VZCZCXRO7282
PP RUEHBC RUEHBZ RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHKUK RUEHMA
RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNJ #0512/01 3071325
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 031325Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7407
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NDJAMENA 000512
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR AF/C
STATE ALSO FOR S/USSES
STATE ALSO FOR PRM/AFR
USAID FOR OFDA
KHARTOUM FOR OFDA
NSC FOR GAVIN
LONDON FOR POL - LORD
PARIS FOR POL - KANEDA
ADDIS ABABA FOR AU
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM SU CD
SUBJECT: UNHCR/WFP ON FOOD AND PHYSICAL SECURITY SITUATION FOR TWO
CAR REFUGEE POPULATIONS IN SOUTHERN CHAD
REF: Bangui 219; Bangui 212; N'Djamena 173
1. (U) Summary: Following a Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) in
mid-October to study the situation of CAR refugees and Chadian host
populations in southern Chad, UNHCR ResRep Stefano Severe and WFP
ResRep Jean-Luc Siblot held an October 27 briefing to present agency
assessments of two sites of CAR refugees camps, one site located in
Gore, in Southwestern Chad (Department of Logone Oriental) and one
in Daha-Hararze, Southeastern Chad (Department of Salamat). The
camp in Gore hosts CAR refugees who have arrived in several
successive waves beginning in 2003, and who continue to arrive in
small numbers as a result of tensions in Northwestern CAR (Refs A
and C). The main goal of UNHCR and WFP for the population in the
Gore camp is to determine whether a better-coordinated assistance
approach would allow improvements in social, health and economic
conditions, to the point where the population could become
self-sustaining over a period of time. As for the Daha-Haraze
group, consisting mainly of women and children who arrived in spring
2009 (Refs B and C), immediate relocation of the existing camp away
from the CAR border to avoid armed bandit attacks is under
consideration, as well as methods to improve coordination in
logistics, security, food distribution, medical care and education.
Agencies are planning for an additional 5000 arrivals in 2010 due to
instability deeper in CAR. End Summary
-----------------------
GORE REFUGEE CONDITIONS
-----------------------
2. (U) According to UNHCR'S Field Officer in Gore, the current
population of CAR refugees in the camps in the region numbers 32,000
(out of an estimated 74,000 CAR refugees in all locations in
Southern Chad in October 2009). Social conditions for refugees at
the Gore sites now approximate those of surrounding Chadian
populations. Police protection is inadequate. Refugees produced 50
percent of the food they needed in 2008, but with 2009 harvests
expected to be smaller, additional support mechanisms are under
consideration. A bridge outside Gore is down, with the result that
aid deliveries must be rerouted; pressuring local authorities to fix
the bridge, or finding an international organization willing to do
so, is considered a priority. The JAM recommended that UNHCR, WFP,
FAO and partners undertake yet another study to determine how
economic, health and social conditions of refugees could be improved
to the point where the population might become self-sustaining.
------------------------------
DAHA-HARAZE REFUGEE CONDITIONS
------------------------------
3. (U) The two Daha-Haraze CAR refugee camps, currently hosting
15,500 women and children (most of whom arrived from Northeastern
CAR in May 2009), are two kilometers from the border (international
norms stipulate that refugee camps be located at least 45 kilometers
from the border of refugees' countries of residence). Pressure from
armed bandits is widespread. The JAM reQmmends relocation of the
refugees as soon as possible in 2010. JAM participants also noted
that UNHCR, WFP and UNICEF might consider consolidating operational
planning so that short-term needs of the population could be met
more efficiently. Measures to protect, feed, provide medical
treatment to, and educate the populations in Daha-Haraze need to
improve, and access to primary services must be better facilitated.
The GOC refugee agency CNAR has been asked to provide additional
security around the camps in Daha-Haraze by hiring more Chadian
gendarmes. (NOTE: The Chadian special police force known as the
Dtachement Integr de Scurit -- "DIS" -- was created to enhance
security around the refugee and displaced persons camps in eastern
Chad. That UNHCR would request for gendarme forces to provide
security in southern and south-eastern Chad may be a measure of how
thinly stretched this specialized force already is. END NOTE.)
Lack of roads in the area is a significant problem, particularly
because the two camps are separated by ninety kilometers.
Transportation is expensive when available. Organizations are
planning for the possible arrival of approximately 5000 new refugees
in 2010 due to instability ultimately provoked by activities of the
LRA further south in CAR. It is hoped that by planning for new
arrivals, 2010 budgets will be more in line with needs.
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COMMENT
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NDJAMENA 00000512 002 OF 002
1. (U) Summary: Following a Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) in
mid-October to study the situation of CAR refugees and Chadian host
populations in southern Chad, UNHCR ResRep Stefano Severe and WFP
ResRep Jean-Luc Siblot held an October 27 briefing to present agency
assessments of two sites of CAR refugees camps, one site located in
Gore, in Southwestern Chad (Department of Logone Oriental) and one
in Daha-Hararze, Southeastern Chad (Department of Salamat). The
camp in Gore hosts CAR refugees who have arrived in several
successive waves beginning in 2003, and who continue to arrive in
small numbers as a result of tensions in Northwestern CAR (Refs A
and C). The main goal of UNHCR and WFP for the population in the
Gore camp is to determine whether a better-coordinated assistance
approach would allow improvements in social, health and economic
conditions, to the point where the population could become
self-sustaining over a period of time. As for the Daha-Haraze
group, consisting mainly of women and children who arrived in spring
2009 (Refs B and C), immediate relocation of the existing camp away
from the CAR border to avoid armed bandit attacks is under
consideration, as well as methods to improve coordination in
logistics, security, food distribution, medical care and education.
Agencies are planning for an additional 5000 arrivals in 2010 due to
instability deeper in CAR. End Summary
-----------------------
GORE REFUGEE CONDITIONS
-Q--------------------
4. (SBU) Regarding the refugee and host populations in the Gore
region, there have been no shortage of studies of whether this
refugee population might be self-sustaining. A trip report from a
USAID regional food for peace officer in 2006 stated that the
feeding program in southern Chad should be phased-out by the end of
2007. Most agencies concur that those who crossed the CAR border
into Chad are in fact extended family members of the Chadian host
population; the arrival of the southern cousins has meant a major
international effort to provide health care, clean water, and food
to an area which, in the absence of a refugee flow, would have
continued to live without assistance as best they could manage. The
somewhat perverse impact of cross-border population movements, and
the international reaction to them, is in strong evidence in
Southern Chad. END COMMENT.
NIGRO