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 000783 
 
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: ALL UNHCR `PERSONS OF CONCERN' 
RELEASED FROM DETENTION.  GOE CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVES TO 
DEPORTATION FOR REMAINDER. 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
Reference: Cairo 639 and previous. 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (SBU) Emboffs met separately February 9 with MFA and 
UNHCR to discuss the status of Sudanese asylum seekers in 
Cairo.  All UNHCR `persons of concern' have been released, 
leaving the fate of the remaining 156 detainees in question. 
MFA contacts rule out deportations in the short term, and 
believe none of the Sudanese will be prosecuted.  The GOE 
promises to share contents of its investigation of the 
December 30 incident with the Embassy but does not expect 
GOE security personnel to be punished.  The GOE is 
considering tightening its restrictions on Sudanese entry 
into the country but has patched relations with UNHCR and 
does not intend to change the way refugees are dealt with 
here.  UNHCR is still checking for discrepancies in the 
numbers of those detained and killed and has begun an 
analysis of the legal entitlements available to Sudanese in 
Cairo to enable it to identify gaps and to target assistance 
needs.  The numbers of asylum seekers coming to UNHCR's 
Cairo office have now dropped to manageable levels.  End 
Summary. 
 
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No `Persons of Concern' in Custody 
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¶2. (SBU) Emboffs met separately February 9 with Nasser 
Hamzawy, Head of MFA's Office of Refugee Affairs, and UNHCR 
Chief of Mission, Saad Al Attar, to discuss the status of 
the Sudanese asylum seekers remaining in detention following 
their forcible eviction from a sit-in in a downtown park 
December 30.  Al Attar is satisfied that all UNHCR `persons 
of concern' have been released including all women and 
minors, all Darfurians, those with valid visas or residence 
permits, those with refugee status, and those who had 
previously registered with UNHCR. 
 
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Deportations in Doubt 
--------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Hamzawy seemed to cast doubt on a January 8 GOE 
statement asserting that those found to be in the country 
illegally would be deported.  He suggested that `some way' 
would be found to release them and to legitimize their 
presence in Egypt at least for a while - perhaps by giving 
them temporary visas or residence permits - and then to 
consider deportation for those who subsequently failed to 
adjust their status. 
 
--------------------------------- 
GOE Investigation Nearly Complete 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Hamzawy said that a GOE report of an investigation 
of the December 30 incident was now with the Office of the 
Prosecutor General and the Ministry of the Interior and 
would probably be completed next week.  Hamzawy promised to 
share its contents with us.  He is confident that the report 
will exonerate the Egyptian security forces who took part in 
the eviction and will instead blame the Sudanese for the 
debacle and the subsequent loss of life.  He confirmed that 
the death toll stood at 27 - not counting a subsequent 
suicide and the death a few days ago of a demonstrator 
injured in the incident.  Hamzawy gave us a list of the 
deceased. 
 
¶4. (SBU) UNHCR has been unsuccessful in its attempts to 
obtain a list of those evicted from the park on the morning 
of December 30 - if such a list exists.  It wants to check 
this list against the names of those deceased, the list of 
4,000 demonstrators provided by leaders of the sit-in on 
December 17, and the list of those who have received UNHCR 
assistance after the incident.  UNHCR believes this would 
show up any discrepancies in the death toll and the numbers 
still in detention. 
 
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GOE May Restrict Visas for Sudanese 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) We asked Hamzawy if the GOE intended to adopt any 
new measures to deal with Sudanese asylum seekers in the 
future.  For example, would the GOE consider tightening 
entry restrictions on Sudanese migrants?  Would it consider 
sharing some of the burden of identifying and assisting 
asylum seekers in Cairo?  Hamzawy hinted that, as an 
imperative, the GOE was reviewing the current situation 
where three-month visas are freely available to Sudanese in 
Khartoum.  The GOE also wanted more money to deal with 
refugees but did not envisage taking on any more 
responsibility for registering, recognizing, or assisting 
refugees.  This was UNHCR's responsibility, Hamzawy said. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
UNHCR to Analyze Gaps in Legal Status of Sudanese 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶6. (SBU) The team from UNHCR's Office of the Inspector 
General (OIG) has completed its lessons-learned 
investigation (reftel) and has returned to Geneva.  In the 
meantime UNHCR has begun an `analysis of the legal 
framework' for the status of Sudanese in Egypt.  It will 
examine the provisions and implementation of the Four 
Freedoms Agreement and other commitments that establish the 
legal status of Sudanese in Cairo.  UNHCR hopes that this 
review will help it identify any gaps in the entitlements 
available to Sudanese - for housing, employment, health 
care, and so on. UNHCR believes such an analysis is the 
first step towards developing proposals for a program of 
finely targeted assistance measures. 
 
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UNHCR Cairo Under less Pressure 
------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Al Attar reports that the Cairo office is under 
less pressure than two weeks ago when it was dealing with up 
to 800 asylum seekers a day (reftel).  The numbers coming to 
the office have now dropped to manageable levels of around 
150-200 per day.  The office had been closed during the 
demonstration and has handed out around 1,600 applications 
for registration since it reopened a month ago. About 1,500 
of these are Sudanese.  Some are newcomers and some are ID 
renewals.  The remaining 100 are a mixture of Somalis and 
Iraqis.  UNHCR is also looking to move its offices to a more 
functional location outside Mohandeseen. 
 
Ricciardone