Transit in Cairo

Ant Greenham, Amman

Meintjeskop Courier Volume, 1994

I was on my way from Amman to Nairobi for the Heads of Mission meeting and had.to pass through Cairo airport in the process.

Having identified the transit area, which was a little distance from where the bus dropped off the disembarking passengers, I joined the queue which had formed in front of a kind of mini passport control point which was next to a large hall filled with orange plastic chairs. I remember thinking that it could be quite interesting if the place was full of people, which at that stage it was not.

At the control point, I was relieved of my air ticket and diplomatic passport and told (in English) to sit down. I chose a place as close as possible to the Egyptian officials and proceeded to watch developments. It was immediately apparent that my guarantee of an onward journey together with my means of identification was to leave the area together with those of the other passengers. In fact officials kept coming and going with piles and piles of passports, some with air tickets, some without. Some even had boarding cards which indicated an imminent reunification with the owners, although it soon became clear that the order in which one's passport and ticket was surrendered bore no resemblance to the order of return.

Before long, we were joined by a large number of passengers from Nigeria who were on their way to Mecca. Some argued with the officials, but in vain. Everyone was dispatched into the large hall with the orange plastic chairs. Some sat, unperturbed. Others milled around. Most wore slip-slops, some with socks, although one little girl with a running nose was barefoot. There were many long, West African robes and on heads, apart from a cap with the words "I'm a Muslim" (in Arabic) embroidered on it, were a large number of white bags from the company "Sacs and Motors" in Kano with the assurance "Nobody bags it better".

The loudspeaker informed us (in very clear Arabic, English and French) that the flight for Jeddah was to depart. This led to some consternation among the document-bereft Mecca-bound pilgrims, many of whom stood up and did their best to fill the small space between me and the officials. This didn't help, however,and after 30 minutes many tired and sat down right there, on the floor. In time they were given their documents, one by one, and to the best of my knowledge successfully made the Hajj.

Others were less fortunate. I was seated next to a Thai who had been separated from his group. They 'had all departed for the hotel as they were only to leave for Bangkok the next day. He, however, was stuck in transit and no amount of inquiry had changed his circumstances after 2and a half hours. Another man in the hall was confronted by an official (who was backed up by four others who accompanied him to the recipient of the confrontation), but I was not able, determine the final outcome of the interchange. Some individuals managed to leave the hall, apparently on an errand to take control of the situation (and their documents), but they inevitably returned and resumed their wait.          .

Forty minutes before my flight left, which was a good three hours after I entered the hall (and on the wrong side of midnight) I was much relieved to see a familiar-looking passport, together with my air ticket and boarding pass in the hand of an official and I was able to proceed on my journey.

I really have nothing to complain about. Within their system, the officials were polite and helpful and if one doesn't mind having a perfect stranger in a foreign place take your essential documents and disappear, it's probably not a bad idea to relax and enjoy the service.