GERMAN ASSISTANCE FOR PAKISTANI IDPS ALREADY

UNCLAS BERLIN 000667 SENSITIVE STATE FOR PRM/ECA (HASTINGS, WENDT),SCA/PB (TOWNSWICK), EEB/IFD/ODF (MONOHAN),IO/EDA (HARRIMAN) AND EUR/CE (SCHROEDER) SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PREL PHUM PREF GM PK AF SUBJECT: GERMAN ASSISTANCE FOR PAKISTANI IDPS ALREADY FLOWING REF: A. STATE 57298 ¶B. BERLIN 604 ¶1. (SBU) On June 4, Econoff contacted Maren Lipps, Pakistan Desk Officer, German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ),to express appreciation for Germany's prompt response to the Pakistan Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) crisis and to urge quick disbursement of the German pledge (REF A). Lipps confirmed Germany's concern over the humanitarian situation in Pakistan and that BMZ would contribute 20 million euros for Pakistan IDPs in 2009-2010 (REF B). There are three components to this sum: 1) 5 million euros announced on May 15, 2009 to be channeled via the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); 2) 5 million euros previously committed via the World Food Program (WFP); and 3) 10 million euros via UNHCR's Refugee-Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) Initiative. Lipps explained that BMZ considered the first two components "emergency aid" that could be disbursed as needed in either 2009 or 2010. She added that BMZ had already disbursed the 5 million euros committed to WFP. ¶2. (SBU) Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Pakistan Desk Officer Tobias Grothe confirmed that during 2009 the MFA has pledged 2.6 million euros in support of Pakistani IDPs, above and beyond the BMZ contribution. Originally, 1 million euros was budgeted for assisting the IDPs, but an additional 1.6 million euros has been announced in recent weeks in reaction to the worsening situation. The most recent additional pledge (1 million euros) was announced by Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on May 20. In response to our request that the MFA pledge be disbursed as quickly as possible, Grothe indicated that 1.6 million euros had already been disbursed and that the most recent pledge of 1 million would be "on its way soon, if not already gone." ¶3. (SBU) Grothe noted that BMZ was also contributing 10 million euros in 2009 to the Refugee-Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) initiative to assist Afghan refugees in Pakistan. While the RAHA program did not directly target Pakistani IDPs, Grothe pointed out that it still had benefits for Pakistani IDPs. (NOTE: Post assumes that the $17.6 million cited in REF A as Germany,s pledged contribution to the IDP crisis in 2009 is the dollar equivalent sum of BMZ's 5 million euro pledge via UNHCR, its 5 million euro commitment to WFP, and the 2.6 million euros from the MFA, and that it does not include the separate BMZ contribution to RAHA.) Koenig