VZCZCXRO1374
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #3912/01 3361450
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 021450Z DEC 07 ZFF4
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4610
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 003912 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2017 
TAGS: IZ PREF PREL
SUBJECT: REFCOORD VISIT TO SUDANESE REFUGEE CAMP 
 
REF: (A) 2006 BAGHDAD 4465 (B) BAGHDAD 1603 
 
Classified By: POL COUNS MATT TUELLER FOR REASONS 1.4 B AND D 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: There are currently 128 Darfurian refugees 
camped on a highway median in west Anbar who continue to 
request third country resettlement.  The camp is provided 
humanitarian assistance by UNHCR and the occupants are 
recognized as refugees by UNHCR and have been designated as 
eligible to make application for resettlement in the U.S. 
They have been visited twice in the last year by an Embassy 
Baghdad refugee coordinator with the stated intention of 
developing a plan to begin to process them for resettlement, 
but to date there has been no movement on these plans.  The 
camp was visited again by the Embassy RefCoord, RSO, MNF/I, 
MNF/W, UNHCR and IOM on November 11, 2007.  Following the 
camp visit all the international organization and USG 
components necessary to develop a plan to resolve this matter 
held a planning meeting.  This cable is the initial phase of 
a plan to have the refugees processed.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) RefCoord, RSO, MNF/I, MNF/W traveled to the camp on 
November 11 and met camp leaders and the manager of the 
UNHCR-engaged NGO who is providing assistance and did an 
assessment of camp conditions.  Reftel (A) provides an 
account of how these particular Sudanese came to occupy the 
current camp.  When the camp was last visited by the previous 
Refcoord there were 137 refugees, as described in reftel B, 
since then 9 of the camp occupants attempted to enter Syria 
for refugee processing, they were turned back at the border 
and are currently encamped at the Syrian border. 
 
¶3. (U)  The current camp is composed of 10 families, nine 
married couples with children and one widowed father with a 
child, (his spouse died in childbirth in the last year) and 
87 single males.  There are 31 children aged from 1 through 
17 years.  Refcoord met with the following camp leaders: Issa 
Abdullah (dob: 1961), Mohammed Ahmed (dob: 1962), Ibrahim 
Abdullah Mohammed (dob 1954) and Zacharia Abdullah Haroon 
(dob: 1952), two of them spoke English. The conversation was 
open and spontaneous.  It should be noted that five of the 
spouses are female Iraqi nationals married to Sudanese males. 
 
¶4. (U)  The living conditions in the camp are grim.  There 
are UNHCR labeled tents for shelter for some, others live in 
improvised cardboard shacks, there is one large tent for 
community events and several waterless latrines.  Camp 
leaders confirm that conditions are deteriorating as the 
structures age; the structures are not meant for permanent 
living.  The nutritional needs are met by funds provided by 
UNHCR to the Iraqi NGO Mercy Hand.  The NGO director is Dr. 
Mohamed Taha, he was present during the Refcoord discussion 
with camp leaders.  The camp leaders and Dr. Taha confirmed 
that the nutrition is basic but adequate to meet the needs, 
however, the water provided is not meant for consumption but, 
so far, has not caused an outbreak of illness (non-bottled 
water is used due to lack of funds adequate to purchased 
sterile bottled water.)  Dr. Taha is an MD who is on the 
staff of two local hospitals and has been able with great 
resourcefulness and at some expense to himself to see to the 
health needs of the camp: he has delivered several babies, 
has had several of the refugees admitted to local hospitals 
for treatment and does health exams during his frequent 
visits.  It is Dr. Taha,s assessment that the camp occupants 
currently do not suffer from any significant illnesses. 
 
¶5. (U)  Each head of a family and each single male has a 
UNHCR Protection Paper, a standard document stating that the 
bearer (named and pictured on the document) is a UNHCR 
recognized refugee and is by international convention 
entitled to protection, humanitarian assistance and should 
not be deported to their country of origin because of a 
credible fear of persecution.  These documents are valid for 
one year (the world-wide standard) and expire at the end of 
December 2007. 
 
