Cablegate: A "Step Backward" On Land in Dadaab

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DE RUEHNR #2024/01 2681008
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FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHXX/GENEVA IO MISSIONS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1097
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 7563
RUCNRCC/REFUGEE COORDINATOR COLLECTIVE
INFO RUCNEAE/EAST AFRICAN ESC POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUCNRCC/REFUGEE COORDINATOR COLLECTIVE
RUCNSOM/SOMALIA COLLECTIVE
RUEAHQA/AFAAO WASHINGTON DC
RUEHNR/KUSLO NAIROBI KE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 002024

SIPDIS

PRM/FO POLLACK, PRM/AFR LANGE, AND RMA/MULREAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KE OPDC PGOV PREF PREL
SUBJECT: A "STEP BACKWARD" ON LAND IN DADAAB

REF: A. A. AUGUST 07 2009 EMAIL: PETER MULREAN TO PRM
FRONT OFFICE
B. B. 09 ADDIS 574
C. 09 NAIROBI 1616

1. Summary. This is an action request. See paragraph 7.
The Government of Kenya (GOK) has yet to authorize the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to construct a
fourth refugee camp in Dadaab to relieve severe overcrowding.
UNHCR Africa Region Head George Okoth-Obbo said the delay in
authorizing land means that the direct intervention by
President Kibaki will now be necessary to overcome entrenched
local Member of Parliament (MP) opposition and central
government security concerns to allocate the land to UNHCR.
Ambassador Ranneberger and Okoth-Obbo agree that senior USG
and other international representatives at the United
National General Assembly (UNGA) and the UNHCR Executive
Committee (EXCOM) meetings should be used to increase the
pressure on GOK to allocate land for a fourth refugee camp in
Dadaab. End Summary.

2. George Okoth-Obbo - UNHCR Africa Region Head - briefed the
Ambassador on September 23 on the status of UNHCR's efforts
to secure needed additional land in Dadaab. Okoth-Obbo said
he came to Kenya in advance of UNHCR's annual EXCOM meeting
(September 28 - October 2) to follow-up on Kenyan President
Kibaki commitment to UNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Guterres
to send a high-level inter-ministerial delegation to Dadaab
and respond to UNHCR's request for additional land (Ref A).

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Proposed Camp Expansions Are Impractical
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3. Okoth-Obbo said MP Farah Maalim (MP for Lagadera District
and Deputy Speaker of Parliament) traveled to Dadaab together
and was emphatic that Maalim would only agree to an extension
of the two camps in his district (Hagadera and Dhagahaley)
and demarcated for Okoth-Obbo the extent of the camp
extensions he would accept. Okoth-Obbo confirmed to the
Ambassador that UNHCR has already deployed technical staff
(engineers and hydrologists) to Dadaab to plan the
extensions, but admitted that "in the best of circumstances"
the extensions could only accommodate 50,000-60,000 refugees
while UNHCR required space for an estimated 200,000 refugees.
Okoth-Obbo said the camp extensions were an impractical
solution to the overcrowding with the only feasible option
being the establishment a fourth camp in Fafi District for
100,000 refugees that had already been agreed to with MP Adam
Sugow and the Fafi community.

4. Okoth-Obbo said Maalim warned him he would vigorously
oppose the creation of a fourth camp in neighboring Fafi
District even if the proposed camp were located in another
MP's district and the local community supported it. Maalim
confirmed that he is the "obstacle" to UNHCR's request for a
fourth camp in Dadaab and would negatively influence the
central government's decision to allocate land. Maalim
warned UNHCR that if the fourth camp were to be allocated,
there would be "bloodshed." Okoth-Obbo said Maalim repeated
the "alarming" language the following day when he entered
Minister Otieno Kajwang's (Minister of Immigration and
Register of Persons) office and confronted MP Sugow during a
meeting with UNHCR. According to Okoth-Obbo, Minister
Kajwang escorted Maalim from his office to avoid Maalim
physically confronting Sugow.

5. Okoth-Obbo believes the central government's failure to
make a decision on the land has only empowered Maalim to try
and intimidate Sugow and UNHCR into accepting Maalim's
unrealistic resolution to the looming crisis. Okoth-Obbo,
however, doubts Minister Kajwang is able to affect a central
government decision on the land and believes that President
Kibaki has been "poisoned" by his advisors to not accept a
fourth camp on security grounds.

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Ratcheting Up the Pressure
--------------------------

6. The Ambassador agreed that only a fourth camp will
sufficiently relieve the overcrowding in Dadaab and relayed
our offers to the Kenyans to assist them in addressing their

NAIROBI 00002024 002 OF 002

security concerns. He indicated he continues to emphasize to
senior GOK officials that, while the GOK has legitimate
security concerns with Somalis flowing uncontrollably into
Kenya, he argued that a new camp would be a positive
contribution to Kenya's security by improving the ability of
GOK to screen and manage Somali asylum seekers and provide an
opportunity to mitigate public health threats. The
Ambassador also indicated that the delay in sending the
delegation to Dadaab and a decision on the land means that
now direct intervention by the President will be the only way
to overcome Maalim's objections and the central government's
security concerns for a fourth camp. The Ambassador
suggested that the presence of senior USG and international
representatives to the UNGA and the upcoming UNHCR EXCOM
meetings offer opportunities to ratchet up the pressure on
GOK officials.

6. Okoth-Obbo agreed to the Ambassador's suggestion that
High Commissioner Guterres call both President Kibaki and
Prime Minister Odingo asking them why commitments made in
August have yet to be fulfilled and to alert them to his
intention of using EXCOM to highlight the GOK's failure to
take timely action in relieving humanitarian suffering in
Dadaab. Okoth-Obbo said UNHCR will also mobilize its
international partners to pressure GOK to allocate land
during EXCOM. Finally, Okoth-Obbo agreed that the Deputy
UNHCR High Commissioner, who had established a working
relationship with George Saitoti, Minister for Provincial
Administration and Internal Security, should alert Saitoti to
the High Commissioner's plans to call the President and Prime
Minister and UNHCR's intent to use EXCOM to highlight how the
GOK's failure to allocate land in a timely manner is directly
related to a looming humanitarian crisis in Dadaab.

7. Action Request. As part of the effort to ratchet up the
pressure on the GOK, we recommend that the Africa Bureau and
the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration:

-- ensure the talking points prepared for meetings with GOK
officials at UNGA and EXCOM express our concern that a
humanitarian crisis is looming in Dadaab due to overcrowded
conditions and that GOK failure to allocate land for a fourth
camp is directly responsible for exacerbating the
deteriorating conditions in Dadaab. We suggest that the
talking points include the following points: that the Fafi MP
and Fafi community leaders have already agreed to the
establishment in Fafi District; that a fourth camp will
enhance Kenya's security by controlling the flow and
management of Somali asylum seekers in Kenya, by providing an
opportunity for Kenyan security officials to screen new
arrivals before they enter the camps, and by giving public
health officials an opportunity to identify and control
communicable diseases such as cholera, measles and H1N1
before they spread in the camps and to local communities;
and, that the USG continues to extend its offer to reinforce
Kenyan security measures around the camps including
contributions towards building a screening center for asylum
seekers and training Administrative Police slotted to patrol
the refugee camps.

-- draw on this and the referenced cables (Ref B)to demarche
key international partners - most notably the EU - to seek
opportunities during EXCOM to express their frustration with
GOK's failure to allocate land for a fourth Dadaab camp and
urging GOK to work more collaboratively with UNHCR to improve
conditions for Somali refugees in Kenya.
RANNEBERGER

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