VZCZCXRO3791
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHTO #1354/01 2920833
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 190833Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY MAPUTO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6264
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP  0103

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MAPUTO 001354 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR HTREGER 
MCC FOR SGAULL 
USAID FOR AA/AFR AND AFR/SA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PHUM MZ
SUBJECT: Mozambique - Monitoring and Evaluation Visit to 
Maratane Refugee Camp, September 24-25 
 
Ref: Maputo 428 
 
MAPUTO 00001354  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. Summary:  PRM/PIM officer Perlita Muiruri conducted a 
monitoring and evaluation trip in Mozambique in late 
September.  The trip consisted of a visit to Maratane camp 
in northern Mozambique and discussions with UNHCR staff in 
Maputo and Nampula, as well as briefings from the 
implementing partners in the camp. 
 
¶2. The population of asylum-seekers continues to grow in 
Mozambique, due to a slow but steady flow of new arrivals 
from the Great Lakes region.  The population stood at 4,899 
when PRM refugee officer Perlita Muiruri visited the 
Maratane camp.  The government of Mozambique (GRM) allows 
refugees and asylum-seekers to live outside Maratane refugee 
camp as long as they are self-sufficient.  For this reason, 
UNHCR is emphasizing the implementation of a comprehensive 
self-reliance strategy for refugees.  UNHCR is advocating 
with the GRM for creation of a legal framework for local 
integration that will permit refugees to settle permanently 
in Mozambique if voluntary repatriation is not a viable 
option.  The GRM will begin tripartite talks with UNHCR and 
the Government of Rwanda in October 2006 to facilitate the 
repatriation of approximately 400 Rwandan refugees in 
Maratane.  UNHCR believes repatriation of Burundian and 
Congolese refugees will gain momentum once political 
circumstances in those countries stabilize and as assistance 
in the camp gradually diminishes.  End Summary 
 
--------------------------- 
Background on Maratane Camp 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3. Maratane camp is located in northern Mozambique near the 
city of Nampula.  The camp was established in February 2001 
and covers an area of 170 square kilometers.  The almost 
5,000 refugees currently in the camp are mainly from the 
Bembe ethnic group of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 
Congolese refugees make up 77.7% of refugees in the camp, 
13.5% are Burundians, 7.7% are Rwandese and only 1.1% are 
from Somalia and Sudan. 
 
¶4. Implementing partners in the camp include; the GRM 
Foreign Ministry's Institute of Refugee Assistance (INAR) 
World Vision, Save the Children-US, and World Relief.  INAR 
is in charge of camp management and maintenance of camp 
infrastructure and roads, as well as security issues.  World 
Vision has responsibility for community services, GBV 
programs, HIV/AIDS, and education.  Save the Children 
managed the food distribution program until October 2006 
when this responsibility was transferred to WFP.  (Beginning 
in January 2007, WFP will assume the cost of the program as 
well.)  Save the Children also manages the health clinic in 
the camp and nutrition programming.  World Relief runs all 
the refugee integration programs, encompassing agriculture, 
animal husbandry, vocational training, and micro-credit 
programs. 
 
------------------------------ 
PRM Camp Visit September 24-25 
------------------------------ 
 
¶5. PRM officer Muiruri spoke at length with UNHCR program 
officer Giovanni Lepri during plane travel from Maputo to 
Nampula.  Lepri highlighted UNHCR-Geneva's desire to phase 
out the majority of UNHCR involvement in Maratane within the 
next two years.  Lepri believes this will be possible with 
improved conditions in the Great Lakes region and fewer new 
arrivals.  In this period the existing camp population of 
refugees and asylum-seekers should be able to repatriate or 
take advantage of the GRM's policy in support of local 
integration.  Lepri said UNHCR's current emphasis is on 
improving the capacity of the GRM to manage the existing 
refugee population, while  simultaneously providing refugees 
with the skills to become self-sufficient enough for local 
integration. 
 
¶6. Muiruri visited the camp, escorted by John Tabayi, head 
of the UNHCR field office in Nampula, and INAR 
representatives.  The camp appeared well organized and 
service standards seemed quite high.  Family compounds were 
fenced and generally included sufficient space to grow 
vegetables or maintain animals.  As an indicator of the 
camp's relative affluence, UNHCR had recently cut fresh fish 
and vegetables from the rations provided to each family. 
Muiruri saw the camp's well-maintained health center, which 
provides basic primary health care services to 50-100 
 
MAPUTO 00001354  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
patients (both refugees and locals) every day.  She was told 
that the GRM provides essential medical supplies and the 
health staff for the facility.  Difficult cases are referred 
to Nampula provincial hospital and emergency cases are taken 
by ambulance to the hospital.  There are plans underway to 
upgrade the health facility to a clinic, which will meet GRM 
standards, by installing a water system and building an 
incinerator. 
 
¶7. Muiruri saw two schools in the camp.  One school conducts 
classes in Portuguese and conforms to the standards set by 
the Mozambican government.  This Mozambican school has 779 
students and is housed in three separate stone buildings. 
Because of concerns voiced by refugees about the utility of 
a Mozambican education in their future lives, a second 
school, with classes taught in French, has been established. 
The French school has 765 students and is currently housed 
in temporary plastic shelters. 
 
¶8. As part of UNHCR's focus on promoting local integration 
through self-sufficiency, World Relief manages several 
income generating projects.  The World Relief representative 
highlighted their animal husbandry project, which gives 
refugee families (collectively) 500 chicks to be maintained 
on their compounds.  The families are educated on caring for 
the chickens, assisted in building coops on their compounds, 
and assisted in selling the eggs or the chickens at market. 
World Relief also manages an agricultural project on growing 
tomatoes and other vegetables for sale in the local markets. 
As part of this project, World Relief provides product 
transport from the camp to various viable economic outlets. 
 
