UNHCR MOVES SAG FORWARD ON ASSISTING ZIMBABWE

UNCLAS PRETORIA 001619 SIPDIS GENEVA FOR RMA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PREF SF SUBJECT: UNHCR MOVES SAG FORWARD ON ASSISTING ZIMBABWE REFUGEES REF: A. SECSTATE 74571 ¶B. PRETORIA 1397 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Press statements by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) called attention to Zimbabweans fleeing to South Africa in growing numbers, some in whole family units and some with injuries from violence. UNHCR renewed appeals to the SAG to suspend deportations, give access to asylum seekers, provide registration documents, and fulfill its duties of care to refugees. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) responded with several positive steps, including creation of a refugee reception center near the Zimbabwe border and measures to facilitate asylum. UNHCR Regional Rep Sanda Kimbimbi appreciated U.S. concern on these points but cautioned a demarche to the SAG would likely backfire. End Summary. -------------- Worrying Trends in Refugee Flows -------------- ¶2. Press statements by the UNHCR in Geneva and Pretoria on July 11 called attention to growing numbers of Zimbabweans fleeing to SA, and to changing patterns in those flows. On July 16 Regional Representative Sanda Kimbimbi explained to poloffs that UNHCR staff had monitored border posts as well as illegal transit routes over the past several months of the Zimbabwean electoral crisis. Refugee flows had lately risen markedly, to 3,000-4,000 a week at a Johannesburg reception center. Increasingly large groups were also gathering informally without shelter or assistance at Musina, just within the SA border. Alongside the usual flow of adult males traveling alone seeking work, the profile now included more families, injured victims of violence, and persons seeking asylum. The new dynamic was one of movement from a threat, rather than toward an opportunity. Kimbimbi said, "People are now leaving Zimbabwe not by choice, but because they are forced to -- some by violence and threats, others by hardship and for their very survival." -------------- --- UNHCR to SAG: Suspend Deportation, Assist Asylum -------------- --- ¶3. (SBU) In its July 11 statements and briefings to the SAG, UNHCR reiterated longtime appeals to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) -- to suspend deportations, give greater access to the asylum application process, and issue refugees with official documents to avert detention. UNHCR sources estimated SAG had deported 17,000 Zimbabweans in a 40-day period, and suspending these returns during that country's ongoing political crisis was UNHCR's top priority. (Note: on the day of our meeting with UNHCR, Post received credible reports that DHA officers continued to deport Zimbabweans in significant numbers.) In private meetings with senior DHA officials, UNHCR requested unfettered access to refugee reception centers, to identify and assist asylum candidates. Kimbimbi also warned DHA that its systems lacked capacity to handle new high volumes, and he advised that border offices were failing in their duty to screen deportees for asylum applicants. ¶4. (SBU) We summarized to Kimbimbi the Department's demarche cable (ref A) echoing and endorsing UNHCR concerns. While Kimbimbi and his colleague Yusuf Hassan thanked the USG for its support, they felt the demarche would be counterproductive in the current negative climate of SAG-USG opposition over Zimbabwe in the Security Council. More importantly, SAG had begun to take positive steps to heed importantly, SAG had begun to take positive steps to heed UNHCR's appeals, and Kimbimbi wanted to give these advances time to show results. -------------- DHA Responds: Five Steps Forward -------------- ¶5. Spurred by UNHCR field reports and a personal expression of concern from the High Commissioner, high-level DHA officials paid a flurry of visits to border areas on July 12 and 13, resulting in several significant commitments to rectify treatment of Zimbabweans there: -- On July 16 DHA opened a refugee reception office at Musina (ten kilometers inside SA),sparing Zimbabweans the long journey to Pretoria and relieving long queues in the capital. -- DHA's deportation form has been modified to include an advisory of the right to apply for asylum, with a check box for aspiring migrants to indicate their wish to initiate an application with DHA. -- UNHCR will have full access to DHA centers, unannounced and unescorted, to identify and assist asylum candidates. This access will also extend to the two local NGOs who act as UNHCR's implementing partners in SA. -- Interviews of Zimbabweans by SAG intelligence agencies are henceforth suspended. -- To provide targeted attention to unaccompanied minors, especially very vulnerable girls, a new committee was due to meet on July 17 to coordinate responses by the Department of Social Development, police, immigration, and UNHCR. -------------- 'Contingency Plan' Still in Progress -------------- ¶6. In case of a massive influx of Zimbabwean refugees, UNHCR was pressing the SAG to get Contingency Plan preparations (ref B) back on track. Promises made in April, for site clearance by the Army and utilities installation by the Department of Public Works, were unfulfilled. DHA and National Disaster Management Center (NDMC) promised on July 11 to reenergize these efforts and to revisit the site with UNHCR on July 23. Kimbimbi lamented that UNHCR's $ 10 million appeal for contingency preparations and supply stocks had received negligible support from donors. -------------- Q -------------- IDPs: Reintegration Imminent (With Risks) -------------- ¶7. Kimbimbi confirmed the SAG still planned to shut down by mid-August its shelter sites for victims displaced by May's xenophobic attacks. Acknowledging that a large-scale return of foreigners to their former settlements could spark renewed violence, he added, "Of course, we hope not... but the question on reintegration is: what alternative is there?" SAG's standing policy affirms free movement and favors dispersion of new arrivals. Explicitly against camps, the SAG dodged the notion in May until security considerations compelled their creation, and it then found them problematic to manage. Increasing flows from Zimbabwe, especially if coupled with renewed tensions in townships, however, could renew pressure on the SAG to respond more quickly and once again resort to temporary shelter camps. BOST