VZCZCXRO1654
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHEG #1901/01 1721001
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 211001Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5766
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0189

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CAIRO 001901 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PREF PGOV PHUM EG IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQI REFUGEE NUMBERS IN EGYPT SWELL, UNDER A 
WATCHFUL EYE 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please handle accordingly. 
 
------- 
Summary 
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¶1.  (SBU) Egyptian authorities are watching cautiously as 
Iraqi refugee numbers in Egypt approach the 100,000 mark, 
according to official estimates, amid signs of an 
increasingly restless Iraqi community.  The GOE offers few 
social services to the Iraqis (similar to other large refugee 
communities, i.e., Sudanese), leaving them to fend for 
themselves in private housing, education, and health-care 
markets.  There have been no known cases of forced 
deportations of Iraqis, but visa issuance has tightened due 
to security concerns, and residency permission has become a 
crucial tool of control (and exploitation) by GOE security 
services.  The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has 
registered approximately 7,600 Iraqis at its Cairo offices, 
and very few of these are likely to be resettled to other 
countries.  Distrust of the UN agency may play a role in 
Iraqis, reluctance to register with the Commission, along 
with a perception that UNHCR can offer refugees little in the 
way of services.  Still, lack of jobs, rising prices, and 
other problems associated with a dislocated population, 
strains are beginning to develop between different Iraqi 
groups and between Egyptians and Iraqis.  A recent GOE 
rejection of a request by Iraqis to build a Shia mosque in 
Cairo highlighted these tensions, and revealed deep-seated 
ambivalence among Egyptians toward their Iraqi brethren.  End 
Summary. 
 
--------------------------------- 
The GOE:  Policy and Perspectives 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) According to a senior official at the Egyptian 
Foreign Ministry, Egypt is hosting approximately 100,000 
Iraqis who left their country to escape the war.  There are 
no precise figures on the number of Iraqi refugees in Egypt, 
however, unofficial estimates range from 60,000 up to 
130,000.  The majority, he said, hail from middle class 
neighborhoods of Baghdad, driven out by the threat of 
violence and the "ethnic cleansing" of various communities. 
Describing GOE visa policy, MFA Deputy Assistant Minister for 
Refugee Affairs Tarek Maaty told emboffs that Iraqis must now 
obtain a visa from an Egyptian embassy prior to travel. 
Egypt's embassy in Baghdad was essentially closed after the 
June 2005 kidnapping and murder of its Ambassador, Ihab 
Sherif.  Until recently, Iraqis were able to obtain airport 
visas upon arrival in Cairo.  MFA Assistant Minister for 
Consular Affairs Mahmoud Aouf told a Parliamentary Committee 
on April 4, 2007 that the decision (to tighten rules) was 
"due to the nature of the security circumstances accompanying 
the entry of Iraqis in Egypt at this stage." 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Maaty said that visa issuance must await 
pre-approval from Cairo security authorities, but that 
issuance was generous.  The length of legal stay in Egypt is 
determined upon application for entry at the border.  There 
are no cases of forced deportation of Iraqis who entered the 
country legally, he added.  There have been approximately 100 
cases over the past six months, he said, where Iraqis arrived 
without visas and were denied entry.  This includes a 
"handful" of cases involving false documentation by 
individuals seeking entry.  To deal with this issue, a 
mechanism was recently created, for GOE airport authorities 
to coordinate with the MFA, the Iraqi Embassy, and the UN 
High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to verify bona fides of 
an individual seeking entry if there are security concerns or 
problems.  The mechanism, Maaty claimed, is "working well." 
 
---------------------- 
The Iraqi Embassy View 
---------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Iraqi Embassy contacts believe the number of Iraqis 
in Egypt is closer to 60,000, and suggest the GOE inflates 
the figure in public for several reasons:  seeking credit 
from the Iraqi government for helping its brother in need, 
seeking credit from the U.S. and the international community 
for helping Iraq despite its lack of participation in 
Operation Iraqi Freedom, and elevating the sense of 
"vigilance" among Egyptian security forces to counter any 
potential problems imported by Iraqi Shia refugees.  The bulk 
of the Iraqis reside in and around October 6 City on the 
northwest suburbs of Cairo, causing housing and real estate 
prices there to rise precipitously.  The Iraqis there are 
largely self-dependent, relying upon their savings to cover 
costs of private education and social services that the GOE 
does not offer them.  Embassy contacts do not dispute the GOE 
 
CAIRO 00001901  002 OF 003 
 
 
line that Iraqis are welcome in Egypt, but complain that they 
are being exploited by unscrupulous landlords, police, and 
government officials. 
 
