Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03AMMAN6184
2003-09-28 08:22:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

PRM PDAS GREENE DISCUSSES NEW IRAQI REFUGEE

Tags:  PREF PREL PGOV KPAL IZ JO 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006184 

SIPDIS

DHS FOR BCIS
ATHENS AND ROME FOR BCIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/28/2013
TAGS: PREF PREL PGOV KPAL IZ JO
SUBJECT: PRM PDAS GREENE DISCUSSES NEW IRAQI REFUGEE
CASELOAD AND IRAQ SECURITY CONCERNS WITH GOJ, UN AND ICRC

REF: A. AMMAN 6177

B. AMMAN 6028

Classified By: DCM David M. Hale for reasons 1.5 (b)(d)

-------
SUMMARY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006184

SIPDIS

DHS FOR BCIS
ATHENS AND ROME FOR BCIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/28/2013
TAGS: PREF PREL PGOV KPAL IZ JO
SUBJECT: PRM PDAS GREENE DISCUSSES NEW IRAQI REFUGEE
CASELOAD AND IRAQ SECURITY CONCERNS WITH GOJ, UN AND ICRC

REF: A. AMMAN 6177

B. AMMAN 6028

Classified By: DCM David M. Hale for reasons 1.5 (b)(d)

--------------
SUMMARY
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1. (C) In separate meetings on the margins of the UNRWA
major donors meeting, GOJ and UNHCR officials told PRM PDAS
Greene that the refugee camps on the Iraqi-Jordanian border
were increasingly problematic. The GOJ continues to advocate
consolidation of the camps in no-man's land, while UNHCR
prefers consolidation at the camp in Ruwaished. UNHCR
reported that continuing security difficulties in Iraq
preclude a return of this caseload in the near future. UN
ResCoord told Greene that the September 22 bombing at the UN
parking lot in Baghdad likely would prompt a further drawdown
of UN staff in Iraq and that the UN would be able to resume
full operations only when the U.S. could provide adequate
security for its own staff in Iraq. Security considerations
also have impaired the ICRC's ability to fulfill its mandate
in Iraq, prompting it to relocate staff to Amman where they
will perform short missions to Iraq. End summary.


2. (U) Prior to his participation in the September 23 UNRWA
major donors meeting (septel),PRM PDAS Rich Greene held
separate meetings with GOJ Minister of State for Foreign
Affairs Shaher Bak, UN Resident Coordinator Christine McNab,
UNHCR Representative Sten Bronee and ICRC Delegate Guy Mellet
to discuss the new Iraqi refugee caseload as well as current
security conditions in Iraq. DCM and refcoord (notetaker)
accompanied Greene on his call on Bak, while refcoord
accompanied Greene on his UN ResCoord, UNHCR and ICRC calls.

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GOJ and UNHCR Agree Border Camps Problematic,
Disagree on Solutions
--------------


3. (C) In a September 22 meeting with Minister of State for
Foreign Affairs Shaher Bak, PRM PDAS Greene urged the GOJ to
allow the UNHCR refugee camp at Ruwaished to remain open
until a solution could be found for the camp's remaining 550
residents. Briefing Bak on U.S. refugee resettlement policy

and ongoing efforts to improve conditions inside Iraq, Greene
emphasized that the international community is deeply engaged
in finding a solution for the new war-related caseload but
that the solution will take time. Greene pledged that the
U.S. would raise the new caseload at the upcoming UNHCR ExCom
meetings in Geneva.


4. (C) Bak responded that the GOJ has significant concerns
about the Ruwaished refugee camp and the no-man's land camp,
including the strain on water resources posed by the
refugees, the camps' incompatibility with GOJ plans to
develop a free trade zone on the Iraqi border, and
unspecified "security problems" and smuggling inside the
no-man's land camp. (The meeting was held just one day
before violent protests broke out at the Ruwaished refugee
camp, resulting in the serious injury of two rejected asylum
seekers, reported ref a.) He added that the GOJ planned to
send police to search both camps in the near future. Bak
said that the GOJ would consolidate the two camps in the
no-man's land area but that the Minister of Interior's
publicly reported October 15 deadline to close the Ruwaished
refugee camp was "not true." Once security conditions in
Iraq permitted the return of refugees, Bak continued, the GOJ
would "immediately" ask the U.S. to facilitate the return of
the new caseload refugees. Bak urged the U.S. to quickly
turn over responsibility for refugee issues to Iraqi
officials, as it politically would be much easier for the GOJ
to work with Iraqis on the organized return of Iraqi
refugees.


5. (SBU) In a separate September 22 meeting, UNHCR
Representative Sten Bronee told Greene he feared the GOJ
would move precipitously to close the UNHCR refugee camp at
Ruwaished. Detailing the worsening protection conditions
inside the no-man's land camp (ref b),Bronee said that UNHCR
preferred to move the no-man's land population to the
Ruwaished camp, where UNHCR and the GOJ could ensure better
protection and security for the refugees. Bronee cautioned
that continuing instability in Iraq, coupled with the
complete withdrawal of UNHCR staff from Iraq, would make it
very difficult for UNHCR to find solutions for the new
caseload. Returns to Iraq for either the Iraqi-Palestinians
or the Al Tash Kurds was now out of the question, as UNHCR
did not have adequate staff in place to oversee the returns
or provide assistance to the refugees once they had returned
to Iraq. Bronee said he would continue to urge the U.S. and
other resettlement countries to consider creative solutions
for this caseload, as local integration in Jordan was not an
option.
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UN and ICRC: Security Conditions in Iraq
Make it Impossible to Fulfill Mandates
--------------


6. (SBU) In a September 22 meeting, UN Resident Coordinator
Christine McNab predicted that the bombing earlier that day
at the UN parking lot in Baghdad would prompt the UN to
withdraw all remaining international staff from Baghdad.
Based on conversations with Kevin Kennedy, Officer-in-Charge
of UN Operations in Baghdad, McNab expected Kennedy to
recommend the UN move to security phase 5 in Iraq. McNab
added that the bombing -- which seemed to have been targeted
at UN local staff -- would make it impossible for the UN to
run humanitarian operations "by remote" (e.g., with local
staff implementing programs directed by a skeleton
international staff) as the UN no longer could ask its local
staff to continue to operate in the face of proven dangers.
McNab said the UN should only consider bringing its
international staff back to Iraq when the U.S. could provide
adequate security for its own staff -- including troops -- in
Iraq. As of September 22, nearly 400 UN international staff
from Iraq were in Amman. Greene gave an overview of
coalition efforts to improve security including police,
Facilities Protective Services, Iraqi Border Guards, the
Iraqi Civil Defense and the new Iraqi Army


7. (SBU) ICRC Delegate Guy Mellet echoed these concerns in a
September 23 meeting with Greene, reporting that security
issues continued to limit the ICRC's ability to fulfill its
mandate in Iraq. Reporting that ICRC had moved its Iraq
protection and tracing teams to Amman, Mellet said that
current security conditions in Iraq made it impossible for
the ICRC to maintain a full-time presence for certain teams.
The protection and tracing teams would travel into Iraq to
perform short missions only. Mellet told Greene that a
radical change in the current security environment -- in
which even neutral ICRC staff had been targeted -- would be
required before ICRC could return staff to Iraq.


8. (U) PDAS Greene cleared this message.


9. (U) CPA Baghdad minimize considered.

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GNEHM