Remembering the massacre in Mustapha Mahmoud Park

This is an eyewitness account of the massacre of Sudanese refugees in Cairo / Remembering the massacre in Mustapha Mahmoud Park

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COMPOUNDING THE TRAGEDY OF 30 DECEMBER IN CAIRO

Barbara E. Harrell-Bond

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.

Source: http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/32772