VZCZCXYZ0010
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #0630 0971413
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 071413Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3326
INFO RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 3886
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 1680
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 2879
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 5444
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT PRIORITY 3106
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 4131

RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA PRIORITY 1518
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0958
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS RABAT 000630 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG, PRM; CAIRO FOR CHEYNE; GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PGOV PHUM PREL MO
SUBJECT: UNHCR REMAINS UPBEAT ON REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT 
 
REF: A. CAIRO 1693 
 
     ¶B. STATE 51221 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Over lunch March 30, UNHCR Head of Office Johannes 
Van der Klaauw told Polcouns that he remained optimistic at 
UNHCR's capacity to resettle abroad several hundred 
individuals in Morocco whom UNHCR had determined to be 
refugees.  Following the visit of Cairo-based refugee 
coordinator (Ref A), Van der Klaauw said he had received some 
signs of interest from the Spanish in resettling additional 
refugees, and the French had agreed to take one case -- an 
80-year-old Iraqi man who has lived in Morocco since the 
1980s.  Apart from that, he had not had a strong response to 
his pitch to the diplomatic community in Rabat on March 6. 
He was clearly hoping the US would take the bulk of the 
caseload.  In the meantime, he was pleased that fewer 
would-be refugees were showing up at UNHCR's office in Rabat; 
the word seemed to be getting out, particularly among 
Nigerians, that not many were qualifying (comment:  we no 
longer see the long lines outside of UNHCR's office, located 
near the embassy, that we saw several months ago). 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Van der Klaauw commented that he also hoped to 
organize training in handling of refugees and migrants for 
Moroccan security forces.  He said there is not systematic 
abuse of migrants in Morocco, but he does not believe that 
Moroccan security forces, particularly on the frontier, 
understand that those whom the UN has recognized as refugees 
cannot be abused.  Security forces are not respecting UN 
documents, he said.  Van der Klaauw says UNHCR advises 
migrants to stay away from Morocco's international borders 
for their own security. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Van der Klaauw said he is working on a letter of 
agreement to regularize UNHCR's relations with the Moroccan 
government as a prerequisite for starting up the resettlement 
program. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Returning to the issue of migrants, Van der Klaauw 
expressed concern that the problems of last fall, in which 
hundreds of migrants stormed the barrier fences separating 
Morocco from two Spanish enclaves in the north, could be 
repeated, though the numbers might be smaller.  He understood 
from NGOs that work in northern Moroccan that migrants 
continued to gather in the forests in preparation for trying 
to get into Europe. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Van der Klaauw noted that UNHCR would attend the 
regional migration conference, to be held in Rabat in July, 
as an observer, along with the World Bank, UNDP, and IOM.  He 
regretted that Algeria had declined to participate in the 
conference (Ref B), saying Algeria's absence would lessen the 
effectiveness of the conference.  Polcouns said the US 
concurred and hoped Algeria would change its mind. 
****************************************** 
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat 
****************************************** 
 
Riley