VZCZCXRO7543
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHGB #0277/01 0311405
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 311405Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2401
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BAGHDAD 000277 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AMMAN FOR REFCOORD CLAIRE KANESHIRO 
CAIRO FOR REFCOORD GERRY CHEYNE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2016 
TAGS: PREF EAID SOCI PHUM PREL IZ IR JO UNHCR PRM
SUBJECT: PRM-FUNDED RELOCATION OF AL TASH KURDS TO ERBIL 
IS A SUCCESS 
 
REF: A. 05 STATE 180059 
     ¶B. 05 BAGHDAD 3918 
     ¶C. 05 KIRKUK 188 
     ¶D. 05 AMMAN 6270 
     ¶E. 05 AMMAN 297 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT S. FORD FOR 
REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  On January 25, RefCoord accompanied 
UNHCR to Kawa to monitor and evaluate the PRM-funded, 
UNHCR-implemented relocation site for Iranian Kurds 
formerly resident in the Al Tash refugee camp near Ramadi 
in Al Anbar governorate.  All but a small percentage of 
the approximately 3000 Al Tash residents have now left Al 
Anbar for Kawa or Sulaymianiyah.  1273 Al Tash Kurds 
relocated to Kawa, where they seem to be settling in 
well.  RefCoord will work with UNHCR on ways to convince 
the relatively small number of individuals remaining in 
the Al Tash Camp and the Al Tash Kurds on the Jordanian 
border to follow their brethren north.  Meetings with 
local government officials discussed septel.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
-------------------------------- 
BACKGROUND ON AL TASH RELOCATION 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU)  The Al Tash Refugee Camp for Iranian Kurds in 
Al Anbar is no longer viable.  Security concerns have 
undermined provision of adequate humanitarian assistance 
and protection.  The Government of Jordan has been 
anxious to see the camp moved out of Al Anbar to northern 
Iraq.  Hundreds of refugees from Al Tash have already 
flooded into Jordan; the GOJ is concerned about future 
flows (refs D and E).  97 percent of the Al Tash Kurds 
wanted to go to Sulaymaniyah, to join some 2,000 former 
Al Tash residents who had previously been relocated. 
NEA, PRM and UNHCR wanted them settled above the green 
line so that they would not become pawns to increase 
Kurdish presence below the green line.  Efforts to 
persuade the Kurdish Regional Government - Sulaymaniyah 
(KRG-S) to accept the some 3,000 Iranian Kurds left at Al 
Tash ultimately proved fruitless, but the KRG-Erbil (KRG- 
E) agreed to relocate 2000 Al Tash Kurds to Erbil and 
offered an acceptable site above the green line at Kawa 
(refs B and C). 
 
--------------------------------- 
CONCERNS OF REFUGEE COMMITTEE MEN 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) BETTER THAN ANBAR:  UNHCR and RefCoord held 
separate meetings with the men and women of the Kawa 
refugee committee.  The men characterized Kawa as a vast 
improvement over Al Tash.  One refugee said:  "We 
suffered there -- kidnappings, killings.  Here is very 
different.  We suffer only small things."  These "small 
things" included:  1) unemployment, 2) ID issues limiting 
freedom of movement, and 3) lack of drivers' licenses. 
The refugees indicated that although there are no 
restrictions on their movements, the Anbar IDs they have 
are not always recognized as valid by the local 
authorities.  Police at static check points near Kawa are 
used to seeing the Anbar IDs, but the mobile police 
patrols are less familiar with the Anbar IDs and 
sometimes detain refugees for several hours for 
investigation.  UNHCR undertook to raise the issue of the 
mobile patrols with the local authorities. 
 
¶4. (C) UNEMPLOYMENT:  The refugees said that 
approximately 25 percent of men 30-35 have found work. 
Women are not working.  One refugee complained, "We came 
from Anbar, the main area of terrorism, and the people 
here are suspecting us."  He cited the example of a group 
of day laborers who were going with a contractor into a 
PUK controlled area.  They were told their Ramadi IDs 
were not valid there and if they tried to enter with them 
again they would be arrested. 
 
¶5. (C) HEALTH ISSUES:  The refugees said health services 
at the camp are very limited, with a doctor on duty only 
four to five hours a day.  They have basic health care at 
the camp, but no specialists and no facilities for 
emergency care.  They have no ambulance, and lack 
drivers' licenses to allow them to transport patients in 
private vehicles.  One refugee said he knew of a refugee 
 
BAGHDAD 00000277  002 OF 004 
 
 
who was arrested for driving without a license while 
trying to transport a female refugee with appendicitis to 
the hospital.  The driver allegedly paid a large fine to 
avoid a one-month jail sentence. 
 
