Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06HARARE586
2006-05-18 14:02:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Harare
Cable title:  

IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED AT REFUGEE CAMP

Tags:  PHUM PREF EAID ZI 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9421
RR RUEHMR
DE RUEHSB #0586/01 1381402
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 181402Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0035
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 1210
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 1046
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 1216
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 0840
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1267
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 3633
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1039
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 1676
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0474
RUFGNOA/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1425
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000586 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

AF/S FOR B. NEULING
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE
USAID/AFR/SA FOR E. LOKEN
PRM/AF FOR M. LANGE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREF EAID ZI
SUBJECT: IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED AT REFUGEE CAMP


Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Eric T. Schultz for reasons 1.5
b/d

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000586

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

AF/S FOR B. NEULING
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE
USAID/AFR/SA FOR E. LOKEN
PRM/AF FOR M. LANGE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREF EAID ZI
SUBJECT: IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED AT REFUGEE CAMP


Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Eric T. Schultz for reasons 1.5
b/d

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) During poloff's May 10 visit to the remote Tongogara
Refugee Camp, home to approximately 2,300 of the 12,300
refugees Zimbabwe hosts, UNHCR officials lamented budget
challenges to camp operations and outlined areas of need,
such as water distribution and opportunities for
self-sufficiency. The camp provides the refugees, most of
whom are from the Great Lakes region, with all basic needs.
The camp will require expansion if the GOZ follows through on
indications that it intends to move the remainder of its
refugees into the camp. UNHCR officials reported good
relations with the GOZ. End summary.

--------------
Background
--------------


2. (U) Tongogara Refugee Camp was established during the
1980s to host refugees from Mozambique. It is located near
Chipinge in the southeast of the country. The camp closed in
1995, but UNHCR reopened the camp in 1999 to house an influx
of refugees from the Great Lakes region. As of the date of
the visit, the camp was home to 2,322 refugees, primarily
from the Democratic Republic of Congo (1,484),Rwanda (438),
and Burundi (346). There were also small numbers of refugees
from Sudan, Angola, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Uganda. The GOZ
Department of Social Welfare and the NGO World Vision manage
the camp, and there are three UNHCR staff on-site.

--------------
Tongogara's Budget Woes
--------------


3. (U) UNHCR Chief of Mission Girma Gebre Kristos told poloff
that camp facilities provided a relatively good standard of
living compared to other refugee camps but were far from
ideal. UNHCR wished to make but could not budget for several
needed improvements. UNHCR Zimbabwe's 2006 budget was cut by
20%, creating additional shortfalls. Four-digit inflation
and a more than 100% gap between the official foreign
exchange rate at which UN authorities must access local funds
and the so-called parallel exchange rate at which imported

goods and services are priced further strained UNHCR
resources. Girma said UNHCR was seeking additional donor
commitments to make the desired improvements.

--------------
Basic Needs Met
--------------


4. (U) The camp's structures are mostly permanent. UNHCR
added some semi-permanent structures when the camp had to
expand quickly to accommodate refugees who lost homes in
Zimbabwe during Operation Restore Order, the GOZ's so-called
urban clean-up campaign that the UN estimated displaced
700,000 people. There are two wells with electric pumps that
distribute water to taps throughout the camp and one backup
well with a diesel pump for use during the frequent
electricity outages. The water distribution system was built
when the camp was first opened, and it is now corroding. The
water has recently tested positive for e. coli. Some, but
not all buildings have electricity.


5. (U) In addition to accommodation, UNHCR provides food,
health care, and schooling at the camp. UNHCR provides
monthly rations to camp residents, including commodities and

HARARE 00000586 002 OF 003


hygiene products. The refugees have vegetable gardens near
their homes to supplement their rations. UNHCR and World
Vision also fund a well-supplied on-site clinic with five
nurses providing basic health care, child immunizations, and
treatment for the camp's most common ailments, such as
malaria. The clinic also accepts Zimbabweans from the
community surrounding the camp. Patients with more serious
needs are referred to a clinic in nearby Chipinge or the
regional hospital in Mutare. The camp offers a half-day
preschool and a primary school. About 20% of the students at
the primary school are children from the surrounding
community. Previously, UNHCR sent children of secondary
school age to boarding schools but now, due to prohibitively
high costs at boarding schools, supports a nearby Catholic
secondary school, where refugees make up approximately 50% of
the student body. The preschool building is crumbling,
poorly ventilated, and cannot accommodate all pupils. The
secondary school suffers from a shortage of classroom space.
All three schools have long wish lists for electricity,
equipment, and furniture. UNHCR is able to provide
university scholarships to just a few secondary school
graduates.

