PRM PDAS GREENE DISCUSSES NEW IRAQI REFUGEE

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 -------------- ¶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. -------------- 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. -------------- 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. Visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET home page. GNEHM