---------------------------- 
Anecdotes of Iraqis in Cairo 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) Mona, an Iraqi Shia from a Sunni neighborhood of 
Baghdad resides in Cairo with her two daughters, one with a 
severe mental handicap which she attributed to "chemicals 
being used in the war on Iraq."  She complained to emboffs 
that she was unable to locate proper care for her handicapped 
daughter and must bear the full expense of her family's 
medical needs.  Her husband located steady work in the 
Emirates in the aircraft engineering field, but he was turned 
down when he applied for a visa to visit his family in Egypt. 
 The woman said she was granted temporary refugee status from 
the UNHCR ("yellow card"), and as such cannot depart the 
country to visit her husband.  She said she and her family 
hoped to be resettled by the UN in a third country.  "Many 
Iraqi families here are in similar circumstances," she 
concluded. 
 
¶6.  (U) Barbara Harrell, a professor at the American 
University of Cairo involved in refugee issues, told Emboff 
that funding for education of refugees in Egypt is 
non-existent.  She asserted that Egypt plays host to 130,000 
Iraqi refugees.  She said that it was a "myth" that these 
Iraqis all arrived with lots of money, and that many are now 
running low on funds.  "There is no way to get money out of 
Iraq."  There is also no provision for medical care for the 
Iraqi refugees, many of whom have cancers, special needs, and 
are traumatized by the conflict that they have escaped.  The 
Iraqis in Egypt are believed to be highly educated and 
skilled:  their skills are being wasted in Egypt, she 
complained, since they are not allowed to work.  There are no 
sites to dispense welfare funds to Iraqis in Egypt, and Iraqi 
children are not permitted to use public Egyptian schools, 
over-crowded already with Egyptians.  The U.S. she said, 
could help by funding hospitals, schools, and other 
facilities to aid the Iraqis.  Harrell said there was a high 
level of distrust among the Iraqi population in Egypt toward 
the UNHCR - an agency they felt was more likely to make 
trouble, than assist them. 
 
¶7.  (U) Ray Jureidini, another professor at AUC, discussed 
the role of the UNHCR and the status of Iraqis in Egypt.  He 
said the organization routinely extended refugee status for 
any Iraqi resident in Egypt, allowing them to enroll their 
children in private schools.    Most Iraqis, with the 
exception of those from the North, are given prima facie 
refugee status by UNHCR.  But, he complained, the UNHCR is 
slow to process applications and is widely distrusted by the 
Iraqi population.  As a result, he added, the number of Iraqi 
refugees registered with the UNHCR in Cairo is only a small 
percent of the Iraqi population in Egypt.  He believed the 
Iraqi refugees in Egypt were providing benefits to the 
Egyptian economy, and have begun to create communities and 
support networks of their own.  Jureidini confirmed that the 
GOE does not offer them education, health-care, or employment 
- challenges it can not meet for its own citizens.  For the 
GOE, the needs of refugee communities in Egypt is the 
responsibility of the UNHCR (security issues accepted). Those 
caught in illegal status in Egypt, he said, are permitted to 
remain in the country, provided they pay penalties.  Some are 
referred to the UNHCR, which routinely registers them as 
refugee applicants, providing them with legal status to 
remain in Egypt. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Worries over Shia-Sunni Conflict 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) President Mubarak, in a telling 2006 interview with al 
Arabiya TV, broadcast his deep personal distrust of all 
Shi'ites when he questioned their national loyalties.  The 
largely Sunni Egyptian population generally shares the 
regime's outlook on this subject, despite Egypt's close 
historical links to Shia Islam.  The issue continues to be a 
key concern of both the Egyptian government and public, and 
guides GOE policy towards the growing Iraqi refugee 
community.  According to local press reporting, 7,000 Iraqi 
Shiites recently petitioned the Egyptian government for 
permission to construct a Shiite mosque in the October 6 City 
suburb of Cairo, citing Article 46 of the Egyptian 
constitution which guarantees the "freedom of belief and 
freedom to practice religious rites."  The group reportedly 
threatened to refer the issue to the "A'al Al Bayt Supreme 
Council" (a religious council in Egypt for Shiites). 
According to local contacts, the move added to already 
 
CAIRO 00001901  003 OF 003 
 
 
heightened to GOE fears that the Iraqi community would set 
off a "fitna," or clash in Egypt between the two primary 
Islamic sects, attracting fanatics from both sides in the 
process.  Prime Minister Nazif recently rejected the request 
to build the mosque.  The Iraqi Charge in Cairo, according to 
media reports, called for calm from the Iraqi community and 
requested they not cause trouble with the GOE.  With few 
places for the Shia to worship in Cairo, the issue is certain 
to remain contentious. 
JONES