CHAD HUMANITARIAN UPDATE: M&E Travel and NGO News

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NDJAMENA 000050 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR AF/C STATE ALSO FOR S/USSES STATE ALSO FOR PRM/AFR NSC FOR GAVIN GENEVA FOR RMA LONDON FOR POL - LORD PARIS FOR POL - BAIN AND KANEDA ADDIS ABABA FOR AU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF ASEC PREL PHUM SU CD SUBJECT: CHAD HUMANITARIAN UPDATE: M&E Travel and NGO News ¶1. (U) The following is an update of N'Djamena RefCoord's recent Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) travel and meetings with NGO partners working in the Chad humanitarian response. -------------- M&E TRAVEL: IRIBA AREA REFUGEE CAMPS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) RefCoord spent the week of 07 to 12 December in the Touloum, Iridimi, and Am Nabak refugee camps in the area around Iriba, in the northern sector of humanitarian operations in eastern Chad. RefCoord monitored activities of the NGO's International Medical Corp (IMC),Comite d'Aide Medicale (CAM),the Refugee Education Trust (RET),and InterNews Network in all camps where operational, and in Iriba town. ¶3. (SBU) UNHCR provided compound housing and ground transport, per Post's travel policy for eastern Chad. Mongolian troops deployed to the MINURCAT force in Iriba and DIS police units alternated to escort the daily 20-40 km drives between Iriba and the camps. There were no security incidents during the visits, with the exception of MINURCAT's controlled detonation of abandoned explosive remnants of war (ERW). ¶4. (SBU) CAM, responsible for primary health care in Touloum and Iridimi, was conducting bloc-by-bloc nutritional screenings in both camps with children and pregnant women during RefCoord's visit. Although medical consultation levels were generally up over the previous month, and diarrhea cases on the rise, nutritional levels were generally found to be responsive to quick intervention in the nutrition center. Unfortunately, in the course of conducting a screening, the CAM team discovered an adolescent girl who had apparently committing suicide by drinking products used in the application of henna skin markings. Though still alive when found, the child succumbed some hours later at the referral hospital in Iriba. Family members believed she objected to a marriage arrangement that was under negotiation. ¶5. (SBU) RET's Secondary Education Distance Learning (SEDL) program was getting underway in all three camps. Self Study manuals were stocked and ready for shipment from the logistics hub in Abeche, a marked improvement over 2008 when manuals arrived very late in the 
academic year. The SEDL program was to restart in Am Nabak camp, having been suspended in 2008 when UNHCR withdrew all services from the camp in response to threats against staff attempting to conduct a verification exercise. Students who had dropped out of secondary education in Sudan to take flight some years prior were extremely eager to begin their SEDL program, with the hope of earning a Khartoum-approved Grade 11 leaver's certificate at the end of a year of intensive self-study. ¶6. (SBU) UNHCR was conducting sensitization campaigns on refugee Watch Committees' responsibilities to contribute to camp security in Touloum camp, and against gender-based violence in Iridimi camp. The lack of adequate water supplies in both the camps and the local communities continues to be a constant source of tension between these groups. Members of the host communities consistently block attempts to develop more bore holes for camp supply. A member of the area counsel who is also employed with CARE, the NGO currently attempting to manage water supplies, informed RefCoord that the local communities believe that UNHCR and CARE must first improve the water supplies to the host communities, and prove that water provided to the refugee camps will not deprive the host communities of the precious commodity. -------------- M&E TRAVEL: ABECHE-BASED NGOS AND UNHCR -------------- ¶7. (SBU) RefCoord spend 18 to 20 January in Abeche, the humanitarian hub for eastern Chad, for coordination discussions with NGO partners finalizing sub-agreements with UNHCR, and to check on the status of the UNHCR draw-down in the town. UNHCR began implementation in September 2009 of a major reorganization at donors' behest, dramatically increasing protection staff in the deep field, moving NDJAMENA 00000050 002 OF 003 higher ranking and more experienced officers into four field offices and several sub-delegations, and pulling program, technical, and supervisory staff back to N'Djamena. Once the permanent location of well over 100 professional staff and support personnel, UNHCR's Abeche compound as of 18 January is the workplace of only 32 employees, entirely devoted to logistical operations. Guest houses, a canteen, and several conference rooms will be maintained for field staff accommodation and regional training purposes. ¶8. (SBU) RefCoord met with country directors and staff from partner NGOs InterNews Network, Architectes d'Urgence (AU),AirServ, Christian Outreach - Relief and Development (CORD),Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS),and International Medical Corps (IMC). Discussions with AU centered on the early termination of PRM's cooperative agreement with the NGO to construct school buildings in the Oure Cassoni camp in the far north of the humanitarian operations area. Through no fault of AU, the uncertainty surrounding the status of the Oure Cassoni camp, slated to move to a not-yet-identified location, has meant that the NGO will not be able to implement the project agreed with PRM. RefCoord asked that the AU staff develop a close-down timeline for consideration in PRM. ¶9. (SBU) RefCoord discussed with InterNews, CORD, and HIAS their efforts to re-structure their activities, either to come in line with changes