DJIBOUTI: UNHCR ON NEW PROGRESS, ERITREAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DJIBOUTI 000890 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E, PRM/AFR, AND S/CRS ADDIS ABABA FOR REFCOORD NAIROBI FOR RDRAPCHO AND REFCOORD GENEVA FOR KPERKINS CJTF-HOA FOR POLAD LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2018 TAGS: PREF SMIG EAID SO ET DJ SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI: UNHCR ON NEW PROGRESS, ERITREAN DEFECTORS/DESERTERS REF: A. DJIBOUTI 767 ¶B. DJIBOUTI 864 Classified By: DCM Eric Wong for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. As the standoff over the Djibouti-Eritrea border continues, UNHCR is working to interview and document 71 Eritrean defectors/deserters in Djiboutian custody. This year, the GODJ and UNHCR are facing the annual winter refugee influx with a new border refugee reception center, a re-established refugee status commission, and border and immigration officers trained on refugee issues. However, neither the reception center nor the status commission are functioning at full capacity. Meanwhile, the October 29 terrorist attacks in Puntland and Somaliland have put a planned voluntary repatriation of 1,500 Somalilanders on indefinite hold. END SUMMARY. -------------- ERITREAN DEFECTORS/DESERTERS -------------- ¶2. (C) According to UNHCR Representative Ann Encontre, the group of Eritrean defectors/deserters who fled during June border hostilities at Ras Doumeira now numbers 71. UNHCR and the NGO Human Rights Watch had previously been aware of 46 defectors/deserters (reftels),but Encontre reported that the GODJ had recently transported an additional 25 to join the 46 already at Nagad Detention Center in Djibouti City. The new arrivals had reportedly been held "elsewhere," and Encontre surmised that they had likely been held nearer the border, perhaps for questioning. The 71 reportedly rank from Captain down. UNHCR was allowed access to the defectors/deserters in early October, and is now in the process of interviewing the 71 to determine whether each individual has renounced violence. Three UNHCR staff members and a GODJ representative are conducting interviews three days a week, and Encontre said that UNHCR hoped to finish all interviews by November 20. Current detention conditions at Nagad, Encontre reported, were satisfactory. ¶3. (C) Encontre said that the ongoing uncertainty of the Djibouti-Eritrea border conflict had led her to push for quick completion of the interviews, and prompt documentation of each defector's/deserter's status. Once the interviewing process is complete, Encontre said, UNHCR can begin to look for resettlement options for those who are eligible. However, Encontre stressed that neither UNHCR nor the GODJ had any clear idea of where the group could be accommodated until resettlement options became available. The deserters/defectors would be impossible to accommodate at Djibouti's sole refugee camp at Ali Adde, Encontre noted, since the addition of former Eritrean soldiers would likely cause uncomfortable tensions among the camp's existing Somali, Ethiopian, and Eritrean civilian refugees. -------------- LOYADA RECEPTION CENTER OPENS, BUT PROBLEMS REMAIN -------------- ¶4. (U) On August 30, the GODJ and UNHCR inaugurated the Loyada Reception Center. Loyada, on the Djibouti-Somaliland border, serves as the main point of entry for refugees from southern and central Somalia. All new arrivals are now supposed to register at the Loyada Reception Center, and then be taken directly to the Ali Adde refugee camp. The Center is equipped with a temporary reception area capable of holding arrivals for up to 72 hours, and with kitchen facilities to provide one hot meal a day. ¶5. (SBU) As of October 2, the Center had registered 159 persons, but was not yet fully functional. While UNHCR is seeking to install solar power as a cost-effective and corruption-proof power source, there is still no electricity, running water, or full-time staff. UNHCR currently funds one employee from the Ministry of the Interior's National Office of Assistance to Refugees and Disaster-Stricken People (ONARS) to work at the Center, but Encontre reported that he was not always present. UNHCR staff schedule at least three weekly visits from Djibouti City, and make extra trips if they are notified that refugees have arrived. The lack of effective staff on site has especially hindered the Center's DJIBOUTI 00000890 002.2 OF 003 ability to provide refugee services. In September, 60 southern Somalis waited at the no-man's-land (located 1 mile from the center) for two weeks, before the Djiboutian border guards informed UNHCR of