UNHCR/WFP ON FOOD AND PHYSICAL SECURITY SITUATION FOR TWO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NDJAMENA 000512 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR AF/C STATE ALSO FOR S/USSES STATE ALSO FOR PRM/AFR USAID FOR OFDA KHARTOUM FOR OFDA NSC FOR GAVIN LONDON FOR POL - LORD PARIS FOR POL - KANEDA ADDIS ABABA FOR AU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM SU CD SUBJECT: UNHCR/WFP ON FOOD AND PHYSICAL SECURITY SITUATION FOR TWO CAR REFUGEE POPULATIONS IN SOUTHERN CHAD REF: Bangui 219; Bangui 212; N'Djamena 173 ¶1. (U) Summary: Following a Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) in mid-October to study the situation of CAR refugees and Chadian host populations in southern Chad, UNHCR ResRep Stefano Severe and WFP ResRep Jean-Luc Siblot held an October 27 briefing to present agency assessments of two sites of CAR refugees camps, one site located in Gore, in Southwestern Chad (Department of Logone Oriental) and one in Daha-Hararze, Southeastern Chad (Department of Salamat). The camp in Gore hosts CAR refugees who have arrived in several successive waves beginning in 2003, and who continue to arrive in small numbers as a result of tensions in Northwestern CAR (Refs A and C). The main goal of UNHCR and WFP for the population in the Gore camp is to determine whether a better-coordinated assistance approach would allow improvements in social, health and economic conditions, to the point where the population could become self-sustaining over a period of time. As for the Daha-Haraze group, consisting mainly of women and children who arrived in spring 2009 (Refs B and C),immediate relocation of the existing camp away from the CAR border to avoid armed bandit attacks is under consideration, as well as methods to improve coordination in logistics, security, food distribution, medical care and education. Agencies are planning for an additional 5000 arrivals in 2010 due to instability deeper in CAR. End Summary -------------- GORE REFUGEE CONDITIONS -------------- ¶2. (U) According to UNHCR'S Field Officer in Gore, the current population of CAR refugees in the camps in the region numbers 32,000 (out of an estimated 74,000 CAR refugees in all locations in Southern Chad in October 2009). Social conditions for refugees at the Gore sites now approximate those of surrounding Chadian populations. Police protection is inadequate. Refugees produced 50 percent of the food they needed in 2008, but with 2009 harvests expected to be smaller, additional support mechanisms are under consideration. A bridge outside Gore is down, with the result that aid deliveries must be rerouted; pressuring local authorities to fix the bridge, or finding an international organization willing to do so, is considered a priority. The JAM recommended that UNHCR, WFP, FAO and partners undertake yet another study to determine how economic, health and social conditions of refugees could be improved to the point where the population might become self-sustaining. -------------- DAHA-HARAZE REFUGEE CONDITIONS -------------- ¶3. (U) The two Daha-Haraze CAR refugee camps, currently hosting 15,500 women and children (most of whom arrived from Northeastern CAR in May 2009),are two kilometers from the border (international norms stipulate that refugee camps be located at least 45 kilometers from the border of refugees' countries of residence). Pressure from armed bandits is widespread. The JAM reQmmends relocation of the refugees as soon as possible in 2010. JAM participants also noted that UNHCR, WFP and UNICEF might consider consolidating operational planning so that short-term needs of the population could be met more efficiently. Measures to protect, feed, provide medical treatment to, and educate the populations in Daha-Haraze need to improve, and access to primary services must be better facilitated. The GOC refugee agency CNAR has been asked to provide additional security around the camps in Daha-Haraze by hiring more Chadian gendarmes. (NOTE: The Chadian special police force known as the Dtachement Integr de Scurit -- "DIS" -- was created to enhance security around the refugee and displaced persons camps in eastern Chad. That UNHCR would request for gendarme forces to provide security in southern and south-eastern Chad may be a measure of how thinly stretched this specialized force already is. END NOTE.) Lack of roads in the area is a significant problem, particularly because the two camps are separated by ninety kilometers. Transportation is expensive when available. Organizations are planning for the possible arrival of approximately 5000 new refugees in 2010 due to instability ultimately provoked by activities of the LRA further south in CAR. It is hoped that by planning for new arrivals, 2010 budgets will be more in line with needs. -------------- COMMENT -------------- NDJAMENA 00000512 002 OF 002 ¶1. (U) Summary: Following a Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) in mid-October to study the situation of CAR refugees and Chadian host populations in southern Chad, UNHCR ResRep Stefano Severe and WFP ResRep Jean-Luc Siblot held an October 27 briefing to present agency assessments of two sites of CAR refugees camps, one site located in Gore, in Southwestern Chad (Department of Logone Oriental) and one in Daha-Hararze, Southeastern Chad (Department of Salamat). The camp in Gore hosts CAR refugees who have arrived in several successive waves beginning in 2003, and who continue to arrive in small numbers as a result of tensions in Northwestern CAR (Refs A and C). The main goal of UNHCR and WFP for the population in the Gore camp is to determine whether a better-coordinated assistance approach would allow improvements in social, health and economic conditions, to the point where the population could become self-sustaining over a period of time. As for the Daha-Haraze group, consisting mainly of women and children who arrived in spring 2009 (Refs B and C),immediate relocation of the existing camp away from the CAR border to avoid armed bandit attacks is under consideration, as well as methods to improve coordination in logistics, security, food distribution, medical care and education. Agencies are planning for an additional 5000 arrivals in 2010 due to instability deeper in CAR. End Summary -------------- GORE REFUGEE CONDITIONS -Q -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Regarding the refugee and host populations in the Gore region, there have been no shortage of studies of whether this refugee population might be self-sustaining. A trip report from a USAID regional food for peace officer in 2006 stated that the feeding program in southern Chad should be phased-out by the end of ¶2007. Most agencies concur that those who crossed the CAR border into Chad are in fact extended family members of the Chadian host population; the arrival of the southern cousins has meant a major international effort to provide health care, clean water, and food to an area which, in the absence of a refugee flow, would have continued to live without assistance as best they could manage. The somewhat perverse impact of cross-border population movements, and the international reaction to them, is in strong evidence in Southern Chad. END COMMENT. NIGRO