¶6. (U)  A primary ongoing concern for this group is targeting 
by local militia, sectarian groups, international terrorists 
and predjudicial treatment by local farmers.  The group was 
questioned closely at various points in the interview about 
such targeting; the answers they gave were not consistent 
throughout the interview.  They stated that they were 
targeted because they entered Iraq under the auspices of the 
Saddam regime and that they had been the target of threats 
for this and other reasons, one of which was that some 
Sudanese had been allowed to resettle in Isreal, so they were 
identified as quote, enemies of Islam, unquote, despite being 
Muslim,s themselves.  When they were first asked about the 
targeting they stated that the last time they were 
specifically threatened was one year ago when they were 
visited by an unnamed militia and threatened with violence. 
Later in the interview, the account changed and they stated 
that the last visit was just three months ago.  They suffer 
 
BAGHDAD 00003912  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
ongoing prejudicial remarks by local farmers and merchants 
because they are black African. 
 
7.(U)  Refcoord is particularly concerned about the potential 
of this group to be targeted.  There is an ongoing fear that 
if this group becomes identified as significant to the USG 
and remains in their current vulnerable location they could 
be targeted and victimized by militias and others as a means 
of indirectly targeting the USG.  This is a crucial concern 
should the refugee processing take place from the current 
location.  In order to complete the processing, each person 
would have to be brought to Camp Korean Village (CKV) at 
least three times, this constant contact with a USG entity 
would increase their profile and perhaps raise their 
potential for retaliatory targeting.  MNF/I will do a Risk 
Analysis of this potential for violence to determine if this 
is a manageable factor in the processing. UNHCR security will 
do their own internal assessment of this risk. 
 
¶8. (U) Refcoord, MNF/I, RSO and the MNF/W security detail 
remained at the camp for the interview and inspection for 
approximately two hours.  Fifteen minutes after our 
departure, UNHCR (the Iraq Rep designate, Protection Officer 
and Security Officer) and IOM operations officer, together 
with a US Marine security detail, arrived at the camp for 
their inspection and discussion with camp residents.  The 
lack of overlap was deliberate to provide each group with an 
unbiased and independent assessment of the conditions. 
Following this latter group,s camp visit both groups met for 
a planning meeting at CKV. 
 
¶9. (U)  Following the camp visit by each group there was a 
meeting at CKV involving the following individuals from the 
specified organizations: 
 
   - Dr. Lindamarie Wald Koengeter, FE-MC, DoS Senior Advisor 
DCS/STRATEFF/MNF 
      - COL Sam Evans, GBR, Deputy Military Advisor to UN 
SRSG - Iraq 
      - LTC Christina F. Flanagan, STRATEFF POL DIV/MNF-I 
IDP/Refugee POC 
      - Mr. John Martinez, Special Agent, USMI Regional 
Security Office 
      - MAJ Gail Owens, MNC-I C9 Plan, Force Generation/IDPs 
      - Mr. Pierre Francois Pirlot, UNHCR Representative to 
Iraq, designated 
      - Mr. Alastair Campbell, UNHCR Senior Field Security 
Advisor 
      - Mr. Khanin Ismail, UNHCR Protection Officer 
      - MAJ Maxwell, TF 2-7 IN, XO, 3 ID 
      - Mr. Ayman Ghaly, IOM Representative 
      - CPT Mark Balfartz, TF 2-7,  IN, 3 ID 
      - CPT David Fitch, TF 2-7, B Company Commander, 3 ID 
      - CPT Thomas Frohnhoefer, TF 2-7 IN (S-3), 3 ID 
      - Mr. Michael Troje, Embassy Baghdad Refugee 
Coordinator, chair of the meeting. 
 
