SUDANESE REFUGEES IN CHAD: PRM MONITORING VISIT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 NDJAMENA 000413

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
ROME FOR U.S. MISSION TO THE UN

E.O. 12958: DECL: N/A
TAGS: PREF PHUM ASEC CH UN SU
SUBJECT: SUDANESE REFUGEES IN CHAD: PRM MONITORING VISIT

REF: (A) NDJAMENA 360, (B) KHARTOUM 2131

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1. Summary. PRM/AFR Neil Ahlsten (Chad/Darfur Program
Officer) travelled to eastern Chad from February 17 to March
2 to visit refugee camps sheltering over 200,000 Sudanese
refugees from Darfur. Since January, at least 3,500 new
arrivals have been registered in Gaga Camp after fleeing
from insecurity in West Darfur or the Sudan/Chad border
south of Adre. Banditry and carjackings north of Adre have
limited access to some of the camps, and moving Am Nabak
Camp has become a top priority for UNHCR. Basic assistance
in food, water, primary health care and nutrition are
operating well in almost all of the camps. Malnutrition
rates have fallen to their lowest levels since the arrival
of the refugees. Education and environmental programs are
improving slowly but still have significant gaps. Funding
shortfalls in 2006 will limit UNHCR activities and could
push the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) to
phase out its programs. End summary.

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Registration and Protection
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2. PRM/AFR Neil Ahlsten visited eight of the twelve refugee
camps in eastern Chad to monitor PRM funded activities,
examine the security situation and review the state of
contingency planning. According to the latest figures,
206,000 Sudanese refugees from Darfur live in the twelve
camps. With verification exercises complete, phase three of
the registration process is underway in Kounoungou and
Farchana camps, and will begin soon in the other camps.
UNHCR expects to begin issuing photo identification cards
for refugees within the next couple of months. UNHCR is
documenting all births in the camp, but the GoC is still not
allowing birth certificates to be issued because of the
implications for citizenship. According to Chadian law, all
people born within its borders have eligibility for
citizenship.


3. Gaga Camp has received over 3,500 new arrivals since the
beginning of the year and continues to receive between 50 -
150 new arrivals each day. Exact figures for the camp
population are not available since at any given time one
hundred or more new arrivals are waiting at the UNHCR office
to be registered, while others stay in the camp a few days
before declaring their presence to UNHCR. Roughly half of
the new arrivals are from the Internally Displaced Person
(IDP) camps of Masteri and Mornei in West Darfur. Some of
these newly arrived refugees reported that the Sudanese
Arabs had raided their homes or micro-enterprises on
multiple occasions. The other half were refugees living in
Chadian host communities in border areas south of Adre.
These refugees fled after GoC forces withdrew from these
areas to reinforce positions in Adre, leaving these villages
open to small opportunistic attacks (reftel). UNHCR
suspects that some of these new arrivals are actually
Chadian IDPs fleeing the border areas. UNHCR's policy
toward accepting Chadian IDPs in the refugee camps is
ambivalent. Some senior staff members are adamant that they
will not accept IDPs into the camps, while others see it as
a natural extension of UNHCR's mandate to become more
involved in IDP programs and confessed that UNHCR is not
pressing the new arrivals to determine which side of the
border they are originally from.


4. Regarding protection, UNHCR is supporting 189 Chadian
gendarmes at the camps and will increase this to 235 in the
coming months. Refugee security committees operate within
each camp and generally feel comfortable referring policing
issues to Chadian gendarmes. Refugee leaders in Oure
Cassoni who conducted a strike in January because of poor
security around the camp said that the specific issues
leading to the insecurity have largely been resolved with
the support of the local authorities. In nearly all of the
camps visited, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)
continues to be a significant security concern for women
collecting firewood. Firewood collection programs, SGBV
education and counseling programs are available, but
numerous incidents of sexual assault are still reported.
One day prior to the visit to Gaga Camp, a man was arrested

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after he beat his wife and stabbed a neighboring woman who
tried to intervene.


