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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000639 
 
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: UNHCR COMPLETES ITS WORK WITH 
DETAINEES BUT HAS CONTINUING SECURITY CONCERNS. 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
Reference: Cairo 480 and previous. 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (SBU) Although some Sudanese asylum seekers were released 
during the week, 155 remain in detention following their 
forcible eviction from a sit-in in a downtown park December 
¶30. UNHCR has completed its evaluation of all of those still 
in detention and will present its final report to the GOE 
February 2.  It will report that 14 have valid refugee 
claims after all appeals have been processed.  About half 
the valid claims are by newcomers who were not previously 
registered with UNHCR.  The remaining valid claims are from 
old `closed files' who were able to establish a valid 
refugee claim by producing new evidence.  On humanitarian 
grounds, UNHCR will officially request that the GOE not 
deport any of the detainees, at least for the time being. 
UNHCR was advised some time ago that the GOE will conduct an 
investigation into the December 30 incident but UNHCR cannot 
confirm that this is under way. In the meantime 
investigators from UNHCR's Office of the Inspector General 
(OIG) are in Cairo on a lessons-learned mission.  According 
to Sudanese government media reports the Sudanese will also 
send a delegation to Cairo to investigate the incident. 
UNHCR's Cairo office is struggling to deal with large 
numbers of angry Sudanese - most of them previously denied 
cases - demanding refugee status.  End Summary 
 
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UNHCR Completes its Work - 14 Given Refugee Status 
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¶2. (SBU) UNHCR Cairo's Deputy Representative, Damtew 
Dessalegne briefed RefCoord February 2 about the status of 
the Sudanese asylum seekers still in detention following the 
violent eviction of 2,100 demonstrators from Mustafa Mahmoud 
Park December 30 following a 14-week sit-in.    During the 
past week, 28 have been released - including several minors 
and those who had lost their UNHCR registration documents - 
leaving 155 in detention. UNHCR has completed its evaluation 
of all of them and will present its final report to the GOE 
tonight (February 2).  It will tell the GOE that it has 
determined that only 14 of those in detention have valid 
refugee claims.  Half of the valid claims are by newcomers. 
The remaining new claims are from old `closed files' who 
have now been able to establish a valid refugee claim by 
producing new evidence. 
 
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UNHCR Will Ask the GOE Not to Deport - For Now 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶3.  (SBU) In its February 2 Note Verbale, UNHCR will ask the 
GOE to refrain from deporting any detainees on humanitarian 
grounds, at least for the time being, to give them time to 
recover from the trauma of the December 30 police action. It 
will also ask for the release of those who have family 
members in Cairo with valid UNHCR registration documents. 
UNHCR has been unable to confirm media reports that the GOE 
has decided not to deport any of the demonstrators. 
 
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Investigations Under Way 
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¶4. (SBU) RefCoord met February 2 with Clementine Nkweta- 
Muna, Head of the Inspection Unit in UNHCR's OIG.  Nkweta- 
Muna's team of four from the OIG and from the International 
Protection Department has been in Cairo for a week 
conducting a lessons-learned exercise.  They have met with 
the GOE, embassies, NGOs and the American University's 
Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Department and will 
return to Geneva tomorrow.  We were able to brief Nkweta- 
Muna about the activities of the U.S. Refugee Resettlement 
Program in Cairo and to discuss the lead-up to the December 
30 incident and our response to it.  Dessalegne noted that 
the GOE's MFA had advised UNHCR some weeks ago that it would 
conduct its own internal investigation of the incident but 
UNHCR has received no confirmation that such an 
investigation is under way.  In the meantime, the official 
Sudanese news agency, SUNA, has reported that the government 
of Sudan will send a delegation to Cairo to probe the deaths 
of 27 Sudanese during the December 30 incident. 
 
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UNHCR Cairo Operating in a `Very Tense Environment' 
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¶5.  (SBU) Dessalegne reports that the Cairo office (which 
had been closed during the demonstration) continues to be 
under considerable pressure from angry Sudanese demanding 
refugee status.   The numbers of Sudanese coming to UNHCR's 
office has dropped to between 400-600 a day from the peak of 
around 800 a day last week (reftel).   Some of these are 
newcomers requesting registration and some are filing for 
replacement documents, but most are old, denied (and 
appealed) cases clamoring for their cases to be reopened and 
to be given refugee status.  According to Dessalegne, this 
is a `very tense environment' with many of the previously 
denied cases showing up every day.   UNHCR is concerned for 
the safety of its staff and is seeking guidance from Geneva 
about how to deal with the situation. 
 
Ricciardone