He has escaped from Ethiopia and been deported twice, and a good friend was killed during one of the escape attempts. His sister filed for him when he first attempted to gain refugee status in Djibouti in September 1986. Processing was stopped there before he was called for an interview. Gemal has been in Rome seeking refugee status since March 1988, but is racing against a cutoff date because he did not arrive in Rome by January 1. (There is no cutoff date for Eastern Europeans awaiting processing in Rome.) Gemal, 43, has a wife and five children in Somalia. He has a kidney disease, and his sister is afraid he will not live long enough to make it to the U.S. An interview has been urgently requested for Gemal at the U.S. Embassy, but without success.