5. Recruitment by the Sudanese rebel groups is rumored to
occur in many of the camps, but there have been few
confirmed incidents. On March 2, local authorities detained
14 young men who were leaving Kounoungou Camp late at night.
The group said that they had been recruited by a rebel
movement and were planning to leave for Sudan. In February,
UNHCR staff witnessed an incident of suspected recruitment
in Touloum Camp. UNHCR reports that relevant ministers and
governors in the GoC deny that recruitment is occurring in
the camps.

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Getting the Basics Right: Food, Health and Nutrition
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6. Basic assistance in food, health and nutrition are
generally meeting international standards. WFP food
distributions are attaining the full ration target of 2100
kcal in all of the camps. The food pipeline is strong over
the next six months as the bulk of WFP's food requirements
for eastern Chad are already covered through October of

2006. WFP is in the process of expanding its warehousing
capacity in the camps to increase stocks prior to the rainy
season. As reported in Reftel B, milling of the wheat and
sorghum is still problematic, as many refugees give between
30 - 40% of their staple food ration as an in kind payment
to private mills. This situation should improve in the
coming months as UNHCR and WFP will partner to place mills
in each of the refugee camps to increase the total amount of
food available to refugees.


7. Primary health care is progressing well in most of the
camps. Hospitals at Bahai and Iriba are well supported by
NGO partners, though the hospital at Guereda is still in
need of improvements. The main shortcoming in primary
health services has come as a result of insecurity.
International Medical Corps (IMC) withdrew essentially all
of its health services from Am Nabak from February 14 to
March 6. Numerous refugees were reported to have walked
40km from Am Nabak to Touloum to receive medical care. On
the preventative side, health experts at UNHCR and UNICEF
are concerned this is an exceptionally high risk year for
meningitis. They are looking to build contingency stocks of
meningitis vaccines in eastern Chad.


8. Nutritional screening for children under five occurs on a
monthly basis in all the camps. It has been standardized
across the camps and includes interviews with families of
children who have relapsed. Malnutrition rates are well
within international rates at all of the camps with the
possible exception of Am Nabak, which was missing data at
the time of the visit. The rate of new entries into the
therapeutic feeding centers fell from 470 in the month of
July to less than 50 in January. Several camps have not
reported a single case of severe malnutrition since the
beginning of the year. Some of this could be a seasonal
drop since many refugees are believed to have recently
harvested crops in Sudan. If the significant drop in
malnutrition rates continues into the rainy season, UNHCR
may further consolidate the number of therapeutic feeding
centers. According the Action Contre le Faim (ACR),a PRM-
funded nutrition partner in Oure Cassoni, the rate of Global
Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in Oure Cassoni Camp stood at 2.3%
in January, which is well within the standard of 10%. ACF
said that its headquarters is contemplating closing its
field office there at the end of the grant period in July.
(Comment: this represents a very significant turnaround
from the malnutrition figures cited in November 2005 and
needs to be watched closely to ensure that the rate is
sustainable. End comment).

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Significant Gaps in Education and the Environment
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9. Primary education programs have operated below
international standards in several key areas during the 2005-
2006 school year. The bulk of the textbooks did not arrive
at the camps until the beginning of March, meaning that
students did not have access to textbooks for the first five
months of the year. Twenty five percent of school-aged
refugee children are not enrolled in school. Class sizes in
almost all of the camps exceed the international standard of
50 students per class. Farchana, Touloum and Treguine have
classes exceeding 150 students. Class sizes are constrained
both by the number of rooms and the number of qualified
refugee teachers. Since classes are held only in the
morning, UNHCR is considering the addition of afternoon
classes under the instruction of the existing refugee
teachers, which would require additional salary expenses.
With the existing budget constraints, this decision appears
like it will be delayed until the next school year. For
students finishing primary school, it is unlikely that they
will be able to take their qualifying exams at the end of
the year and thus will not receive Sudanese graduation
certificates. The GoS suggested that the 400 eligible
refugee students return to Sudan for their exams, a proposal
that was rejected by UNHCR. UNICEF and UNHCR submitted a
joint proposal to the GoS at the end of February asking it
to provide the exams to UNICEF. UNICEF would then be
responsible for administering the exams. The GoS has not
yet responded to this request. There is currently no
secondary education available to refugees, though small
programs in vocational and life-skills training are underway
in several of the camps.