their presence. Encontre reported that there had been 609 new arrivals in the past four weeks, and said that she was particularly concerned that the Center function properly in light of the expected increase of refugee flows during the cooler winter months. -------------- SOMALILAND REPATRIATIONS ON HOLD -------------- ¶6. (U) UNHCR successfully repatriated voluntary refugees to Somaliland last year, and had decided to repatriate an additional 1,500 Somalilanders in November and December. The 1,500 would have been drawn from volunteers from the closed Hol-Hol camp, who had since been required to register at Ali Adde. The planned repatriation would therefore have freed up much-needed space at Ali Adde, just before the anticipated winter season influx of southern Somali refugees. However, in light of the October 29 terrorist attacks in Somaliland and Puntland, UNHCR has suspended all Somaliland repatriation plans, and UNHCR staff in Somaliland have been evacuated to Nairobi. Encontre reported that while authorities had closed the Somaliland-Djibouti border for several days following the attacks, it had now reopened. -------------- NATIONAL ELIGIBILITY COMMISSION PROGRESS -------------- ¶7. (U) Encontre confirmed that the National Eligibility Commission (NEC),which is responsible for adjudicating the immigration status of asylum-seekers in Djibouti, had been re-established in July. The NEC is interviewing Ethiopian and Eritrean urban refugees who have resided in Djibouti illegally for five or more years, and Encontre reported that it has now completed 87 cases. The NEC receives Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Somali asylum-seekers, while new arrivals from southern and central Somalia are received at the new Loyada Reception Center. The NEC will not accept new cases until an estimated backlog of 1,000 asylum-seeker cases are screened and cleared. To date, Djibouti has received 1,129 asylum-seekers from its neighbors, including 106 from Eritrea, 356 from Ethiopia, 20 from central Somalia, 644 from southern Somalia, 1 from Sudan, and 2 from Yemen. ¶8. (C) Encontre welcomed the re-establishment of the NEC. However, she stressed that it needed to become a fully independent, professionally-staffed entity. The NEC currently sits under ONARS, and Encontre reported that its staff recruitment procedures have been subject to nepotism. Encontre receives periodic reports including details on how many interviews each NEC employee has completed, and she said that there were too many employees completing few or no interviews. If the NEC determines that an applicant qualifies for refugee status, the GODJ must still make an official declaration to confirm the decision. Encontre said that this final step has not been taken, although UNHCR had been able to unilaterally declare a few vulnerable persons (i.e. pregnant women) eligible to move to the Ali Adde camp. To assist those who remain in town, UNHCR has recruited a doctor to provide medical services in Djibouti City. -------------- UNHCR TRAINS IMMIGRATION AND BORDER OFFICERS -------------- ¶9. (U) On October 4, UNHCR and the GODJ jointly conducted a training session on international protection of refugees and Djiboutian legislation for 28 immigration and border officers. The training session focused on international protection principles and standards that the officers must apply in accordance with the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1949 OAU Convention. UNHCR found this training necessary due to the practice of police placing refugees in jail instead of handing them over to the National Office of Assistance to Refugees and Disaster-Stricken People (ONARS). UNHCR hopes that this training--along with a fully-functioning Loyada Reception Center and NEC--will eventually eliminate the incorrect placement of refugees in jail as they enter the DJIBOUTI 00000890 003 OF 003 country or fill the city streets. ¶10. (C) COMMENT. Post welcomes UNHCR's work with the GODJ to provide more effective facilities and mechanisms for registering and documenting refugees. However, it remains troubling that the Loyada Reception Center is barely half-functional almost three months after its inauguration. Additionally, UNHCR's concerns about the independence and efficiency of the National Eligibility Commission are likely valid. Post will continue to monitor the status of the 71 Eritrean defectors/deserters. UNHCR's completion of the interview process will be important step forward, but neither the GODJ nor UNHCR have a clear idea of how to accommodate the defectors/deserters until a more permanent option becomes available. END COMMENT. SWAN