“This is unfair. My sister heard the news on her way to the airport. We did not expect this step from a sisterly country. It was all very frustrating for her,” commented Maha, a Syrian married to an Egyptian who has been living in Egypt for 20 years, when she heard about the new controls imposed on Syrian visitors to the country. Maha's sister, who had been living with the horrors of war in Syria until she finally managed to book a ticket to come and visit her sister in Egypt, heard about the visa requirement only after she had gotten ready to visit Egypt, had packed her suitcase and had taken the risk of driving to the airport. When she heard the news, she was forced to return home full of frustration mixed with dismay because the decision had been taken and implemented without giving any warning. “Is all this because a tiny minority of Syrians has decided to side with the Islamist current in the present political clashes in Egypt?” Maha asked. Alaa, another Syrian who came to Egypt a few months ago with her family, said that Syrians “who loved Egypt and the Egyptians would never take part in anything that could deepen the divisions in the country”. “It is Bashar [Al-Assad's] shabbiha [the regime's militia] that has been sent by Bashar to incite disorder and violence in Egypt in order to force Syrians living in Egypt to return to Syria. These are the well-known parts of Bashar's strategy,” she said. Bahieddin Hassan, director of the Cairo Centre for Human Rights Studies, said that while there were understandable security considerations, it would have been better to take the step in a way that respected the human plight of the Syrians. “A visa could be granted to Syrians when they arrive at Cairo airport. In that case, only those who are a threat to Egyptian security would be deported to their country. Other Syrians would be given visas and allowed entry into Egypt,” Hassan said. Egypt introduced visa requirements for Syrians last week after the media accused Syrian Islamists of joining the clashes between supporters of ousted former president Mohamed Morsi and the Armed Forces. Following the decision to impose visa requirements on Syrians, hundreds of Syrian passengers coming from Syria and Lebanon were forced to return home, since they did not have visas. However, Egypt's Foreign Ministry said that the decision would not affect Egypt's support for Syrian civilians caught up in the conflict. The Egyptian authorities' decision to introduce the new restrictions on Syrians travelling to Egypt came as a response to present developments, Badr Abdel-Atti, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said last Tuesday. He denied that the move had had anything to do with Egypt's support for the Syrian opposition against President Al-Assad. “This decision does not affect in any way initial Egyptian support for the Syrian revolution and the struggle of the Syrian people... to achieve their hopes and aspirations in a democratic and pluralist state that respects the rights of all Syrians,” Abdel-Atti said in a statement issued on Tuesday. He called on Syrians residing in Egypt, or those looking to move there, to follow the laws of the Egyptian state and to bear in mind current security conditions. The UN refugee agency UNHCR released a statement last Friday expressing its concern about the new visa requirements for Syrians. The UNHCR's Antonio Guterres said in the statement that “I appeal to the Egyptian authorities, as I have to all other governments in the world, to admit and protect all Syrians seeking refuge in their country.” “I fully understand the challenges faced by Egypt at the present moment. But the traditional hospitality of the Egyptian people should not be denied to Syrians trying to flee the most devastating and dangerous conflict in the world today,” he added. Nearly 72,000 registered Syrian refugees now live in Egypt, according to the UNHCR, with 18,000 other individuals awaiting registration. The Egyptian government's estimate of Syrians living in Egypt is between 250,000 and 300,000, most of them in greater Cairo and Alexandria. In the past, Syrians were only required to have a valid passport to enter Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled the conflict in their country between forces loyal to President Al-Assad and the opposition since it started more than two years ago, which has killed an estimated 100,000 people and driven 1.7 million abroad. Most of the refugees have gone to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. Given that there is little end in sight to the Syrian conflict and that there are also more than 3.6 million people displaced inside Syria, the exodus of refugees is likely to rise. Imposing visa requirements on Syrians seeking refuge in Egypt is likely to aggravate their plight in the coming months. Getting a visa in Syria may be difficult. “It is going to be a dangerous process that could take a lot of time and money. At present, most Syrians seeking refuge cannot afford either,” Hassan concluded.