--------------
Self-Sufficiency the Aim
--------------


6. (U) Girma said the camp currently provided refugee
families with all basic needs, but UNHCR was striving to
create opportunities for self-sufficiency. The camp includes
a "Fifth Avenue," a strip of stalls where refugees operate
small stores and businesses. World Vision has also begun a
pilot agricultural project on 20 hectares of land just
outside the camp. Two hundred families were allocated small
plots to grow cash crops. Camp management plans to allocate
some of the plots from an expanded program to local
residents, to build goodwill and ensure that the local
community has a stake in protecting the land from wandering
cattle.

--------------
Camp Expansion May be Needed
--------------


7. (C) Girma said the camp was likely to require additional
upgrades. Much of the camp's infrastructure, such as the
water system, needed improvement. Many individuals had lived
at the camp for years and had poor prospects for
repatriation. The majority of residents were from Kivu in
the DRC, which remained unstable. Recently, UNHCR assessed
that Rwanda was safe for repatriation, but Rwandan refugees
-- the "hard core" refugees, who fled this far -- were
reluctant to return. Some camp residents were eligible for
resettlement, but the majority would remain in the camp for
the foreseeable future. Girma said refugees also faced
increasing resentment from local residents as Zimbabwe's
economy deteriorated and resources became scarcer.


8. (C) Girma said the camp might face a sudden influx of
refugees from Zimbabwe's cities. A total of 13,850 refugees
-- including Tongogara's residents -- were registered in the
country. Although Girma suspected that many had moved on to
South Africa, several thousand remained in the country
outside of the camp, most living without legal status in
cities where they were eking out a living. Previously, the
GOZ took no active steps to seek out these refugees, but GOZ
tolerance appeared to be waning. Police were conducting
periodic sweeps of urban centers for refugees and illegal
immigrants. The GOZ refugee committee was also becoming
increasingly reluctant to grant work permits to skilled
professionals, even in areas such as medicine, where Zimbabwe
is experiencing a shortage of qualified professionals. Girma

HARARE 00000586 003 OF 003


was concerned that the GOZ might start an operation aimed at
relocating all of the refugees to the camp or refugees would
relocate on their own due to the deteriorating economy. The
temporary expansion of the camp during Operation Restore
Order had posed significant problems. A greater expansion
would create a crisis.

--------------
Good Relations with GOZ
--------------


9. (C) Despite signs of a potential crackdown on refugees,
Girma said that UNHCR's relationship with the GOZ was very
good. Unlike many countries, Zimbabwe had a very clear
Refugee Act and a specific Commission for Refugees that made
asylum decisions and granted work permits to selected skilled
workers. When police detained refugees living in cities,
they always informed UNHCR immediately so the refugees could
be relocated to Tongogara. There had been claims that
refugees had been abused during Operation Restore Order.
Girma said the refugees living in areas affected by the
Operation indeed had been displaced, but they had all been
relocated to Tongogara and refugees had not been targeted
during the Operation.

--------------
Comment
--------------


10. (C) With the rapidly deteriorating economy and deepening
GOZ insecurity over prospective urban unrest, Girma's fears
of an influx of refugees may indeed be realized. We
understand that UNHCR Zimbabwe should be able to access
emergency funds in such an event. In the meantime, it is
clear that without some improvements, particularly in the
water distribution system, the camp risks a serious
deterioration in health and living standards. Post has
submitted to PRM a proposal for World Vision to expand and
improve the water system and encourages PRM to give the
proposal its highest consideration.
SCHULTZ