¶9. According to World Relief and UNHCR field officers, 
refugees have not taken advantage of these projects in large 
numbers.  In their opinion, refugees hesitate to make 
efforts which could improve their potential self- 
sufficiency, because they are hoping to be resettled rather 
than locally integrated.  UNHCR field officers attributed 
this persistent hope among the refugees to a resettlement 
effort conducted by UNHCR in 2004-2005 which referred 
several hundred cases for resettlement to the United States. 
Rumors of future resettlement efforts continue to influence 
the current refugee population and attract new arrivals to 
the camp.  (In interviews with the PRM/PIM program officer, 
new Congolese arrivals to the camp said they had bypassed 
refugee camps in Zambia and Tanzania because Maratane "has a 
good reputation."  UNHCR officers believe Maratane has this 
reputation because it is perceived as an easy camp to be 
resettled from.) 
 
¶10. The refugee camp committee presented refugee concerns 
during a meeting attended by UNHCR officers, INAR 
representatives, the implementing partners, and PRM/PIM 
officer Perlita Muiruri.  The committee president voiced 
concern about the amount and quality of the food rations, 
the lack of adequate security in the camp and the 
insufficient supply of medicines.  These concerns led to a 
request by the committee that refugees in the camp be 
resettled immediately.  The committee dismissed the 
possibility of repatriation because of continued instability 
in the Great Lakes region.  They also rejected the 
possibility of local integration because of what they 
considered arbitrary arrests of refugees that were 
sanctioned by the GRM.  (Comment:  Based on discussions with 
implementing partners, there was no evidence supporting the 
committee's claims, however.  End Comment.) 
 
------------ 
Resettlement 
------------ 
 
¶11. In a separate meeting in Maputo on September 25, UNHCR 
Representative Victoria Akyeampong emphasized UNHCR's 
concern that the perceived potential for resettlement from 
Maratane camp was preventing the current refugee population 
from considering the benefits of repatriation or local 
integration.  Akyeampong noted an attempt to refer 
approximately 1,000 refugees for resettlement had been made 
in 2005, but irregularities in the process resulted in a 
backlog of 400-600 cases.  The delay and the long process of 
interviewing families helped create a persistent expectation 
of resettlement on the part of all refugees in the camp. 
The continued hope that they will be considered as 
candidates for resettlement to the United States or Canada 
has made refugees uninterested in any activities that might 
facilitate a different durable solution, according to 
Akyeampong. 
 
MAPUTO 00001354  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶12. Akyeampong said that UNHCR was considering reducing 
assistance to the refugees as a method of encouraging 
participation in income-generating projects and other 
programs which facilitate self-sufficiency.  A complicating 
factor was the attitude of the GRM, which does not favor 
refugee resettlement from Mozambique, she said.  According 
to UNHCR, the GRM was cooperative on the issue of local 
integration, but as a matter of national pride did not want 
to welcome refugees who consider permanent relocation to 
Mozambique the least desirable durable solution. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Refugee Status Determinations (RSD) 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶13. The GRM currently has a backlog in excess of 4,000 cases 
awaiting refugee status determination.  In 2005 the GRM 
processed only 150 cases, and in 2006 they have adjudicated 
245 cases so far.  According to UNHCR, the acceptance rate 
was 99.9%.  The significant backlog was mainly caused by a 
requirement that the Minister of Interior personally sign- 
off on each case.  Another concern with the current process 
was that several key ministries, working under the 
immigration authority instead of INAR, were represented on 
the Eligibility Committee that makes the refugee status 
determinations. 
 
¶14. According to Akyeampong, INAR, with UNHCR guidance, 
conducts the RSD interviews.  INAR has only 30 full-time 
staff covering the entire country.  As a result, RSD 
interviews are done sporadically, the Eligibility Committee 
does its work very slowly and cases pile up in the Foreign 
Minister's office.  UNHCR focused its efforts this year on 
assisting the GRM to improve efficiency in the RSD process, 
by providing training to GRM officials, financial aid in 
staffing-up the relevant ministries, and a protection 
officer to work with the GRM.  UNHCR anticipates that the 
visit of a regional RSD officer next year will help make the 
process more efficient. 
 
----------- 
UNHCR Plans 
----------- 
 
¶15. According to Akyeampong, UNHCR plans to hand over 
management of a number of camp activities in Maratane to 
INAR this year, in anticipation of eventually handing over 
management of the entire settlement to the GRM.  UNHCR will 
offer significant financial and administrative assistance to 
the Ministry's Institute of Refugee Assistance (INAR) to 
increase its capacity.  UNHCR Mozambique has also focused 
its efforts on building the capacity of the GRM to conduct 
RSD in accordance with its international obligations.  This 
includes financial assistance to the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and recruitment of a UNHCR RSD officer to help 
rationalize the process in Mozambique.  UNHCR plans to 
launch an information campaign to encourage refugees to 
consider return and to ensure they fully understand that 
resettlement may not be a realistic option for the majority. 
For those who do not want to repatriate, UNHCR and the GRM 
will continue to focus on efforts to promote local 
integration and self-sufficiency.  According to UNHCR 
Maputo, UNHCR will eventually manage its operations in 
Mozambique from a regional office in Pretoria and only 
maintain a physical presence in Mozambique at the Nampula 
field office. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶16. Overall UNHCR, the GRM and other implementing partners 
have done a good job in providing basic assistance and 
protection to refugees in Mozambique's Maratane camp. 
UNHCR is working closely with the GRM to address 
shortcomings, most notably the backlog in RSD processing. 
They are also grappling with the negative impact on 
potential voluntary repatriation and local integration 
programs caused by refugee hopes for resettlement. 
 
Raspolic