Compounding the tragedy of 30 December in Cairo

On Friday 30, December 2005, Egyptian security police brutally broke up a three-month sit-in protest being held by Sudanese refugees in Cairo, killing 30. As detailed in an October 2005 Pambazuka News article (http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29957) the refugees were protesting against their appalling conditions and the constant abuse of their rights and had camped out near the Cairo office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), demanding protection from forced repatriation and protection of vulnerable groups. Three months after the massacre, writes Barbara E. Harrell-Bond, families of the dead are still waiting to bury their loved ones.

What is happening with the bodies of those who were killed in the 30 December 2005 violent expulsion of the three-month peaceful protest aimed at the UN High Commission for Refugees in front of their Cairo offices at the Mustafa Mahmoud Park? To date, there is no evidence of any of the 29 families having lost a loved one, being successful in receiving the body from the government morgue authorities to complete the burial, either in Cairo or back in Sudan. The bodies are slowly decomposing in the central government morgue while distraught family members struggle to obtain some sense of closure in order to move forward in their grieving process.

There were understandable delays in identifying bodies and conducting autopsies. Then, because of rumours among the refugees of organ ‘snatching’, the Sudan government and the SPLM demanded they be allowed to conduct their own investigation. But there has been no public account of their findings. Still the bodies have not been released. For those yet looking for loved ones, they are no longer allowed to enter the morgue, but are shown pictures of bodies yet unidentified.

Mr. Phillip Dominic is the maternal uncle and primary relative of one of the deceased, Colletta Pashikfofe. Her relatives, a mother and brother, want her body to be buried in the Sudan. However, Colletta’s body remains in the morgue after a series of grisly experiences.

Phillip obtained funds from an Egyptian to pay the plane ticket and to have an undertaker preserve the body and prepare it for transport in a sealed casket. He accessed all the necessary documents:

- A death certificate (with no cause of death listed).
- A letter of permission from the Ministry of Health to transport the body to Sudan and confirming Phillip’s authorization as the closest living relative in Cairo to receive the body.
- A letter from the Foreign Affairs Ministry sent from Khartoum via the Sudanese Embassy in Cairo providing permission for Colletta’s body to enter Sudan.
- A document from the Ministry of Justice to confirm again that Phillip is the legal guardian of Colletta’s body and confirming that he officially took possession of the body Friday the 3rd of Feb. 2006.

He was on the way to the airport on that day with the undertaker and Colletta’s body when he was contacted by Mohamed Darwish, a 3 star police officer/general from the Zenhom station just across from the morgue. He was told that he must return immediately with Colletta’s body to the Zenhom morgue and that this order had been received “from above”. He returned as instructed at which point Mohamed Darwish signed the body back into the morgue, essentially putting a “hold” on the body, apparently preventing Phillip from receiving it again.

Phillip at this point went to the Sudanese Embassy requesting assistance and eventually went back to Zenhom on the 9th and 10th February along with the undertaker. He was told by morgue authorities that he had to go to the Interior Ministry in order to obtain a letter to have the hold released. He was also told to go to the police at Zenhom and discuss the matter directly with Darwish, who originally placed the hold.

He did so, only to find no one available, apparently due to a football match. He was told by the airlines that the ticket he purchased would expire so he was hoping to resolve the matter. He has been told by morgue authorities that he should try to convince the airline to extend the ticket until Sunday 12 February and that perhaps the matter would be resolved on the Saturday.

Phillip has been back to the morgue, to the UNHCR, and to the Sudanese Embassy on an almost daily basis since mid February. He had to change the details on his authorization letter from the Sudanese Embassy, which he did successfully, after initially having difficulties. He had to obtain a letter from UNHCR which he eventually did. However, his tireless efforts to receive Coletta’s body for transport back to Sudan, even to bury locally, appear not to have yielded any positive results.

The morgue authorities/police posted at the morgue, reportedly stated on 26 February that he could not receive the body for transport back to Sudan because they had not received authorization to release the bodies “from a higher authority”.

Phillip decided (as several other family members have now done), that he had been through enough and that, despite other family member’s wishes to the contrary, he would bury Coletta’s body locally. He assumed that morgue authorities would release the body immediately once he agreed to this. Instead they reportedly told him that he must obtain confirmation from religious figures that he would have a ceremony and burial locally. He did so with church officials confirming his intent to morgue authorities. Following this the authorities again replied that they were sorry but they did not have the authorization required to release Coletta’s body to him, even for local burial.

Phillip tried to participate in a prayer gathering at the morgue for the deceased, however, they were not allowed to gather, with police apparently fearing potential violence. Although the details are unique, in many ways it is representative of similar troubles that other families have also faced during this difficult process of attempting to bury their loved ones since 30th December 2005.

UPDATE: Per my conversations with a few of the family members, and other second hand reports, I understand that funerals did take place over at least 2 days last week, starting mid week. Apparently 8 bodies were buried initially and another 6 the next day. Additional funerals may have taken place over the weekend that I am not aware of.

Apparently representatives from both the Sudanese Embassy and Egyptian Government accompanied the bodies from the Zenholm morgue to graveside in order to ensure that there were no detours to have secondary medical opinions on cause of death (as some family members had requested originally). To date, only death certificates with the section on cause of death left blank have been issued to the families.

Some family members asked the Sudanese and Egyptian officials whose decision it was to prevent the bodies from returning to Sudan, as the government officials from the Sudanese Embassy have been apparently telling the family members that it is the decision of the Egyptian Government. However the Egyptian Government officials have apparently been telling the family members that it was the decision of the Sudanese Government. In response to such questions in the presence of representatives from both governments, the family members were apparently told to stop asking questions least they not be allowed to bury their loved ones at all.

It appears that many of the bodies still have not been buried. Phillip has not yet buried Colletta, but plans to try to do so by Tuesday of this week. Almost all of the family members whom I am in contact with have now collected their 5,700 LE from CARITAS. Average local funeral costs are apparently in the range of 300-500, with the remaining funds being seen as "compensation" for what the families have endured (no matter how grossly inadequate).

* This article was compiled from reports from AMERA-Egypt, a refugee legal aid NGO, operating as a branch of the AMERA UK Charity. Barbara E. Harrell-Bond is distinguished Visiting Professor, Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Programme, American University in Cairo.