VZCZCXRO2052
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHAB #0723/01 1881249
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071249Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1549
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0487

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABIDJAN 000723 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR PRM/AFR/CACHANG AND WE/AF/RKAMINSKI 
STATE PASS TO USAID/OFDA/DDEBERNARDO 
DAKAR FOR USAID/OFDA/RDAVIS AND USAID/CHUGHES 
BRUSSELS FOR MMEZNAR 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL IV
SUBJECT: UNHCR CLOSES TABOU TRANSIT CENTER 
 
REF: A. ABIDJAN 318 
 
     ¶B. ABIDJAN 093 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: RefCoord traveled to Tabou, Cote d'Ivoire, on 
June 27-30 to meet with UNHCR officials regarding their 
repatriation efforts and the pending closure of the Tabou 
Transit Center (TC).  RefCoord also traveled to several 
surrounding villages and met with refugee representatives. 
Although return movements from Cote d'Ivoire to Liberia have 
been minimal this year, UNHCR expects numbers to pick up in 
July and August for several reasons, including their decision 
to close the TC on June 30, efforts to integrate Liberian 
refugees into the Ivoirian school system, and the end of the 
harvest season in Cote d'Ivoire.  UNHCR believes a large 
number of refugees will stay in Cote d'Ivoire and plans to 
focus its future activities on promoting local integration. 
RefCoord also visited Niplou, one of the villages attacked in 
January that led to internal displacement and is still 
largely abandoned.  The closure of the TC represents an 
important, although not final, step in UNHCR's assistance 
activities in Cote d'Ioire.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  RefCoord met Mahamadou Toure, Head of Field Office for 
UNHCR Tabou, on June 28 to discuss UNHCR's ongoing return 
activities as well as the pending closure of the Transit 
Center (TC) in Tabou for Liberian refugees.  Toure told 
RefCoord the TC would close on June 30 and that UNHCR had 
already transferred approximately 900 refugees to Tabou town 
and to some of the surrounding villages (Note: local papers 
announced the closing on July 3.  End note).  He said they 
had begun to dismantle unsafe structures in the TC as people 
moved out.  Although UNHCR had stopped general food 
distribution to refugees, they did provide three months 
ration to any refugee who agreed to leave the TC and they 
will provide general services to vulnerable groups to the end 
of the year.  Toure said Liberian refugee children will have 
to enroll in Ivoirian schools in the fall and that Liberian 
refugees will have to participate in the local health system 
as of January 1, 2007.  RefCoord also met with 
representatives of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) 
but was not able to visit PRM-funded project sites due to 
heavy flooding and poor road conditions. 
 
RETURN FIGURES FROM COTE D'IVOIRE 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  UNHCR's figures show that a total of 15,396 refugees have 
returned to Liberia from Cote d'Ivoire since November 2004, 
with most returns occurring last year (13,498).  So far, only 
about 1,800 Liberians have returned from Cote d'Ivoire in 
¶2006.  There are only two UNHCR-managed camps in Cote 
d'Ivoire, in Guiglo (approximately 7,000 refugees) and the 
now closed TC in Tabou (approximately 2,400 refugees).  The 
rest of the Liberian refugees (approximately 30,000) are 
integrated in local villages in the western region known as 
the refugee welcome zone (ZAR). 
 
¶4.  Toure said about 9,000 of all returns from Cote d'Ivoire 
have come from the Tabou region.  However, the most recent 
convoy on June 27 carried only 91 persons, the highest figure 
since April 7.  Still, in 2005 the majority of returns 
occurred in July and August.  Toure believes a similar 
pattern might emerge in 2006 for three reasons.  First, Toure 
believes UNHCR's decision to close the TC and to end general 
food distribution will send a strong signal to many refugees 
that it is time to return.  In addition, the harvest season 
has just ended and many refugees will receive their salary 
payments from local plantations in early July.  Finally, 
Toure explained that UNHCR will not offer separate education 
classes for Liberian children when the school year starts 
again in the fall.  Instead, they will be integrated in the 
local Ivoirian school system.  Thus, many parents will want 
to return so their children can enroll in the Liberian system. 
 
THE TABOU TWISTER 
----------------- 
 
¶5.  RefCoord visited the TC with Toure on June 29.  We 
expected to see some dismantled accommodations and a large 
number of residents still waiting to be transferred, but the 
TC looked instead like a tornado had run through the middle 
of it.  Most structures were completely flattened and bits of 
lumber lay scattered throughout the compound.  Some 
structures had obviously burned to the ground, but the ashes 
and cinders were cleaned and removed.  Throughout the TC 
 
ABIDJAN 00000723  002 OF 003 
 
 
refugees were taking apart remaining buildings and bundling 
up the wood to bring with them to the villages or to Tabou 
where they would now take up residence.  RefCoord also 
visited the UNHCR center for vulnerable groups (ENA).  Toure 
stated they had identified approximately 170 vulnerables who 
would be provided with food and full health services to the 
end of the year.  A local UNHCR field officer said already 
about half of those in the ENA had decided to leave the 
center and had moved to Tabou with friends of family members 
as conditions in the ENA were definitely a step down from the 
TC. 
 