10. It is clear that several of the northern camps are not
sustainable given the current consumption firewood
collection. Satellite imagery and technical analysis show a
rapid deforestation around the camps. A recent study of
Oure Cassoni camp found that refugees were collecting wood
at three and a half times the rate that it is being
replenished naturally. On the ground, this problem
continues to manifest itself through a high level of
frustration on the part of host communities and the beating
of refugee women who are collecting firewood - the pressure
on resources translates into one of the most significant
refugee protection issues. Even with UNHCR's existing
programs in Oure Cassoni to promote fuel efficient wood
stoves, use trucking to collect wood from a forty kilometer
radius and distribute $660,000 of cooking fuel per year,
refugees will still be forced to collect wood at well above
the rate of replenishment in order to meet their cooking and
lighting needs. Camps at Touloum and Iridimi, as well as
the new camp at Gaga, face similar challenges.

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Moving Am Nabak a Priority, Contingency Planning Mixed
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11. After two years of debate, it appears that moving Am
Nabak Camp has finally become a top priority for UNHCR.
Insecurity has repeatedly limited access to the camp,
sometimes forcing refugees to travel 40km on foot to receive
basic medical services at Touloum Camp. Water shortages at
the camp have forced UNHCR to spend significant resources
trucking water from Iriba to Am Nabak. The local
authorities are supportive of moving the camp, and the local
sultan has said that he will personally assist the move as
necessary. Refugees at Am Nabak have lessened their
resistance to the idea after deteriorations in security and
basic assistance. Within the next two months, 3,000
refugees may be moved to Mile Camp, which has excess space
and water supply. UNHCR has identified three possible sites
to the north or Iriba for the balance of the refugees and is
testing the water potential in the area. With only three
months remaining before the rainy season and no final
decision on a new site location, it is unlikely that Am
Nabak could be completely moved until late 2006 or early

2007.


12. UN agencies and NGOs have invested a considerable amount
of time in contingency planning for possible disruptions to
basic assistance for refugees in the event that a breakdown
in law and order requires evacuation of expat staff. In

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reality, the actual response capaciy remains mixed for the
three focus areas of contingency planning: water provision,
food and health. In the event of extended disruptions to
camp access, water delivery systems will be the key factor
determining how long refugees will be able to remain in the
camps. With the current human and material resources on the
ground, water delivery would last between one and three
weeks depending upon the camp. Contingency fuel stocks for
water pumps varied between ten and twenty days, with some
organizations admitting that they sometimes dip into their
contingency stocks, which then drop to just a few days. WFP
is expanding its storage capacity to five months of food for
the refugee populations. IFRC is warehousing additional
food stocks at Hadjer Hadid to support 20,000 people for
three months. Health contingency planning varies widely by
organization. Many health NGOs boast that they will remain
in the camps until security would deteriorate to the point
that even the refugees would leave. Past experience with Am
Nabak, however, reveals that this commitment is not tenable.
UNHCR is encouraging contingency planning to hand over
activities to either the Chadian MoH or the Chadian National
Refugee Agency (CNAR),but health NGOs see their capacity as
being too low and are uninterested in following such a
strategy.

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The 2006 Outlook: Tightening the Belt
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13. UNHCR expects that its 2006 program budget (the portion
directly funding refugee activities) will fall from $45
million in 2005 to $39 million in 2006. A budget shortfall
at the end of 2005 forced UNHCR to postpone infrastructure
activities such as latrine and school construction, which
places further pressure on the 2006 budget. As cost cutting
measures, UNHCR expects to limit significantly the scope of
programs in support of cooking fuel, income generation and
infrastructure. It will also eliminate some expatriate
staff positions and reduce funding for expatriates of NGO
partners. If malnutrition rates remain low into the rainy
season, UNHCR will revisit its nutritional programs to
determine if cost-savings can be achieved by reducing
capacity or consolidating programs.