¶6. (SBU) DESIRE FOR RESETTLEMENT:  The refugees were 
eager to discuss third country resettlement.  They wanted 
to talk about the details of individual cases which they 
said had been accepted for resettlement or promised 
interviews with various countries.  They seemed to 
believe that these cases were still pending.  UNHCR 
informed the refugees that there are no pending cases and 
that resettlement is not being considered for this 
population.  UNHCR undertook to try and arrange a meeting 
at another time to discuss individual cases in detail 
since resettlement can be confusing. 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) CONCERN ABOUT VULNERABLES:  The men were 
concerned about the most vulnerable individuals at the 
Kawa site -- the handicapped, orphans, the frail elderly, 
etc.  UNHCR advised them that its NGO partner, Qandil, 
was compiling information on such cases.  UNCHR will 
formulate a plan for those cases when it receives that 
information. 
 
¶8. (SBU) LITERACY AND TRANSPORT:  The men wanted adult 
literacy classes for refugees who had not been able to 
attend school as children.  They also wanted bus service 
from Kawa to Erbil.  UNCHR will consider the former and 
will raise the latter with the local government. 
 
¶9. (C) PREFERRED DURABLE SOLUTIONS OF KAWA RESIDENTS: 
The men said there are three groups in Kawa:  1) 
political refugees, 2) those who want to repatriate to 
Iran, and 3) those who want to locally integrate in 
Kurdistan.  The political refugees want third country 
resettlement.  According to the men, those interested in 
repatriation would be interested in UNHCR assisted 
returns and perhaps 75% of the Kawa population want to 
return to Iran -- but only if the Iranian government is 
helpful on issues like identity documents, compensation, 
and jobs for returnees.  The men called on UNHCR to 
approach the Iranians on these issues.  The men had heard 
reports that some Iranian families who had tried to 
repatriate experienced "all kinds of problems" and have 
come back to Iraq. 
 
¶10.  (C) KURDS ON THE JORDANIAN BORDER:  The men said 
they cannot help convince the 189 at the Jordanian border 
to move to Kawa, as the group on the border expect to be 
offered resettlement through the Ruweished Camp in Jordan 
like the previous group of Al Tash refugees who 
spontaneously migrated to the No Man's Land between 
Jordan and Iraq(ref E).  The men alleged that said some 
of the previous group were not registered with UNCHR and 
did not have protection claims, but were resettled 
anyway. UNCHR told the men that Jordan is never going to 
admit the 189 on the border and they will not be 
resettled from where they are now either.  The men 
indicated that the 189 on the border are stubbornly 
demanding resettlement because: 1) they have relatives in 
Europe and elsewhere who are encouraging them and 2) the 
previous group got access to resettlement through Jordan. 
 
 
----------------------------------- 
CONCERNS OF REFUGEE COMMITTEE WOMEN 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) WHAT THE WOMEN WANT:  The women of the refugee 
committee want training in sewing and in making flat- 
weave carpets (mahfouth).  They want literacy training, 
with the most interest in Kurdish and English and some 
interest in Farsi.  They want mobile phones.  They want 
courses in first aid, an ambulance, and a female 
physician on site every day that stays until at least 2 
pm.  They called for distribution of sanitary napkins, 
clothing for those over 16, winter clothing, shoes. 
UNHCR said Qandil was preparing a list of vulnerable 
individuals for clothing distribution. 
 
¶12. (C) SOCIAL CONDITIONS FOR WOMEN OF KAWA:  The women 
spoke freely about social conditions for female camp 
residents. Girls left secondary school in Al Anbar for 
security reasons, but in Kawa more girls attend high 
school.  No Al-Tash girls are in university yet.  Women 
 
BAGHDAD 00000277  003 OF 004 
 
 
tend to marry between 15 and 25.  Sometimes the marriages 
are arranged, but the youngest female present said that 
did not happen in her family because "my parents are 
educated."  If a woman refuses to marry, she is socially 
ostracized.  The women wanted to go on shopping trips 
without their husbands or male family members.  They 
cannot go alone now for two reasons:  1) The Ramadi ID 
cards were issued one per family and the male heads of 
households have the family ID card and 2) Their husbands 
won't let them go alone.  It is socially acceptable for 
women to go shopping in groups, if they can work out the 
ID problem.  Women and girls who do something to 
embarrass the family are sometimes beaten.  When asked 
about honor crimes, the women mentioned only one incident 
from 1999, involving a family whose abused daughter ran 
off.  When they caught her, they shaved her head and 
humiliated her publicly, and she went crazy.  She 
disappeared and no one knew what had happened to her. 
 
