UNHCR DEPUTY JOHNSTONE BRIEFS AMBASSADOR ON SAHARA

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000319

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR PRM AND NEA/MAG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/09/2018
TAGS: PREF PBTS WI AG MO
SUBJECT: UNHCR DEPUTY JOHNSTONE BRIEFS AMBASSADOR ON SAHARA
AND REFUGEES IN MOROCCO

Classified By: Ambassador Thomas T. Riley for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner Craig
Johnstone, at the end of a regional tour, told Ambassador
Riley UNHCR can live with the imprecise number for Sahrawi
refugees in the Tindouf Camps. He said UN agencies get
around the dispute by counting both the number of rations
(reflecting a donor estimate) and of supplemental rations,
which gives a higher total, placating Algeria and the
Polisario. He discounted the possibility of major diversion
of food aid. Johnstone, a former U.S. Ambassador to Algeria,
personally speculated that it might be possible to sell some
form of "extreme autonomy" to the Polisario. He was engaged
in promoting the CBM program. On Morocco, UNHCR's local
chief said there are only 800 registered refugees, growing by
less than 200 per year. The GOM needed to have legislation
that would establish a procedure and responsible authority
for asylum for refugees. End Summary.


2. (U) Ambassador Riley and Polcouns met visiting UNHCR
Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Craig Johnstone at
latter's request April 4. Johnstone, a former U.S.
Ambassador to Algeria, was joined by his chief of staff and
UNHCR Morocco head of Mission Johann Van der Klaauw.
Johnstone had just flown in from Laayoune and before that
Tindouf, having seen the Sahrawi refugees and Polisario
leaders, and from Algiers. He was here for the ceremonial
opening of the UNHCR office in Rabat, the mission here having
only in the last year received formal recognition from the
GOM.

Saharan Refugees in Tindouf: The Number Problem
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3. (SBU) Ambassador Riley raised the question of the number
of refugees in the camps in Tindouf. With such a stable
population, why was it so difficult to get a real count?
Pointing to a related article in that morning's newspaper, he
asked, were international donations being diverted?


4. (C) Johnstone acknowledged the precise number was
controversial, even though there is no dispute regarding the
order of magnitude. The Algerians claimed 135,000. European
donors had counted the number of tents in an aerial
photograph multiplying by a surveyed number of persons per
household, to yield 90,000. The way the UN got around the
difference politically was that it supplies 90,000 rations
and 35,000 supplementary rations, saying only it is supplying
125,000 rations. This satisfies the Polisario and the
Algerians. Even with the supplementary rations, however,
there are clearly nutritional problems in the camps. Anemia
is widespread among the children, and Johnstone said he was
going to ensure that the UN took steps to address this.
While it was true that some diverted commodities had found
their ways into public markets, this was not at all unusual
in refugee situations. Recipients often trade received
commodities for other essentials, like yeast, which is not
part of the donated food basket, but is needed to turn the
donated flour into bread. This was more a problem for WFP
than UNHCR, which programatically was responsible principally
for medical assistance and education in the camps. The UNHCR
assistance budget for the refugees in Tindouf was only USD 3
million. The Government of Spain contributes some USD 9
million.

Veteran Reflections on Addressing the Sahara Dispute
-------------- --------------


5. (SBU) UNHCR is also responsible for the UN's humanitarian
Confidence Building Measures (CBM) program of exchange visits
(and telephone exchanges) between the refugees in Algeria and
their family members in Western Sahara. As to the CBM's
themselves, Johnstone said he would be trying to promote the
implementation of the agreement at Manhasset that there be
land-based exchanges, which would enable more family members
to benefit. Ambassador noted continuing strong USG support
for the program.


6. (C) In trying to continue and strengthen the CBM program,
Johnstone said he had been peripherally discussing the
political dispute over Western Sahara, although this was not

part of the UNHCR mandate. While the Polisario leaders had
continued to insist that their situation remained strictly
one of decolonization, and they had a right to a referendum
on independence, he thought it might be possible to work
through this rhetoric. It had been clear over the years that
Morocco would not give up the Sahara. Perhaps a referendum
could be proposed that, while not offering a chance to vote
for outright independence, could contain an option for
something a bit less that could meet minimal Moroccan needs,
such as one king - two countries, or some other "extreme form
of autonomy." He recalled that during his time in Algiers,
he had met King Hassan II and then Ambassador to Morocco
Nassif, in a ultimately successful effort to promote a gas
transit pipeline through Morocco.

The Refugee Situation in Morocco
--------------


7. (SBU) UNHCR Mission Chief Van der Klaauw noted that the
formal recognition from the GOM, which allowed UNHCR to
operate more freely as a diplomatic mission in Morocco, and
more formally, had in practice turned out to be somewhat of a
mixed blessing. He had formerly been able to obtain
residency permits from the Consular Section of the MFA. Now
that the GOM recognized UN refugee documents, the MFA
officials were on a sort of technical strike, not issuing any
permits. This should now shift either to the Ministry of
the Interior or some other, perhaps hybrid, domestic
government body. UNHCR had taken Moroccan officials to some
European countries to see how asylum applicants were
processed there. And it had offered a proposed skeleton
draft for the necessary legislation. In the meantime, he was
unable to get work permits for those to whom UNHCR had
granted asylum. Instead UNHCR was sponsoring entrepreneurial
training and micro loans so they could work in the informal
sector, a la Morocaine, which he said the authorities were
tolerating.


8. (U) Van der Klaauw asserted the refugee population is not
large. There are only 800 certified refugees in Morocco. He
was using prescreening to turn away many economic migrant
candidates. Of the 80 applications accepted per month, UNHCR
only granted status to some 20 percent. And this had been
stable over the past two years. UNHCR does not provide
financial support for the refugees, except for some 30-40
cases of widows, or children. Some Moroccan NGOs also help.
Over the past few years, the most applicants were Congolese
and Iraqis (although their numbers had diminished recently -
now only 14 - 16 percent),and Nigerians, who are essentially
economic migrants and are all rejected. He said the number
of refugee applications in other countries in the region,
Algeria and Mauritania were about the same.


9. (SBU) Comment: Due to his experience and interest in
North Africa, it can be expected that Johnstone may well take
a more active part in the Sahara situation, at least by
putting the force of his office behind successful CBM's. End
Comment.


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Riley