Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05NDJAMENA835
2005-05-24 06:53:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ndjamena
Cable title:  

REFUGEES IN EASTERN CHAD: A LOOK AHEAD (PART II)

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREF KAWC CD SU 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

240653Z May 05

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FM AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 1655
INFO AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
DARFUR COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY LONDON 
AMEMBASSY PARIS 
AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 
USLO TRIPOLI 
USMISSION GENEVA
C O N F I D E N T I A L NDJAMENA 000835 

SIPDIS


DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/C, AF/SPG, D, DRL, H, INR, INR/GGI,
PRM, USAID/OTI AND USAID/W FOR DAFURRMT; LONDON AND PARIS
FOR AFRICAWATCHERS; GENEVA FOR CAMPBELL,
ADDIS/NAIROBI/KAMPALA FOR REFCOORDS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF KAWC CD SU
SUBJECT: REFUGEES IN EASTERN CHAD: A LOOK AHEAD (PART II)

REF: A. NDJAMENA 814


B. NDJAMENA 834

C. NDJAMENA 742

D. NDJAMENA 740

Classified By: Political/Economic Officer Kathleen FitzGibbon for reaso
ns 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L NDJAMENA 000835

SIPDIS


DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/C, AF/SPG, D, DRL, H, INR, INR/GGI,
PRM, USAID/OTI AND USAID/W FOR DAFURRMT; LONDON AND PARIS
FOR AFRICAWATCHERS; GENEVA FOR CAMPBELL,
ADDIS/NAIROBI/KAMPALA FOR REFCOORDS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF KAWC CD SU
SUBJECT: REFUGEES IN EASTERN CHAD: A LOOK AHEAD (PART II)

REF: A. NDJAMENA 814


B. NDJAMENA 834

C. NDJAMENA 742

D. NDJAMENA 740

Classified By: Political/Economic Officer Kathleen FitzGibbon for reaso
ns 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Bureau for Population, Migration, and
Refugees Officers Margaret McKelvey and Hazel Reitz traveled
to Chad from May 4 to 18 to conduct a periodic review of
protection and assistance efforts in eastern Chad. This is
the third of three cables from the visit. (Refs A and B).
Some humanitarian assistance projects for local Chadian
populations are now beginning, but the approaching rainy
season is likely to constrain these efforts. Donors also
need to consider assisting Chadians being displaced by
cross-border attacks by jandjaweed and bandit groups. ICRC
recently provided non-food items to 4,000 Chadians near Goz
Beida. Given the recent violence in the camps, the civilian
nature and neutrality of the camps is an increasingly
important issue that has implications for Chad's willingness
to host the Sudanese refugees. UNHCR's Director for
Operations in Chad and Sudan Jean-Marie Fahkouri visited on
May 17 to meet with Chadian officials, including President
Deby, about UNHCR's operations the recent violence in the
camps. Embassy, UNHCR, and PRM officials urged the rebel
movements to maintain the civilian nature of the refugee
camps. End Summary.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NO LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
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2. (C) Chadian President Idriss Deby lambasted UNHCR/Sudan's
Director of Operations for Sudan and Chad Jean-Marie Fahkouri
for creating a burden on the Chadian people and doing nothing
to address it during a meeting on May 17. Deby told
Fahkouri that UNHCR was responsible for discontent among the
local people. (Comment: After the meeting, Fahkouri told us
that Deby had not been properly briefed or that his ill-humor
stemmed from his feeling of vulnerability. End Comment.)

During a meeting with Ambassador Wall, P/E Officer, and PRM
TDYers, Fahkouri attributed the refugee camp violence as
symptoms of a not unexpected deterioration of the situation.
Refugees had completed the first two phases of being a
refugee: the first being their flight from Darfur and the
second being the transfer to refugee camps for protection and
assistance. Fahkouri noted that the refugees are now in
phase three: where they see no light at the end of the tunnel
and they become more militant in an attempt to regain what
they have lost. These psychological stages need to be kept
in mind.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ASSISTING AFFECTED CHADIANS
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3. (C) Deby's message is not new. In eastern Chad, the
Sudanese refugees outnumber the local population at least 2
to 1 and in some places the ratio is greater. After
absorbing the initial wave of refugees, many of whom were
family members, the host population exhausted its meager
resources. Now, the large concentration of refugees has
taxed the extremely fragile environment, particularly water
and firewood resources, to the breaking point. The
deteriorating circumstances of the local population has
spurred calls for material assistance for Chadians in the
refugee zone. Although just beginning, more assistance is in
the budgeting process, and more is needed. However, the
rapidly approaching rainy season will limit its delivery. As
reported in refs C and D, visiting Senator Corzine (D-NJ)
viewed first-hand the need to assist Chad.


