U/S Otero Urges for More Educational Opportunties and

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 000262 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT PASS TO PRM/AFR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PREL KE SO SUBJECT: U/S Otero Urges for More Educational Opportunties and Security in Dadaab REF: 10ADDISABABA135 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Under Secretary Maria Otero visited the Dadaab refugee camp as part of her January 25-28 visit to Kenya. The need to improve educational opportunities for refugee children and to respond to the security threats of refugee women - particularly as they search for firewood - were gaps in services noted by the U/S. The U/S also reiterated to refugee leaders and NGO representatives our commitment to remain a key donor to refugee operations in Dadaab, to continue advocating with Government of Kenya officials for additional land to relieve overcrowding in Dadaab, and to persist in our efforts to find a solution to the conflict in Somalia so refugees can return home safely. End Summary. ¶2. (U) Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Baer, Special Advisor to the Office of the Under Secretary Nicole Goldin, and the U/S' Personal Assistant Caroline Mauldin visited the Dadaab Refugee Camp on January 27. The delegation was accompanied to Dadaab by Embassy Nairobi Deputy Chief of Mission Lee Brudvig, Kenya US Liaison Chief Colonel David McNevin and post's Refugee Coordinator. The delegation was briefed by UNHCR-Dadaab Officer in Charge Fortunata Ngonyani and UNHCR's External Relations Officer Andy Needham. The delegation observed newly arriving refugees being registered at UNHCR's Registration Center in Dagahaley camp, toured a primary school and WFP warehouse and food distribution center in Ifo camp, and met with refugee leaders and representatives of NGOs operating in Dadaab. ¶3. (U) UNHCR reported that more than 200 new refugees per day were seeking entry to the camps. Although less than half the new arrivals who sought entry in January 2009, UNHCR staff noted there has been a steady increase of new arrivals since December. UNHCR expected that new arrivals in January would reach about 4,000 (Reftel reported 2,730 new arrivals between 1 -24 January) with the overwhelming number of new arrivals reporting they left Somalia due to violence. UNHCR confirmed that all new arrivals were registered and provided a food ration card, but only those with an assessed protection need were accorded space to establish a shelter within an existing camp. Despite UNHCR's just-completed verification exercise lowering the overall camp population from an estimated 300,000 to 260,443, UNHCR said they still didn't have sufficient space to house the new arrivals or to relieve severe overcrowding. UNHCR said additional land for a fourth camp was still urgently needed. ¶4. (U) The Horseed Primary School in Ifo camp managed by CARE, was hot, overcrowded and in desperate need of additional resources. CARE's Education Coordinator, Musa Dahir, reported that the Horseed Primary School had 3,293 students (1,305 girls and 1,898 boys) in grades 1-5 attending school in two shifts. He confirmed a teacher-pupil ratio of one to more than 100, and that, if available, up to seven students shared one desk. The ten classrooms in the primary school had open unscreened windows, no doors and were unprotected from the noise of neighboring classrooms. Despite the fact that most teachers were not properly trained and the school lacked textbooks and basic school supplies such as chalk, many refugee parents remained eager to send their children to school, but couldn't due to a lack of space (Note: During the visit a Swahili language class was being conducted outside under the shade of a tree for about 35 children, one of several trees identified as being used as classrooms. End Note). WFP supports a school feeding program to ensure that students received at least one nutritious meal per day and to encourage the participation of girls (Note: about 40 per cent of the children in Horseed School are girls. End Note). UNHCR estimates that less than half of the children in Dadaab participate in organized primary or secondary education. ¶5. (U) Although the delegation did not observe a food distribution, they were able to observe the food warehouses and walk through the Ifo food distribution center. WFP confirmed that, in anticipation of el Nino rains, it had recently upgraded its Dadaab facilities and had pre-positioned or has received commitments for sufficient food stocks to feed the current Dadaab population through July. WFP noted that new arrivals are arriving NAIROBI 00000262 002 OF 002 in worse condition then previous new arrivals and that the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates ranged between 12 and 13.6 percent (Note: UNHCR has as a 2010 goal to reduce the GAM to 8 percent. End Note). ¶6. (SBU) The U/S met with the refugee-elected Chairman and Chairlady from each camp (except Lagadera which was only represented by the Chairman). The refugee leaders, who were all concluding their tenures as refugee leaders this year and who were surprisingly well-versed in UNHCR's funding situation, stressed their concern that refugee services were being compromised as new refugees continued to arrive and UNHCR had not budgeted for a rapidly increasing population. Leaders also highlighted their concern about the number of children unable to attend school and requested scholarships for secondary students. Saying they are tired of being in the camp yet can't return home, the leaders asked that they be included in conferences and other efforts to find a solution to the Somalia crisis. The U/S underscored the USG's commitment to remain a significant donor to refugee programs as long as the refugees stayed in the camps, to continue advocating for more space to relieve overcrowding in Dadaab, and to continue its efforts to resolve the conflict in Somalia so the refugees can return home safely. Reflecting the leader's concerns about the deplorable state of education in the camps, the U/S highlighted her desire to see expanded and improved educational opportunities for refugee children. In response to the U/S' concern for the safety of refugee women as they collect firewood and her suggestion that men should also search for wood, the chairlady of Dagahaley camp said selling firewood was one of the few ways for refugees to make money to meet their other needs and underscored the depth of the security problem by saying "if the women search for wood they will be raped, but if the men search for wood, they will be killed." Our contacts also reported substantial friction between the local Kenyan population and refugees, who many of the resident population view as receiving preferential treatment. Camp authorities have sought to address this through community outreach and assistance efforts. ¶7. (SBU) Representatives of seven NGOs operating in Dadaab highlighted the breath of the challenges in Dadaab by citing problems ranging from disposing the 300 metric tons of solid waste the camps produce each day to introducing family planning to a resistant population. CARE, lead NGO for water delivery, said it urgently needed to replace the 22 ageing boreholes serving Dadaab as six were expected to collapse within the next two to six months and four new boreholes were needed to meet the minimum international standards for water availability per refugee per day. Representatives of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and FilmAid both attested to growing security threats: NRC reported restricting international staff to the UNHCR compound due to kidnapping threats against international aid workers and hearing rumors of armed groups in the camps, while FilmAid said its staff have experienced an increased intolerance from the refugees to the health and other messages it delivers in the camps. The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) reported that the camp birth rate is between 300-400 children each month and is unlikely to diminish as Somalis are resistant to family planning messages. The U/S confirmed that the USG will continue to press the GOK for additional space to relieve severe overcrowding and that we will remain a committed donor to refugee operations in Dadaab. The U/S also remarked that the education of refugee children was insufficient and that ensuring the security of refugee women - particularly as they searched for firewood - had to be improved. RANNEBERGER