14. In a meeting with Ambassador Wall on March 4, Judy Chang-
Hopkins, UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner, stressed the
importance of finding ways of better addressing firewood
collection and host community needs in 2006 despite the
budget cuts. These two issues are often the greatest source
of strain between refugees and host communities, and host
community frustration has already boiled over in 2006. In
the village of Moudre, near Am Nabak Camp, UNHCR promised
the villagers that it would construct schools and water
points for the village in exchange for allowing UNCHR to
truck water to the camp. When these activities were delayed
because of budget cuts, the villagers beat the drivers of
the water trucks and shut down UNHCR's activities. With the
limited funds targeting host community activities in 2006,
tensions will likely remain high in 2006.


15. International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC),which
works with the Chadian Red Cross to provide assistance to
Bredjing and Treguine Camps, faced severe funding shortfalls
at the end of 2005 and expects that it will scale back its
operations and phase out by the end of 2006 unless it
receives major increases in funding commitments. Support
from the national societies of the Red Cross has waned
considerably since 2004. IFRC plays a unique role because
of its commitment to operate in insecurity and its material
response capacity for emergencies, such as the fleet of all-
wheel drive six ton trucks it maintains in eastern Chad.


16. On a positive note, at the end of February the NGO
InterNews began radio broadcasts in Iriba of BBC news and
local reports of host communities, refugees and humanitarian
programs. This service is funded by a grant from USAID/OTI.
On March 2, U.S. Ambassador Marc Wall traveled to Iriba to
inaugurate the station along with the Sultan of Dar Zaghawa
and the Governor of Biltine. The programs, which are
broadcast in French, Arabic and Zaghawa, are intended to
pass unbiased information to refugees and reduce the impact

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of local leaders filtering and bending information to their
gain. They will reach Iridimi, Touloum, Am Nabak,
Kounoungou and Mile camps. A second station in Abeche is
also ready to begin programs in French, Arabic and Masaalit
for Bredjing, Treguine, Farchana and Gaga camps.

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Conclusion and Recommendations
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17. The PRM mission offers the following conclusion and
recommendations based on its visit to eastern Chad:

(a) Regarding insecurity and the limited humanitarian access
in eastern Chad, Embassy N'Djamena and PRM should continue
an open dialogue with UNHCR regarding their security
strategy and closely review the findings of the UNDSS
interagency mission. If UNHCR is unable to negotiate
improvements in security, a demarche to the GoC on their
behalf is recommended in conjunction with other donors.

(b) The strong, timely support for WFP programs has played a
key role in improving the nutritional status of refugees.
The mission encourages donors in food commodities to
continue their robust support of this operation, especially
in light of the limited livelihoods options for refugees in
most of the camps.

(c) PRM should discuss the 2006 strategy and financial
situation of the IFRC mission to Chad with their
headquarters in Geneva and consider increasing the 2006
contribution. Beyond providing strong assistance to the
refugees, IFRC brings an important emergency response
capacity to an area with rising insecurity.

(d) The relocation of Am Nabak Camp is still the preferred
option in light of the security, program and protection
issues associated with the camp. PRM should continue its
policy of encouraging and supporting UNHCR to move the camp
in a timely manner that protects the dignity of the
refugees.

(e) The overall situation of nutrition programs should be
revisited in June or July. If the current drop in
malnutrition rates is not a seasonal phenomena but a long-
term structural change, then some form of consolidation or
program size reduction may be in order.

(f) PRM should consider funding for pilot secondary
education programs in the 2006-2007 school year. Based on
the number of expected graduates from primary school this
year, Oure Cassoni and Bredjing/Treguine will have a
sufficient number of incoming secondary students to warrant
programs. WALL