UN IN ZIMBABWE ANNOUNCES MEASURES TO STRENGTHEN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001307

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DCHA/FFP FOR LANDIS, WELLER, MUTAMBA, PETERSEN
DCHA/OFDA FOR GOTTLIEB, PRATT, MENGHETTI, MARX
AFR/SA FOR LOKEN, COPSON, HIRSCH
EGAT FOR HOBGOOD, THOMPSON, HESS, MCGAHUEY, GILL,
RUSHIN-BELL, HURDUS
STATE/AF FOR NEULING, MOZENA
USUN FOR EMALY
PRETORIA FOR DISKIN, HALE, SINK
ROME FOR FODAG FOR GAST

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR EAID PREL US ZI
SUBJECT: UN IN ZIMBABWE ANNOUNCES MEASURES TO STRENGTHEN
COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE


1.(SBU)Summary. UN Resident Representative and Humanitarian
Coordinator Agostinho Zacarias met with donors on September
15, 2005 to announce a series of measures intended to
strengthen the overall coordination of humanitarian
assistance efforts in Zimbabwe. Donors welcomed these
measures as long overdue. If the UN takes steps to
demonstrate the improvements announced by Zacarias, post
would recommend considering increased support for
humanitarian coordination. End Summary.

2.(SBU)On September 15, 2005, USAID Officers attended a
meeting called by the UN Resident Representative and
Humanitarian Coordinator, Agostinho Zacarias, to update
donors on humanitarian assistance issues. Participants
included major donors, members of the UN Country Team and
visiting representatives from the UN,s Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York and
Geneva. Zacarias introduced the meeting by announcing a
series of measures intended to strengthen humanitarian
coordination and information sharing. To start with, the UN
will establish a new office for humanitarian coordination, to
be staffed by OCHA, that will be more autonomous than the
existing Humanitarian Support Team administered by the UNDP.
The UN will seek donor funding for this new office in the
approximate amount of US$2 million/year.

3.(SBU) The new humanitarian coordination office will take
primary responsibility for the related tasks of information
sharing and humanitarian assistance coordination. Regarding
information sharing, the new office will begin next week
issuing weekly humanitarian situation reports to donors, NGOs
and other partners to ensure that all interested parties are
kept up to date on current issues. The office will also
systematically track and report on contributions from donors
and expenditures of funds. On the coordination side,
Zacarias stated that he will convene regular meetings (at
least monthly) of UN agencies and NGO implementing partners
on humanitarian issues, as well as regular consultations with
donor countries.

4.(SBU) To highlight the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe,
Zacarias noted that the UNDP is currently discussing with the
GOZ a proposed visit to Zimbabwe of Jan Egeland, Under
Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, which the UN

SIPDIS
hopes to reach agreement on in the next few weeks.

5.(SBU) USAID Officers had the opportunity to discuss these
developments privately prior to and after the meeting with
Agnes Asekenye-Oonyu, the OCHA Assistant Director visiting
from New York. Ms. Asekenye-Oonyu (protect source) confided
that she viewed her assignment as providing daily, on-the-job
training to Zacarias on his responsibilities as UN
Humanitarian Coordinator, ensuring that humanitarian
principles are fully respected and not compromised. In this
vein, she informed USAID Officers that she had specifically
suggested the measures Zacarias announced to strengthen
humanitarian coordination.

6.(SBU) Comment: The measures announced by Zacarias to
strengthen humanitarian coordination and information sharing
are welcome. We and other donors have noted the UN,s recent
lack of regular reporting on humanitarian issues, compared to
last year when the UN issued weekly situation reports. We
have also noted the dearth of UN-sponsored donor consultation
meetings, which afford donors the opportunity to express
their views on current humanitarian issues and thereby try to
shape the UN,s approach to dealing with the GOZ. With only
a few exceptions, most of the UN-donor meetings on
humanitarian issues that have been held in the past several
months were called at the request of one or more donor
agencies, not the UN. Despite these positive statements from
Zacarias, the proof will be in the pudding. We suspect that
other donors, like us, will want to see concrete improvements
in humanitarian coordination and information sharing before
opening up the checkbook even more. The complexity of
Zimbabwe,s humanitarian crisis requires active coordination
and post is in favor of continued support for this function
through OCHA. If the UN Country Team takes real steps to
demonstrate the improvements announced by Zacarias, we would
recommend considering increased support.
DELL