EU: GEORGIA HUMANITARIAN AID DELIVERY SUCCESSFUL

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 001329

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF PREL GG EAID EUN
SUBJECT: EU: GEORGIA HUMANITARIAN AID DELIVERY SUCCESSFUL
DESPITE INITIAL GLITCHES

1.(SBU) Summary: An official at the European Commission's
Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) said Aug. 26 that EU delivery
of emergency humanitarian assistance to Georgia has been
largely successful though hampered initially by coordination
glitches between the EU and its member states. The EU has
approved two emergency allocations in August totaling 6
million euros (USD 8.8M) for humanitarian assistance to
Georgia, and it does not anticipate any more in the near
term, according to Antoine Lemasson, temporarily filling in
as Georgia desk officer at ECHO. ECHO had allocated 2
million euros for assistance to Georgia prior to the August
crisis, bringing the total for 2008 to 8 million euros.
Lemasson anticipates that ECHO will allocate an additional 2
million euros in November for fiscal 2009 beginning in
January. EU member states have contributed additional
humanitarian funds totaling 8.3 million euros, according to
ECHO's internal tracking system, but Lemasson said the real
figure is higher.

Coordinating between the EU and its members
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2.(SBU) ECHO faces a perennial challenge in coordinating
humanitarian assistance with its member states, and Georgia
is no exception. The Directorate General for Environment
activated its Monitoring and Information Center (MIC) to
coordinate the various actors, and Lemasson said it largely
succeeded. In the first days of the crisis, however, some EU
member states (he cited France specifically) flew in
planeloads of goods without coordinating with ECHO, the MIC
or the government of Georgia. Lemasson said the Georgian
government quickly took a strong leadership role, requesting
needed items from the EU and refusing unsolicited donations.

EU chooses funding partners
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3.(SBU) ECHO announced its first emergency funding decision
of 1 million euros on August 10 and decided to divide it
among three organizations with which it already was working
in Georgia. It will give 500,000 euros to the World Food
Program (WFP),300,000 to the Danish Refugee Council, and
200,000 to the French NGO Premiere Urgence. ECHO announced
an additional 5 million euros on August 15. While contracts
have not been finalized yet, Lemasson said the money will
likely include at least 1 million euros to ICRC, up to 1
million to WFP, 1 million euros to HALO Trust (a British
demining NGO),and 30,000-40,000 euros to the French NGO
Telecoms Sans Frontieres. The implementing partners have six
months from the contract award to spend the money, which
means that assistance for shelter, food and other necessities
should carry through most of the winter, Lemasson said.

4.(SBU) Barring a change on the ground, Lemasson said current
levels of humanitarian assistance appear adequate. He noted
NGO difficulties in accessing South Ossetia, but said Russia
has been providing sufficient assistance there. ECHO will
concentrate its efforts on other regions of Georgia. ECHO
has two staff members based in Tbilisi and one in North
Ossetia. An assessment mission from the EU's EuropeAid
office has been in Georgia looking at longer term development
and reconstruction needs beyond the immediate humanitarian
assistance. The European Council is expected to discuss
humanitarian and development assistance when it meets in a
special session on Georgia Sept. 1.
MURRAY
.