to UNHCR performance standards, or to accommodate changes demanded under new UNHCR sub-agreements to be signed in the course of January. In some cases, the new sub-agreements entail the suspension of activities still covered under cooperative agreements with PRM. -------------- IMC'S GUEREDA HOSPITAL UNDER THREAT -------------- ¶10. (SBU) RefCoord's meeting with IMC's Country Director was devoted to the on-going tensions between UNHCR and IMC, on one hand, and a host population family in the area of Guereda, on the other. IMC's physician at the Guereda hospital, a Malian national, agreed under some duress to do a non-essential surgical repair to a hare-lip on a six-year-old child, on or about 14 December 2009. The child's mother is reported to have been adamant that the surgery be done, given the impact on the boy's future marriage prospects and ability to command a substantial dowery should he grow up with the deformity. The child suffered a reaction to the anesthetic used, and died during surgery. Since then IMC's doctor has been threatened, briefly imprisoned, and kept under virtual house arrest. The family is insisting on wrongful death compensation under customary law, in this case 100 camels or the monetary equivalent. UNHCR is unwilling for such compensation to be paid. The traditional Sultan, the sub-Prefect, the Prefect, and the Governor have all engaged on the subject. ¶11. (SBU) UNHCR and local authorities consulted with the MINURCAT Deputy SRSG, three regional Governors and the GoC Minister of the Interior regarding the case on the margins of a grand conference on conflict resolution held in Guereda on 19 January. IMC received word on 23 January that the Prefect had contacted UNHCR staff in Guereda that day and stated that compensation must be paid to the family through the Prefect's good offices by Monday 25 January. If not, the Prefect warned that he would be unable to guarantee the safety of UNHCR or IMC staff. RefCoord ensured that UNHCR senior leadership and IMC's country director were in consultation through the weekend of 23-24 January. Although UNHCR is acting as a facilitator in bringing the case to the attention of higher authorities, they are also distancing the IO from IMC as regards having any official role to play in resolving the conflict, per elements apparently standard in their sub-agreements with their NGO partners. That said, UNHCR has favored considering the suspension of operations in Guereda until the Prefect and the family in question can be calmed. Meanwhile, though there is another IMC physician at the hospital, he is acting only to refer patients to the Iriba reference hospital 80 kms away until the conflict is resolved. Ethinc tensions may also be stirring around the case -- the dominant Tama population is upset at the hospital closure, while the family involved and the Prefect is from the politically powerful Zaghawa clan. NDJAMENA 00000050 003 OF 003 -------------- MSF-SUISSE CITES SECURITY, CLOSES OPERATIONS EAST OF ABECHE -------------- ¶13. (SBU) RefCoord met with the Country Director of MSF-CH at his request to be informed of the NGO's closure of all activities in support of the Assoungha Health District, including the hospital at the Chad-Sudan border town of Adre. This implies the termination of support to the hospital itself, as well as to two health centers in Adre and Djoroko towns. MSF-CH has informed the GoC in writing at all levels of this decision, and has shared their letter with all donors and IOs in the humanitarian arena. The letter (provided to PRM and AF/C by email) lists the sequence of increasingly worsening security events in the Assoungha Health District that has led the NGO to close down its activities. It states (in part): "MSF is a medical organization in which volunteers accept to work in sometimes extreme conditions. That said, it is the responsibility of the headquarters in Geneva to constantly evaluate the level of risk. These risks are judged to be too high to enable us to continue to develop our assistance with the necessary independence and security for our teams. Of particular concern is the risk of kidnapping which expatriate and national staff face in the border area." (RefCoord's informal translation from French.) -------------- REVIVING THE BI-WEEKLY SECURITY EXCHANGE MEETINGS -------------- ¶14. (SBU) IO, NGO, donor, and PKO representatives met on 05 January for the first bi-weekly meeting on security matters of 2010. Participants sought to revitalize the meetings, which have over time been reduced to a UNDSS PowerPoint briefing itemizing the security incidents of the previous two weeks, followed by a short speech from either the MINURCAT Force Commander or Deputy Commander, and occasionally another from the SRSG. NGO participants asked if a new meeting format could be considered to allow for a greater exchange on security, in particular more consultation between MINURCAT, UNDSS and the DIS representatives and the humanitarian community they purport to serve on how best to organize civilian-military relations within the guidelines of the Interagency Steering Committee (IASC). All participants agreed to the composition of a working group to make recommendations on the matter. RefCoord joined an informal meeting among donors ECHO, France, and Switzerland to come to a joint position on the question. Donors agreed to support a meeting agenda that establishes security reporting opportunities for UNDSS/MINURCAT; the IASC chair (the OCHA Head of Office); and the NGO Coordinating Committee. The goal is to develop an exchange and dialogue, rather than a reiteration of known facts. UNDSS/MINURCAT would be requested to describe trends and develop recommendations from the incidents, rather than a simple cataloguing of events. Last, a monthly meeting of IO and NGO security officers with UNDSS for more confidential briefings was suggested. NIGRO