-------------------- 
SHELTER AT KAWA SITE 
-------------------- 
 
¶13. (U)  Permanent housing is planned but has not yet 
been constructed. Shelter at Kawa camp currently consists 
of one concrete-floored UNHCR-issued tent per family, 
plus one or more concrete-block-and-mortar shed-like 
structures.  RefCoord and the UNHCR team visited one of 
these houses.  The facilities were basic, but adequate 
for their purpose. 
 
------------------ 
WATER AT KAWA SITE 
------------------ 
 
¶14.  (U) Water is supplied by a tanker truck which moves 
through the compound filling individual water storage 
containers at each family dwelling. 
 
-------------------- 
HEALTH AT KAWA SITE 
-------------------- 
 
¶15.  (U) The health clinic is contained in a large 
warehouse-type tent.  It is divided into several 
treatment rooms, a pharmacy, a waiting area, and filing 
area where the refugees' health records are kept.  The 
staff of the medical center told us that there is one 
male health worker on staff at night on a rotating basis, 
but there are no doctors at night.  The female doctor 
comes only a few days per week.  The facility was clean 
and appeared well organized, although only minimal 
services were available on site. 
 
---------------------- 
EDUCATION AT KAWA SITE 
---------------------- 
 
¶16.  (U) The school consists of two more of the 
warehouse-type tents.  One contains the teacher's lounge, 
the administrative offices, and a few classrooms; the 
other is entirely classrooms.  School was in session 
during the visit.  The children seemed to be learning by 
rote.  The Qandil representative commented that "The 
Kurdish education system leaves something to be desired." 
 
 
----------------------- 
SANITATION AT KAWA SITE 
----------------------- 
 
¶17.  (U) Each family dwelling has its own combined shower 
and Turkish toilet.  The one at the dwelling RefCoord and 
UNHCR visited seemed to be in good condition. 
 
------------------------------------ 
FOOD AND NON-FOOD ITEMS AT KAWA SITE 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶18.  (U) The refugees appeared to be eating regularly.  A 
small number of sheep and goats were kept in mud-brick 
pens at the outskirts of the Kawa settlement.  A refugee 
remarked that the livestock was from Al-Tash, and that 
the number of animals was at present because the refugees 
had only recently arrived at Kawa.  A few chickens 
wandered among the tents.  Refugees of all ages appeared 
to have decent-quality clothing appropriate for the 
 
BAGHDAD 00000277  004 OF 004 
 
 
winter chill.  Some of the refugees, especially the women 
and girls and the younger children, wore sandals and 
socks rather than closed-toed shoes.  The other refugees 
wore sneakers or loafers.  All the shoes seemed to be in 
good repair.  The ones wearing sandals were otherwise 
dressed in a similar manner to those wearing closed-toed 
shoes, suggesting the sandals may be a cultural 
preference for ease of removal at the entrance to a 
dwelling rather than a mark of relative poverty.  The 
refugee dwelling visited by RefCoord and UNHCR appeared 
to be adequately equipped with essential non-food items 
such as blankets, plastic sheeting, cooking 
paraphernalia, and even a bicycle. 
 
------------------------------------ 
UTILITIES AND AMENITIES AT KAWA SITE 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶19.  (U) Power lines were visible throughout the camp. 
Almost every tent seems to have a satellite dish.  Some 
concrete-block-and-mortar structures under construction 
are slated to become shops.  Overall, the tent encampment 
looked far more modern, and better equipped, than the 
mud-brick construction of neighboring Kawa town visible 
over the berm at the edge of the relocation site. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶20. (C) RefCoord evaluates the Al-Tash relocation to the 
Kawa site as a success.  PRM's funding for the project 
was only dispersed to UNHCR in late September 2005 (ref 
A), yet some four months later almost all the refugees 
have been moved out of harms way in Al Anbar to safety in 
Erbil.  The camp facilities, although basic, are in good 
repair and generally adequate for the immediate needs of 
the population until permanent housing can be built. 
RefCoord will continue to work with UNHCR on ways to 
persuade the remaining Kurds in the Al-Tash camp and at 
the Jordanian border to follow their brethren North to 
Kawa. 
 
 
KHALILZAD