US embassy cable - 05CAIRO8110

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 008110 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
FROM REGIONAL REFUGEE COORDINATOR 
DEPT FOR PRM/A, PRM/AFR, PRM/ANE, PRM/MCE, NEA/ELA AND AF 
ROME FOR DHS/CIS 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF, PHUM, PREL, ASEC, EG, SU, UNHCR 
SUBJECT: FRUSTRATION MOUNTS AS SUDANESE DEMONSTRATIONS 
CONTINUE IN CAIRO 
 
Reference: Cairo 07766 
 
Sensitive but unclassified; Please protect accordingly 
 
1. (SBU) The continuing demonstration by southern Sudanese 
migrants camped out in a central city park is not a refugee 
problem but rather a broader humanitarian issue, according 
to UNHCR Cairo.  The demonstration has forced the closure of 
UNHCR's Cairo office, which adjoins the makeshift camp set- 
up by the Sudanese (reftel).  UNHCR's deputy representative, 
Damtew Dessalegne, briefed RefCoord on the status of the 
demonstration this week. 
 
2. (SBU) Most of the Sudanese demonstrators are not 
recognized refugees, says Dessalegne.  The majority arrived 
5-10 years ago with no intention of staying in Egypt.  But 
they failed in their bid to gain refugee status and to 
achieve their principal goal of third-country resettlement 
and have remained in Cairo over the years clinging to the 
hope that things would somehow change and third-country 
resettlement would become a reality.  They have survived 
with the protection of UNHCR's "Yellow Card", issued to 
registered, but not recognized, asylum seekers and does not 
permit employment (unlike the "Blue Card" issued to 
recognized refugees). 
 
3. (SBU) Unlike Blue Card holders (recognized refugees) most 
of the demonstrators receive no government or UNHCR 
assistance and survive on illegal employment (if they can 
find it) and handouts from a few largely overwhelmed 
churches and charitable organizations.  According to UNHCR, 
there are around 20,000 Sudanese in this situation in Cairo 
and they see their hopes of moving on fading now that UNHCR 
has stopped doing refugee status determinations (RSDs), as 
resettlement opportunities evaporate, and as peace continues 
to take hold in the south.  They are facing what must seem 
to them, the bleak prospect of returning to their shattered 
homeland as the only alternative to a continuing hand-to- 
mouth existence in Cairo. 
 
4. (SBU) According to Dessalegne, the number of 
demonstrators in the park fluctuates daily between 400- 
1,200.  At midweek there were around 6-700.  There has been 
no violence (although one of the demonstrators died of 
natural causes in his home in Maadi).  UNHCR says the 
demonstrators were encouraged to come to the park in the 
mistaken believe that they would be able to exchange their 
Yellow Cards for Blue Cards and that UNHCR would reopen 
their files offering the possibility of third country 
resettlement.  UNHCR believes that once the reality that 
none of this will happen sinks in, the numbers will dwindle 
and the demonstrators will have dispersed by the end of 
Ramadan (early November). 
 
5. (SBU) Dessalegne points out that this is no longer a 
"refugee" problem within the meaning of UNHCR's mandate. 
The Sudanese are technically free to return home, but few 
want to.  UNHCR says that some demonstrators are new 
arrivals who continue to come to Egypt on one-month tourist 
visas looking for resettlement.  Sudanese overstayers are 
not deported when they fall out of status and routinely turn 
to UNHCR hoping it can regularize their situation in Egypt 
and provide access to Australia, Canada or the U.S. 
 
6. (SBU) The demonstrators have given UNHCR a long list of 
demands, most of which are beyond UNHCR's ability to satisfy 
(e.g., they want all Sudanese arrivals to be recognized as 
refugees regardless of what part of the country they come 
from or their individual circumstances; they want UNHCR to 
`fast-track' refugee status determinations and 
resettlement).  UNHCR has been through the list point-by- 
point with the demonstrators pointing out the limitations on 
its ability to meet their expectations.  UNHCR has also 
urged them to form working groups to focus on individual 
concerns and offered advice on how some of these concerns 
can be addressed.  But the demonstrators have refused to 
budge, demanding that UNHCR solve their problems. 
 
7. (SBU) UNHCR has also met twice with the Egyptian Foreign 
Ministry urging the GOE to accept some responsibility for 
the welfare of the Sudanese demonstrators.  UNHCR apparently 
pointed out that since it began operations in Cairo in 1994 
UNHCR has received 60,000 Sudanese refugee applications; 
50,000 have been processed; 32,000 recognized; and 17,000 
have been resettled.  If the GOE accepted some 
responsibility for those remaining in Cairo, this would be a 
good example of burden sharing - 50/50 between Egypt and 
UNHCR/resettlement countries.  But UNHCR left these meetings 
unconvinced that the GOE was disposed to assist the Sudanese 
and was instead content to let the present situation drift 
and hopefully, eventually, to solve itself. 
 
8. (SBU) UNHCR is growing increasingly frustrated that it is 
seen by the refugee community, and by the media, as the main 
obstacle to better conditions and third-country resettlement 
for the Sudanese in Cairo.  It notes that since the number 
of Sudanese in Cairo qualifying for refugee status under UN 
mandate has virtually dried up, the plight of the Sudanese 
is no longer a refugee issue and UNHCR is powerless to act. 
 
9. (SBU) UNHCR stresses that although asylum seekers have 
virtually no access to its office, it continues to be fully 
operational through the work of the NGOs who act as its 
implementing partners. 
 
Ricciardone