4. (U) UNHCR has begun some 53 generally small-scale
projects amounting to a total value of some $3 million to
assist local Chadians; about half have been completed. The
completed activities range from distribution of seeds and
tools to rehabilitation of wells to animal vaccinations to
repair of vehicles for the local authorities. A handful were
specifically funded by bilateral donors such as ECHO, DFID,
and AUSAID; most are being done by existing implementing

partners (i.e., no significant additional overhead) with
funds contributed to UNHCR. IRC-procured equipment for the
local referral hospital at Bahai and IMC support for the
Guereda Hospital are in train. USAID/OFDA support for UNICEF
resulted in the opening of offices in Goz Beida and in Iriba
that will deal with assistance to Chadians once they are up
and running. Reitz and McKelvey confirmed with UNICEF in
Abeche and N'Djamena that almost all of UNICEF's efforts this
year in water and sanitation will be focused on affected
Chadians, not on refugees as they were over the last twelve
months. WFP has committed to doing food for work projects,
has done some, and has food available but is suffering from
both a lack of implementing partners and a lack of staff time
to work on development and management of FFWs.


5. (U) Some of the local frustration is the result of the
benefits and the disadvantages of the international presence
not accruing equally to the same people. For example, WFP's
N'Djamena representative Stefano Poretti reports that WFP has
had no trouble getting Chadian trucks to respond to WFP's
calls for contracts. In contrast, the Libyan trucks sought
were not/not materializing. Meanwhile, a local businessman
reported to Embassy officer that the WFP and oil companies
demand for trucks is pulling in all of the available trucks
and leaving nothing reasonable for local business to use in
moving its product.


6. (C) The French military could be another interesting
potential source of funding for the local populations, even
if only 20,000 Euros according to UNHCR/Abeche. PRM TYDers
met with the head of a three-person team of the Actions
Civilo-militaires unit. This is a force of 96 from among the
various branches of the French armed forces, including
gendarmes, that has existed since 2001. Captain (Navy air)
Nathalie Fave's stated mission is to travel the border areas,
ferret out information on current and potential local
conflicts (including between refugees and locals),and
undertake micro-projects to help ease those tensions.
(Comment. A tall order for an assignment that lasts only
four months, as do the deployments of all of the French
troops at Camp Croci in Abeche. End comment.) Fave did
similar work in Afghanistan and Cote d'Ivoire and had been in
Chad last year to direct the French airlift in support of
refugees. She is one (and the only female) of 13 officers at
the base, she said.


7. (SBU) Unfortunately, in mounting programs for affected
Chadians, most humanitarian players will conduct rapid,
one-off activities. The humanitarian system cannot generally
address the development needs of Chad and yet those needs are
likely to endure just as long as the refugees' need for
life-supporting assistance. As a result, the issue of
affected Chadians will remain. In addition,
internally-displaced Chadians are also a new factor to
consider for assistance.


8. (SBU) Recommendations: Depending on the planning horizon
selected, it might make sense for WFP to consider augmenting
the local fleet of trucks. WFP might usefully do a
cost/benefit analysis with several different assumptions.
UNHCR should make every effort to enlist other elements of
the UN family in addressing needs of Chadians, including
those affected in some precise way by refugees and those
whose desperate poverty has been more visible now that the
international community has arrived in force to assist the
refugees, driving local rents and food prices out of reach of
most Chadians. If USAID/OFDA can get its projects for
affected Chadians up and running to some extent before the
rains, that would be another opportunity to assuage the GOC's
claims that the international community is not doing enough
for the Chadians.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A NEW PROBLEM: 4,000 INTERNALLY-DISPLACED CHADIANS
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9. (U) The first internally-displaced Chadians to be
identified as victims of spillover of the Darfur conflict are
to be assisted on a one-off basis by the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Contingency planning
should include the possibility of more such displacements.
According to ICRC surveys the week of May 1, a total of some


4,000 Chadians have been displaced in the Ade area (near the
border, northeast of Goz Beida) due to a number of attacks
from unidentified Sudanese, either GOS-inspired jandjaweed or
ordinary bandits. The GOC has deployed troops and maintains
that the area is safe enough for people to return to their
homes within Chad. However, the people are still too scared
to go home.


