COTE D'IVOIRE: UNHCR PREPARING FOR JUNE DEADLINE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABIDJAN 000293 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/W AND PRM/AF/CACHANG GENEVA FOR RMA MONROVIA FOR LMAZEL AND SEIRIZ DAKAR FOR USAID/FFP/MOSMAN AND USAID/OFDA/RDAVIS DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USAID/OFDA/DDEBERNARDO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PHUM EAID UNHCR SOCI LI IV SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: UNHCR PREPARING FOR JUNE DEADLINE REF: A. STATE 17135 ¶B. MONROVIA 276 ¶1. Summary: The Abidjan-based Refugee Coordinator (RefCoord) for West Africa traveled with Lou Mazel, DCM Monrovia, and Mohamud Osman, USAID/FFP Dakar, from February 25 to March 3 to visit WFP and UNHCR offices in Cote d'Ivoire (Tabou, Guiglo) and Liberia (Harper) and to meet with refugees and NGO partners. The U.S. mission discussed Liberian repatriation and assistance issues and met with agencies working with internally displaced populations (IDPs). UNHCR appears set to engage in a strong promotional campaign leading up to the June 2007 assisted repatriation deadline for Liberian refugees. USAID/FFP will send a separate food security report covering the regions visited. End Summary. ¶2. The Abidjan-based Refugee Coordinator (RefCoord) for West Africa traveled with Lou Mazel, DCM Monrovia, and Mohamud Osman, USAID/FFP Dakar, from February 25 to March 3 to visit WFP and UNHCR offices in Cote d'Ivoire (Tabou, Guiglo) and Liberia (Harper) and to meet with refugees and NGO partners working in the field. RefCoord and USAID/FFP officer also visited several villages in the Zone of Confidence that had seen population displacement as well as a center in Yamoussoukro housing some 350 internally displaced persons (IDPs). UNHCR Return Figures From Cote d'Ivoire -------------- ¶3. UNHCR reports they assisted a total of 3,476 Liberian refugees return to Liberia in 2006, a sharp decrease from their 2005 figure of 13,501 assisted returns. The majority of returns in 2006 came from Tabou (2,643),followed by Guiglo (772) and Abidjan (61). UNHCR also reports they are providing direct assistance in Cote d'Ivoire to only about 2,000 vulnerable Liberian refugees. RefCoord discussed these figures with Saber Azam, UNHCR Representative, and Buti Kale, UNHCR Deputy Representative, and stressed that PRM expected to see full attention to the Liberia repatriation process leading up to the June 2007 deadline for assisted return (ref. A). Azam promised RefCoord that UNHCR is fully engaged in supporting Liberian repatriation and promised to share local integration plans with RefCoord. �A;Visit to Tabou and Surrounding Villages -------------- ¶4. The U.S. delegation held discussions with refugees in Tabou town (ref. B) and visited project sites in surrounding villages with local implementing partners. Tabou is the last large town in Cote d'Ivoire before arriving at the border with Liberia, approximately 45 minutes away by dirt road. RefCoord visited the villages of Yeouli, Georgestown, and Gozon, all located along the Cavally River separating Cote d'Ivoire from Liberia. All three villages seemed relatively quiet, and RefCoord actually had difficulty finding many Liberian refugees to talk to (Note: These villages are populated by various ethnic groups/nationalities. End note.) In Georgestown, the Refugee Committee Chairman said he was unaware of the deadline for repatriation to Liberia, but, curiously, he explained that he had just returned from Liberia where he had spent the last several months receiving free medical treatment in Harper. RefCoord could not even find the Refugee Committee Chairman in Gozon, and was eventually told he had left to San Pedro. Dr. Toure, UNHCR Head of Field Office in Tabou, later told RefCoord he might even be in Liberia, since his family had just returned last week. ¶5. Kakule Dieudonne, Head of Field Office for IRC, confirmed to RefCoord that student enrollment figures dropped significantly between the 2005/2006 school year, when IRC enrolled 2,700 Liberian students in their alternative education schools, to just 987 Liberian students for the 2006/2007 school year. Dieudonne said only 163 of those not registered this year could be accounted for on UNHCR's repatriation lists. In Harper, Liberia, UNHCR staff estimate some 10,000 Liberians have returned without UNHCR assistance from Cote d'Ivoire. So far they have deregistered 302 families (786 individuals),most of whom are from Maryland County. Based on their observations, they believe deregistration numbers remain low as many Liberian refugees have either lost their refugee cards or continue to hold on ABIDJAN 00000293 002 OF 003 to their cards in case a future resettlement program in Cote d'Ivoire is launched. They also said that some Liberians use the cards to facilitate travel when they return to Cote d'Ivoire to conduct business, and that others have even sold their cards to third country nationals (Burkinabe, Nigerians, Ghanaians) who hope to use them to benefit from assistance and/or resettlement programs in host countries. Liberian Refugees in Guiglo -------------- ¶6. The PRM-USAID/FFP team also traveled to Duekoue and Guiglo and visited several villages in the Zone of Confidence (Fengolo, Ieurozon, Blodi, and Toa-Zeo) that had experienced population displacements. UNHCR organized