly documented.  As for the rest, UNHCR does not 
know how many may still be in detention, where they are begin 
held, or if some have been deported.  UNHCR Resident 
Representative Saad al-Attar was at the MFA late on January 3 
but no report on his meetings there are yet available. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) On January 2, Attar told the diplomatic corps and 
NGO representatives that GOE and Sudanese officials had made 
numerous interventions to broker a peaceful solution to the 
situation and said the UNHCR had sent the GOE three letters 
asking for help in resolving the matter peacefully.  Attar 
also noted that UNHCR had no prior warning that MOI security 
forces planned to try to remove the protesters.  Attar said 
that the UNHCR had not been able to confirm the number of 
Sudanese killed, injured or detained in connection with the 
incident. 
 
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MFA,MOI urged to provide access to refugees 
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¶5.  (C) In January 2 and 3 conversations with MFA Assistant 
Minister for Americas Affairs Ali Al Hefny, DCM underlined 
the importance of providing UNHCR access to the Sudanese 
being held in temporary camps.  He also stressed that MFA 
should coordinate closely with the MOI to ensure there would 
be no deportations without consultations with the UNHCR.  Ali 
Hefny assured the DCM that the GOE is making efforts to 
accommodate the UNHCR and said that he would coordinate 
further with the MOI.  Al Hefny also said that he believed 
that there were approximately 300 Sudanese still held in 
"temporary camps."  He assured us there would be no 
deporatations without UNHCR coordination. 
 
¶6.  (C)   Also on January 2, Embassy Regional Security 
Officer reinforced with senior staff at MOI the USG's concern 
that the GOE grant UNHCR access to the Sudanese detainees. 
MOI personnel said the GOE intends to deport illegals but 
emphasized that the UNHCR would be part of this process. 
 
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GOE publicly defensive of incident 
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¶7.  (C)  The GOE has relied largely on the media to share its 
side of the story about what happened on December 30, 
emphasizing that it tried for months to negotiate a solution. 
 Officials also assert that they tried to remove women and 
children from the occupied plot early to avoid injuring them. 
 Unfortunately, the situation escalated before this could 
happen, and both women and children died. 
 
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Suzanne Mubarak learns of USG assistance to Sudan 
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¶8.  (C) The Ambassador will meet with First Lady Suzanne 
Mubarak on January 4 to discuss the Sudan asylum seeker 
issue.  In an introductory call by the Ambassador on November 
23, Mrs. Mubarak described the substantial charity relief 
work that she and her foundation have been conducting among 
the Sudanese.  She agonized over the dilemma between the 
obligation that Egyptians felt to provide what relief they 
could manage, despite Egypt,s own poverty, versus the more 
fundamental need to "provide hope for these people" that they 
could return to their lives in Sudan.  Egypt,s goal, she 
said, was to encourage the Sudanese to return to their home 
country, or to find resettlement opportunities in third 
countries, as quickly as possible.  Mrs. Mubarak commended 
what she had understood of U.S. assistance for Sudan and 
Sudanese asylum seekers, though she appeared only partly 
aware of the scope of the USG effort.  (Note:  We later 
provided her a fact sheet on direct U.S. resettlement of 
Sudanese refugees from Egypt; our support for UN and NGO 
resettlement programs for Sudanese going to third countries; 
our diplomacy to resolve Sudan,s internal conflicts; and USG 
and private relief for Sudanese asylum seekers and economic 
assistance to offer hope for them to return to Sudan. End 
note.) 
 
RICCIARDONE