BENIN: REDUCTION IN TOGOLESE REFUGEE POPULATION

UNCLAS COTONOU 000224 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/W (DBANKS) AND PRM (CCHANG) PARIS FOR D'ELIA KAMPALA FOR FLINTROP LONDON FOR HAHN ACCRA FOR REFCOORD BLUHM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PHUM EAID BN SUBJECT: BENIN: REDUCTION IN TOGOLESE REFUGEE POPULATION REF: COTONOU 0030 ¶1. (SBU) A UNHCR official told TDY PolOff on March 21 that the Togolese refugee population in Benin now stands at an estimated 5,900, down from a high of some 25,000 immediately after Togo's political crisis erupted in early 2005. This number represents those Togolese refugees living both within and outside of the UNHCR refugee camp. Since March 2006, 2,500 refugees have returned to Togo with UNHCR assistance, and UNHCR estimates that an even larger number have returned spontaneously without direct UN aid. ¶2. (U) None of the 2005-era Togolese refugees have been resettled by UNHCR to third countries, but UNHCR contends that they are working toward the resettlement of those with serious medical conditions. (NOTE: Benin also shelters, according to UNHCR, 6,246 other refugees, including several hundred Ogoni from Nigeria, and some pre-2005 Togolese. END NOTE.) ¶3. (SBU) Of the 5,900 Togolese refugees remaining from the 2005 events, UNCHR estimates that more than half will return to Togo at the end of the 2007 school year in June, when Togolese elections are over. UNCHR plans to facilitate the integration of the remaining refugees at the Agame camp through the placement of their children in local schools outside of the camp. BROWN