Egyptian Inflation/Poverty Forcing the Country to "Disinvite" Migrants

A refugee selling Sudanese goods in Giza, Egypt. Heba Khamis - The New York Times

"[Egypt] is treating them like Egyptians, despite the fact that we are not a rich country." 

"There is no country in the world assuming these responsibilities and challenges like here in Egypt."

"We don’t have one single refugee camp — they [foreign migrants/refugees] are fully integrated in society."

Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty 

"I'd like to appeal to the government of Egypt: Give us residence, even if it's a little more expensive [exacting taxation fees on permanent residents who arrived as migrants/refugees]."

"We're facing tough conditions."

Abu Saleh, 32, Syrian 

Working in a small grocery store, Abu Saleh, a Syrian man whose family arrived in Egypt on tourist visas, (whose real name is kept private), has lived for 13 years in Cairo "without a single issue". And then in July he discovered he would no longer be permitted to enroll his son in school without a residence permit. He was informed he would have to return to Syria to renew his family's tourist visas, and then pay $2,000 per person in fees every six months under changed rules.

Cairo claims it has taken in nine million refugees from various unsettled sources, from Syria to Sudan and elsewhere. No mean feat for any country to absorb in an atmosphere of humanitarian welcome for those fleeing untenable, threatening situations, be they civil wars or country-to-country conflict in regional wars, endemic poverty or escaping secular tribal and ethnic animosities. All the more of a burden for a country of 117 million people whose inflationary economy is feeble and cannot sustain additional residents with meagre resources.

Shopping in Cairo.  Credit...Hadeer Mahmoud Ahmed/The New York Times

Egypt exemplified the very picture of a country generously welcoming migrants from across Africa and the Middle East; refugees fleeing conflict and social inequality, searching for stability, security and opportunities to advance a future for their families. Foreigners could be assured of total acceptance on their arrival as newcomers in a country whose population, albeit themselves living at or below the poverty line had compassion for others.

The steady and ongoing arrival of newcomers, however, has elicited a new attitude among government leaders and the population at large. Migrants are being accused of making life more difficult for native Cairenes, driving up rent costs, and introducing female genital mutilation. The wars in neighbouring Gaza, Sudan and Libya have impacted heavily on Egypt. 

Foreigners have been living and working in Egypt irrespective of whether they are refugees, migrant workers or even Westerners seeking an  escape from the coronavirus lockdowns where for 13 years a steady stream of newcomers have flooded Egypt. People from Sudan, Yemen, Eritrea and more recently Palestinians from Gaza. Lax immigration rules have led many not to bother formally registering, much less receiving official permission to remain on a long-term basis.

The civil war in Sudan drove a surge of refugees to Egypt, leading the impoverished Cairo government to a lack of appreciation for the overwhelming presence of foreigners. The result has been policy-tightening. According to analysts and diplomats, the hope was that expressing discontent with their lot in absorbing such great numbers, might serve to alert the international community that they have an obligation, if they hope to evade their own refugee/migrant surge, to economically support Egypt.

 

There is the previous example of Turkey which infamously indulged in the very same ploy, deliberately seeking to blackmail the European Union into financially supporting Turkey's sheltering of millions of refugees from Syria escaping the civil war. Many of whom sought to move on to find haven in Europe by their millions, with Turkey persuading the EU that its generous financial contribution to Turkey's staggering costs in maintaining Syrian refugees would convince it not to open the floodgates to Europe.

 

Sudanese men leaving a mosque after midday prayers in Giza, Egypt. Refugee advocates acknowledge that Egypt needs more resources to handle the influx of newcomers.Credit...Heba Khamis - The New York Times

Egypt's economy was precarious even before the war in Gaza. The conflict in Gaza impacted shipping in the Red Sea when the Yemenite Houthi group began targeting marine  traffic in an aggressively violent piracy invasion with the purpose of striking merchant marine vessels with any connection to Israel, claiming solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. The result has been that shipping companies have been forced to seek a longer route along the Horn of Africa to evade Houthi attacks. Business for the Suez Canal has deeply decreased accordingly, and Egypt has felt the financial pinch to the tune of $7 billion in revenue lost.

 

In an act of tightening the rules and shedding some of its foreign resident burden, Egypt has begun expelling Sudanese refugees by rounding them up, detaining and enacting summary deportations. Syrians are now facing the choice of paying thousands of dollars in 'taxes' to the Egyptian government for the privilege -- and such it is -- of remaining in Egypt.

Photo: Embrace the Middle East