10. (C) Two Belgian journalists visiting border villages in
the Adre area (which is further to the north),told PRM
TDYers on May 15 that Chadian villagers reported attacks from
the Sudan side of the border every few days with loss of
animals. The attackers are either jandjaweed or bandits,
according to the villagers. ICRC considered a one-time
distribution of food (small quantities, not a systematic
ration as recommended by the ICRC field staff) and non-food
items to the Ade area IDPs. The IDPs are destitute and the
rains are coming, but ICRC ultimately decided to only
distribute the non-food items, according to ICRC/N'Djamena
director Thierry Ribaux. The distribution was conducted on
May 13.


11. (SBU) ICRC is leery of anchoring the IDPs outside of
their homes and will re-evaluate later whether any ongoing
assistance would be necessary. (Comment: ICRC is reinforcing
its presence/program in Chad, and has 13 internationals at
present, which would be helpful if displacement of Chadians
becomes more widespread and the international community
becomes seized with what agency should be charged with
addressing the needs of IDPs. End Comment.) PRM TDYers
spoke with ICRC about the potential for a budget extension.
In ICRC's set-up, the field staff do not have to get involved
in budgetary questions to any great degree beyond signaling
needs. It is not yet clear whether the increased needs will
surpass the 10 percent "borrowing authority" available to
ICRC. Note that the Chad delegation is now a stand-alone one
(since January 2005) with a separate budget from that of
ICRC/Sudan.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MAINTAINING REFUGEE CAMP NEUTRALITY
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12. (C) The issue of the humanitarian nature and neutrality
of the refugee camps continues to bedevil UNHCR. In a
meeting with Fahkouri on May 17, UNHCR officials, PRM TDYers,
and embassy officials, Sudanese Liberation Movement and
Justice and Equality Movement members admitted that they
visit their families who are in the refugee camps. However,
they claim their members are told to leave their weapons at
their bases prior to traveling. Rebel leaders must obtain
permission from the Chadian Minister of Public Security in
order to visit the camps. The N'Djamena-based leaders have
respected this regulation. Lower-ranking members do not need
permission. UNHCR urged the SLM and JEM to be diligent about
notifying Chadian authorities.


13. (C) The violence in the camps on May 9 and 10 is
indicative of the high level of frustration and the
vulnerability of the refugees to manipulation. The
precipitating events for the violence at Goz Amer and the
Touloum, Iridimi, Mile, and Kounoungou camps over
re-registration and food distribution were unrelated.
However, their may be a common factor. Rumors continue to
circulate that these types of events are being stirred up by
Sudanese agents provocateurs in the camps. The alleged
Sudanese agents reportedly want to stir up enough trouble to
convince local authorities that the refugees should not be
allowed to remain in Chad. A return of some refugees to
Sudan would bolster the GOS's claims that the situation in
Darfur is improving, according to Fahkouri.


14. (C) The civilian nature of the camps will continue to
be problematic. Embassy, PRM, and UNHCR officers all made
strong representations to the SLM and JEM representatives to
keep the camps free of military influence. In addition, the
rebel movement members were urged to persuade the refugees in
Touloum to sign a letter of apology and to permit resumption
of all services. (Note: In negotiations with the refugees in
the aftermath of the violence. local authorities requested
the refugee leaders to sign a letter recognizing the
authority of the Chadian authorities to maintain order and to

apologize for the attacks on the gendarmes and humanitarian
workers. The leaders at Iridimi agreed to sign the letter.
Touloum camp remains the only hold-out. End Comment.)

- - - -
COMMENT
- - - -


15. (C) President Deby's lashing out at Fahkouri is
indicative of his growing frustration with deleterious impact
of the refugee crisis on the local population and Chad's
security. The recent violence highlighted the need for a
better understanding of the refugee camp leaders and the
forces influencing them. Chadian officials miss no
opportunity to highlight the plight of the host population,
which has borne an incredible burden. We note, however, the
presence of the Sudanese refugees also represents an
opportunity for Chad to address and to get donor support for
meeting the needs of its own neglected population. Chad
already is starting to benefit from the infusion of external
project funds to ameliorate the situation, but Chadian
officials also need to assure the sustainability of these
projects over the long-term when the crisis ends.


16. (U) Khartoum and Tripoli Minimize Considered.
WALL


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