Living in Limbo with Hope: Sudanese Refugees and Social Injustice in Egypt

Adam, Gamal A. Living in Limbo with Hope: Sudanese Refugees and Social Injustice in Egypt. Vernon, B.C. Canada: J. Charlton Publishing Ltd., 2014, ISBN: 978-09919441-3-2, pp.232; reviewed by Teresa A. Booker (tbooker@jjay.cuny.edu), Assistant Professor, Department of Africana Studies, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York.One need not look further than the nightly news to see waves of African immigrants risking life and limb for the safety of European shores. Men, women, and children are plucked from sinking boats and guided to dry land where they huddle, at least for a while, in foil blankets waiting to be processed at some intake center where they can plea for crossing an international border into safety are steps away from a new life, Gamal Adam's Living in Limbo with Hope: Sudanese Refugees and Social Injustice in Egypt will be an eye opener.Dr. Gamal Adam-himself a Darfurian and former refugee-turned doctorate-earning, social anthropologist-uses his position as an insider to draw attention to the plight of Sudanese refugees living a life of limbo in Cairo, Egypt. Field notes collected during August 2003-June 2004 as both an observer of everyday activities from weddings to parties to prayers and snowball sampler interviewing people and groups as fate led him to them make a compelling argument for the need to expose the unfortunate treatment of people.Before explaining the current conditions of Sudanese refugees in Egypt, Adam first provides some historical context to the relationship between African refugees and the African countries that neighbor their native land. For example, prior to the mid-1970s, East African nations like Egypt were very generous towards refugees [but] the generosity gradually disappeared as the numbers grew. When the al-Bashir took control over Sudan by means of a coup (and allowed the scorched earth campaign that caused Darfurians to flee), Adams says that the Egyptian government was the first to recognize the new Sudanese government rather than condemn it.Moreover, despite ratifying conventions meant to protect the rights of refugees and ostensibly extending those rights to domestic policy, there is considerable discrepancy between the Egyptian government's affirmations that they have always welcomed refugees with open arms since the days of Joseph and his brethren, and assurances that the Koran specifically enjoins Muslims to enter Egypt with confidence, and what they have actually delivered in terms of providing political asylum to the Sudanese. (p. 63)Adam next explains that the granting of refugee status to Sudanese is based on both macro- and micro- factors. On the macro level, for example, the UNHCR convinced Egypt to temporarily halt for 18 months the arrest and deportation of asylum-seekers just beginning the petition process. However, not only did the Egyptian government ignore the yellow card system for temporary refugees agreed upon with UNCHR, but it disregarded, as well, the blue card system the government itself had already put in place to identify individuals whose completed petitions were already awaiting review phase prior to the UNHCR's intervention. On the micro level, Adam explains how the determination of refugee status is based on a refugee's persuasiveness in presenting their case to interviewing officials as well as the official's degree of familiarity with the situation in the refugee's country of origin. Due to red tape and political bias, asylum-seekers in Cairo waited, on average, 9 months only to be denied asylum in the end.The only topic upon which the UNHCR and the Egyptian government both agree is that refugees should be forced to stay in one camp or location (p.20). Not only does it make them easier to numerate, but it minimizes the hostile actions frequently directed towards immigrants, who are often accused of taking jobs away from the host country citizens, the Egyptians. Adam does not make clear how and under what conditions individuals were allowed exit the designated spaces and enter into Cairo proper. …

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