¶10. (U)  PLAN A. There were two tentative plans that resulted 
from the above meeting. In the first plan, PLAN A, refugee 
processing would involve the Sudanese remaining at their 
current UNHCR camp location during the USRAP processing, 
being brought to CKV for the Overseas Processing Entity (OPE) 
and DHS processing in small groups and, when all approvals 
are finalized, those approved would be relocated to the U.S. 
through the assistance of the OPE.  The plan would require 
the OPE to be established at CKV, the medical exams be 
conducted at CKV and for DHS to conduct their interviews at 
that camp.  The OPE would then make arrangements for the 
accepted refugees to be transported to the U.S. 
 
¶11. (U) Plan A implementers and tasks. 
- IOM:  This organization will establish and manage the OPE. 
The tasks of the OPE will include: - (1) arranging for the 
transportation of the refugees from the UNHCR camp to CKV, 
each refugee will likely have to be brought into CKV three 
times; (2) gathering all the required background information 
for the files and initiating the security checks required by 
USRAP; (3) acquiring and transporting to CKV the medical 
equipment necessary for the required physical exams for each 
refugee applicant (it should be noted that MNF/W, has 
rudimentary medical equipment and medical staff sufficient to 
meet the medical needs of the US military, but is not able to 
provide equipment or personnel for USRAP medical exams;) (4) 
arranging for the movement of the accepted refugees from 
their current location to the place of resettlement.  IOM 
agreed to submit an initial plan to implement this program. 
- RSO:   Will submit a report on the COM personnel security 
requirements for this program.  There will be COM personnel 
staffing the program and living at the camp during portions 
of the processing, RSO must approve these arrangements. 
- MNF/W:  They must approve the location of the OPE at the 
camp and has volunteered to construct the billeting, office 
and medical exam structures necessary for the processing. 
 
BAGHDAD 00003912  003 OF 003 
 
 
They agreed report on this proposal by 30 November.  They 
also volunteered to make random security inspections of the 
UNHCR camp to deter targeting by militia or insurgents during 
the processing phase of the program, to deter targeting of 
the refugee population.   They are also training Iraqi 
Highway Patrol and will instruct these law enforcement 
personnel to make routine inspections of the camp to 
alleviate security concerns. 
- MNF/I:  They will provide a risk analysis assessment 
concerning the security situation of the Sudanese refugees 
when they begin processing.  Although there have been threats 
and occasional visits from militia and other insurgents, 
there has been no recent violence against occupants of the 
camp.  There has been a fear expressed all along that when 
the processing begins and each individual is brought to CKV 
for three visits, which will be more than 50 bus loads of 
people entering and leaving CKV over what may be a several 
month period of time, the refugees could become targets 
because they may be identified as significant to the USG.  In 
order to go forward with PLAN A, there must be intelligence 
that reports that this risk is minimal and controllable. 
 
¶12. (U) PLAN B - When the various agencies and organizations 
submit their proposals concerning PLAN A, it will be 
determined whether or not this plan should move forward.  If 
PLAN A is not feasible, PLAN B would be to move the entire 
group of refugees out of Iraq to a location where they could 
be safely processed for resettlement.  The logistics of such 
an operation were not discussed at this meeting.  It is 
believed that this would be a complex operation, inolving 
locating a country that would allow the entry and temporary 
residence of the group, arranging for transport and clearing 
movement through transit countries. 
 
¶13. (U)  Post understands that processing this group of 
refugees from their current locale will pose a number of 
difficulties, however, the morale of  this group continues to 
deteriorate and they remain vulnerable to violence and 
intimidation.  Out of hopelessness of their situation 9 
members of the camp recently attempted to cross the Syrian 
border in an effort to plead their case in another forum. 
UNHCR recognizes these Sudanese as refugees and the USG has 
accepted them as being eligible for USRAP.  The situation 
demands that action be taken on this matter as soon as a safe 
and reasonable plan can be agreed upon.   Post is awaiting 
the reports of the organizations as detailed in para 11. 
When these reports are received Post will submit a 
recommendation concerning the processing of this vulnerable 
refugee group. 
BUTENIS