Urgent Appeal regarding Oromo Refugees in Egypt

Your Excellency Hisham Mohamed Qandel

Prime Minister of Egypt
Magles El-Shaab St., Kasr Aini St. Cairo
14 June 2013

Re: Oromo Refugees in Egypt
I write on behalf of the Oromo Relief Association UK, for which I am the Office Coordinator in London. The Oromo Relief Association (ORA) is a legally registered non-profit and an indigenous Oromo humanitarian organization, working with refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people in the Horn of Africa.
We members of the Oromo Relief Association in the United Kingdom are very much concerned about the safety of Oromo refugees and asylum seekers, at our Management Committee meeting yesterday evening, it was decided that I should write expressing our concern regarding the recent upsurge in hostility against Oromo refugees from Ethiopia in Cairo.

Refugees from Ethiopia are fleeing from horrendous human rights abuses because of their real and perceived opposition to the EPRDF government. These abuses have been regularly documented by the Oromia Support Group (see, for example, the recently published information given at interview by 60 refugees in South Africa – http://www.oromo.org/OSG/pr_49.pdf). We would like to point out that, the Oromo asylum seekers flee from their country of origin due to a well-founded fear of persecution by the Ethiopian authorities, because of their nationality, or political affiliation to an opposition group. They are not economic migrants or a threat to any country’s security.

The Oromo people, who have been targeted in recent xenophobic attacks in Cairo, bear no enmity or ill feeling to the people of Egypt. We are convinced that if they are returned to Ethiopia at this time, their lives will be in considerable danger. We must emphasize that they will not have access to meaningful legal representation or a fair court hearing. The Ethiopian government will not allow the legal system to represent the interests of deportees or protect them from physical harm whilst in custody.
In the circumstance we strongly appeal to you to use your influence, to bring pressure to bear on concerned local authorities and community leaders to protect Oromo refugees in the country.
Refugees in Egypt are very grateful for the sanctuary they have been given there. The kindness shown to them is a good investment for future peace in north and northeast Africa. It is unfair that they should be targets for abuse by elements in Egypt as well as targets for abuse in their own country.
Please do what you can to ease the hostility in Egypt by sections of the population and by the health and security services against Oromo community in Egypt

Many thanks for your kind consideration.
Yours sincerely,

Leenca Aba-Gero
Office Coordinator
Oromo Relief Association UK

CC:

Mr. Antonio Guterres
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Case Postale 2500
CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt Suisse.
Email: InfoDesk@ohchr.org; GUTERRES@unhcr.org
His Excellency Mohamed Kamel Amr
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Masbero-Kornish El Nile St. Cairo
His Excellency Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim Mohamed Mostafa
Minister of Interior Affairs
El Sheikh Rihan St. Cairo, Postal Code 11641
His Excellency Ambassador
British Embassy in Cairo, Egypt
7 Ahmed Rageb Street
Garden City, Cairo
Phone: (002) (02) 27916000
Fax: (002) (02) 2791 6130
Email: info@britishembassy.org.eg

His Excellency Ambassador
Embassy of United States in Cairo, Egypt
8 Kamal el-Din Salah Street,
Garden City, Cairo, Egypt
Phone: [20] [2] 797-3300
Email: consularcairo@state.gov
Mr. Bekele Geleta
International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies
P.O. Box 372
CH-1211 Geneva 19
Switzerland
Email: info@redcross.ch

UNHCR Cairo: E-mail Address: – areca@unhcr.org

UNHCR Regional Representative – Mr. Mohamed Dayri, E-mail: dayri@unhcr.org

Deputy Regional Represetative – Mrs. Elizabeth Tan, E-mail: tan@unhcr.org

Africa and Middle-East Refugee Assistance (AMERA), E-mail: info@amera-uk.org

AMERA- Egypt Regional Director – Hesham Issa, E-mail: HIssa@amera-uk.org

International Organization for Migration (IOM), E-mail: ic@iom.int

His Excellency Ambassador
The Australian Embassy in Cairo
Cairo, Egypt
Phone: +20 2 2770 6600
Fax: +20 2 2770 6650
Email: cairo.austremb@dfat.gov.au
His Excellency Ambassador
Embassy of Canada in Cairo, Egypt
26 Kamel El Shenawy St., Garden City
Cairo, Egypt
Phone: (011 20 2) 2791-8700
Fax: (011 20 2) 2791-8860
Email: cairo-cs@international.gc.ca

His Excellency Ambassador
German Embassy in Cairo, Egypt
Embassy of Germany in Cairo, Egypt
2, Sh. Hassan Sabri
Zamalek
Phone: (00202) 739-9600
Fax: (00202) 736-0530
Email: germemb@tedata.net.eg

His Excellency Ambassador
Royal Norwegian Embassy in Cairo, Egypt
8 El Gezirah Street
Zamalek
City: Cairo
Phone: +20 2 2735 8046 / 2735 3340 / 2736 3955
Fax: +202 7370709
Website: http://www.norway-egypt.org/
Email: emb.cairo@mfa.no

His Excellency Ambassador
Embassy of Sweden in Cairo, Egypt
13, Mohamed Mahzar Street
Zamalek, Cairo
Postal Address: P.O. Box 131
112 11 Zamalek
Cairo, Egypt
City: Cairo
Phone: +20 (2) 728 9200
Fax: +20 (2) 735 4357
Email: ambassaden.kairo@foreign.ministry.se
His Excellency Ambassador
Royal Netherlands Embassy in Cairo, Egypt
18, Hassan Sabri
11211 Zamalek
Phone: +20 2 2739 5500
Fax: +20 2 2736 5249
Email: kai@minbuza.nl
His Excellency Ambassador
New Zealand Embassy Cairo, Egypt
8th floor, North Tower, Nile City building, 2005c Corniche El Nil, Ramlet Beaulac,
Cairo, Egypt
Telephone: +202 2461 6000
Facsimile: +202 2461 6099
Email: enquiries@nzembassy.org.eg