ROUND TABLE WITH REFUGEE REPRESENTATIVES 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  RefCoord met with refugee community representatives to 
discuss the ongoing repatriation process.  Several 
representatives explained that they did not agree with the 
manner in which UNHCR was closing the TC and that many 
refugees needed continued assistance.  RefCoord told the 
representatives that the closure of the TC was part of 
UNHCR's repatriation process and had already been announced 
to refugees.  RefCoord mentioned that on two previous visits 
to the TC in October 2005 and in March 2006 he had informed 
refugees that donors were moving financial resources to help 
rebuild Liberia and that they would find fewer resources 
going outside that country.  Several refugees spoke about 
security concerns in Liberia.  When pressed for examples they 
referred to a weak Liberian judicial system and the fact that 
they had heard the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia had a curfew for 
diplomatic personnel.  One refugee admitted that his wife had 
already returned to Liberia.  A couple of refugees voiced 
concern that locals in Tabou might blame Liberians for any 
problems that might occur now that a large number of them had 
moved into town.  Separately, Toure informed RefCoord that 
the Deputy Chairman of the Refugee Committee had decided to 
return to Liberia on the previous day's convoy after UNHCR 
started dismantling the TC. 
 
VISIT TO LOCAL VILLAGES 
----------------------- 
 
¶7.  RefCoord visited the villages of Oudjire, Mane, and 
Niplou on June 28.  Approximately 170 Liberian refugees live 
in Oudjire and 260 in Mane.  The Liberians in Niplou live in 
a small settlement of about 50 persons just outside the 
village.  There are many similar settlemant in the area where 
the Liberians have access to jobs on local plantations.  In 
most cases Liberian refugees in these villages live among 
Ivoirians of similar ethnic background.  The refugees did not 
appear to be in any hurry to return to Liberia and the locals 
did not appear anxious to have them leave.  Instead, refugees 
asked questions about the level of assistance they could 
expect if they remained in Cote d'Ivoire as opposed to 
assistance that would be available if they returned to 
Liberia.  None of the Liberians RefCoord spoke to in these 
three villages said they would not return to Liberia under 
any circumstances. 
 
NIPLOU ABANDONED 
---------------- 
 
¶8.  Niplou was among several villages attacked in January 
over land-tenure disputes that resulted in several deaths and 
hundreds of internally displaced (ref. A).  Tucked deep in 
the forest, Niplou is still largely abandoned although the 
presence of a small contingent of Ivoirian gendarmes in the 
village has encouraged a few inhabitants to return.  Both 
UNHCR and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) reported 
the pre-January population in Niplou was between 200-250 
persons.  IRC reported that approximately 180 persons were 
displaced to Mane and that some 120 of those were children. 
During RefCoord's visit to Mane, however, the village 
representatives could only say there were "many" people from 
Niplou in their village. 
 
¶9.  The attacks were apparently perpetrated by ethnic Lobi 
attempting to reclaim their plantations after a seven-year 
exile for their responsibility in the death of a local Kru 
member.  Still, no one could say for sure who led the 
attacks.  Toure said the local Prefect had informed him that 
the leader of the attack was probably an Ivoirian, but this 
still does not fully answer the questions surrounding final 
responsibility.  Interestingly, the Liberians RefCoord met 
just outside Niplou seemed completely unconcerned by their 
 
ABIDJAN 00000723  003 OF 003 
 
 
proximity to the village despite the fact that some Liberians 
had fled at the time of the attacks.  Toure confirmed that 
Liberians have not been targeted because they do not actually 
own any of the plantations in dispute. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶10.  UNHCR's closure of the TC in Tabou marks an important 
milestone in their assistance activities in Cote d'Ivoire. At 
the same time, real challenges still remain.  Some refugees 
do have shelter concerns and relations between locals in 
Tabou and the refugees need to be handled with sensitivity. 
Also, poor road conditions in Liberia between Harper and the 
surrounding villages have already delayed the return of one 
group of 25 refugees who just left the TC.  For those 
refugees who remain in Cote d'Ivoire, issues of schooling and 
potential labor exploitation of children will remain high on 
the list of concerns for UNHCR and NGOs in the region.  In 
the meantime, returns from Cote d'Ivoire are likely to be 
mixed.  Cote d'Ivoire still has more to offer Liberian 
refugees in terms of economic opportunity and basic services 
than their places of origin in Liberia, and work on local 
plantations in the Tabou region is readily available.  In 
fact, many refugees who had returned to Liberia have already 
come back to Cote d'Ivoire, as non-refugees, because of the 
availability of jobs and basic services.  Still, the fact 
that many of the refugees seem to be weighing the decision to 
return or stay on the basis of available levels of assistance 
shows that security concerns in Liberia are beginning to take 
a back seat to concerns over their own economic well-being. 
Hooks