a meeting with approximately 350-400 Liberian refugees in Nicla Camp and a group of about 25 Liberian refugees in Guiglo town. RefCoord communicated the same message to refugees as in Abidjan and Tabou (ref. B). The Nicla refugees are still a cohesive group, opening their meetings with prayers for resettlement, but they were less rowdy than in previous meetings. Their questions focused on the security situation in Cote d'Ivoire and what would happen to Liberians who remain in Cote d'Ivoire after the June 2007 deadline. They appear to have largely accepted the end of group resettlement to the U.S., but many in Nicla still have pending P-3 cases. RefCoord assured them that the U.S. will process all eligible P-3 cases, but that those refugees who choose to remain in Cote d'Ivoire need to recognize that repatriation assistance is ending in June 2007. In Guiglo town, one Refugee Committee member angrily asked why UNHCR is not holding such discussions with the larger refugee population in town, particularly the issue of the closing of transit and reception facilities in Liberia after June and what impact this will have on potential returnees. Ironically, another refugee complained that health care for refugees in Guiglo is inadequate and that he had traveled all the way to Monrovia on two occasions for free medical care - even producing his medical card to prove his point. The Village of "Zaa" -------------- ¶7. Azam had promised RefCoord and the Ambassador on several occasions in 2006 that refugee assistance in the Nicla Camp in Guiglo would end in December 2006 and that Nicla would be transformed into an Ivoirian village (to be called "Zaaglo" - the village of "Zaa"). However, Azam complained that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is delaying the process and that they are waiting for the Minister that will then be transferred to the military Prefect in Guiglo for official announcement. Azam said with confidence that the Ministry would deliver this announcement before the end of February (which did not happen). WFP, IRC, and Caritas confirmed, however, that they had agreed with UNHCR in December to continue assistance in Nicla and Tabou until the end of June ¶2007. According to UNHCR Guiglo, the Ivoirian government requested approximately $800,000 to complete the transformation of Nicla into a village, a figure that UNHCR could not pay. Azam produced a letter signed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 8 that confirms the decision to transform Nicla camp into a village has been submitted to an inter-ministerial committee for further review and eventual authorization. The Mie N'Gou Center -------------- ¶8. The PRM-USAID/FFP mission also visited the Mie N'Gou Center in Yamoussoukro. According to UNHCR documents, the Center holds 550 people and, along with the CATD in Guiglo, is without "adequate support and infrastructure" where "promiscuity and high risk behavior, malaria, and other diseases" have caused "despair and frustration" among the residents. A UNHCR official accompanying the mission said they had just completed a census and had registered only 368 persons in the Center (Note: The Center was designed to hold 250 persons. End note.). Indeed, the Center was grossly overcrowded in 2002 when some 9,000 IDPs fleeing the war crammed its facilities. However, several NGOs, including Save the Children/UK, used to provide assistance in the Center and the World Food Program (WFP) carried out food distributions until December 2005. An IRC official said their estimate of repairs to the plumbing system in the Center came to only about $2,000. The U.S. delegation ABIDJAN 00000293 003 OF 003 learned that most families manage to pay the required fees for their children to attend school and that there are no reported cases of malnutrition in the Center. Three gentlemen the delegation spoke to in fact either have jobs outside the Center or are receiving a government pension. The Nun running the center confided to RefCoord that she just wants the IDPs to leave so she can return to her original work providing physical therapy to handicapped persons in the Center. Comment -------------- ¶9. UNHCR has stepped up its refugee activities since the start of the U.S. delegation's visit. Return numbers jumped between February 27 and March 8 and Azam raised the issue of local integration of Liberian refugees in Cote d'Ivoire after June 2007 with the UN Country Team and local partners on March 13. UNHCR staff have also worked out a solid promotional plan they intend to implement as of late March to inform Liberian refugees about their options for local integration after the June deadline and have shared a copy of that strategy with RefCoord. The issue of whether or not the Nicla camp will soon close is a moot point at this stage as the June 2007 repatriation deadline takes the spotlight. WFP confirmed they will no longer provide food assistance to Liberians on the basis of their refugee status after June 2007, but vulnerable groups remaining in Cote d'Ivoire will be eligible for WFP country program assistance on the basis of "vulnerability" criteria that applies equally to Ivoirians. Despite some delays between November and February, UNHCR appears on track to conduct a strong promotion campaign as assisted repatriation comes to a close and they move to local integration activities. Hooks