VZCZCXRO8797
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHAB #0293/01 0780957
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 190957Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2729
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0542
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABIDJAN 000293 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W AND PRM/AF/CACHANG 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
MONROVIA FOR LMAZEL AND SEIRIZ 
DAKAR FOR USAID/FFP/MOSMAN AND USAID/OFDA/RDAVIS 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USAID/OFDA/DDEBERNARDO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PHUM EAID UNHCR SOCI LI IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE:  UNHCR PREPARING FOR JUNE DEADLINE 
 
REF: A. STATE 17135 
     ¶B. MONROVIA 276 
 
¶1.  Summary:  The Abidjan-based Refugee Coordinator 
(RefCoord) for West Africa traveled with Lou Mazel, DCM 
Monrovia, and Mohamud Osman, USAID/FFP Dakar, from February 
25 to March 3 to visit WFP and UNHCR offices in Cote d'Ivoire 
(Tabou, Guiglo) and Liberia (Harper) and to meet with 
refugees and NGO partners.  The U.S. mission discussed 
Liberian repatriation and assistance issues and met with 
agencies working with internally displaced populations 
(IDPs).  UNHCR appears set to engage in a strong promotional 
campaign leading up to the June 2007 assisted repatriation 
deadline for Liberian refugees.  USAID/FFP will send a 
separate food security report covering the regions visited. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  The Abidjan-based Refugee Coordinator (RefCoord) for West 
Africa traveled with Lou Mazel, DCM Monrovia, and Mohamud 
Osman, USAID/FFP Dakar, from February 25 to March 3 to visit 
WFP and UNHCR offices in Cote d'Ivoire (Tabou, Guiglo) and 
Liberia (Harper) and to meet with refugees and NGO partners 
working in the field.  RefCoord and USAID/FFP officer also 
visited several villages in the Zone of Confidence that had 
seen population displacement as well as a center in 
Yamoussoukro housing some 350 internally displaced persons 
(IDPs). 
 
UNHCR Return Figures From Cote d'Ivoire 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  UNHCR reports they assisted a total of 3,476 Liberian 
refugees return to Liberia in 2006, a sharp decrease from 
their 2005 figure of 13,501 assisted returns.  The majority 
of returns in 2006 came from Tabou (2,643), followed by 
Guiglo (772) and Abidjan (61).  UNHCR also reports they are 
providing direct assistance in Cote d'Ivoire to only about 
2,000 vulnerable Liberian refugees.  RefCoord discussed these 
figures with Saber Azam, UNHCR Representative, and Buti Kale, 
UNHCR Deputy Representative, and stressed that PRM expected 
to see full attention to the Liberia repatriation process 
leading up to the June 2007 deadline for assisted return 
(ref. A).  Azam promised RefCoord that UNHCR is fully engaged 
in supporting Liberian repatriation and promised to share 
local integration plans with RefCoord. 
 
Visit to Tabou and Surrounding Villages 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  The U.S. delegation held discussions with refugees in 
Tabou town (ref. B) and visited project sites in surrounding 
villages with local implementing partners.  Tabou is the last 
large town in Cote d'Ivoire before arriving at the border 
with Liberia, approximately 45 minutes away by dirt road. 
RefCoord visited the villages of Yeouli, Georgestown, and 
Gozon, all located along the Cavally River separating Cote 
d'Ivoire from Liberia.  All three villages seemed relatively 
quiet, and RefCoord actually had difficulty finding many 
Liberian refugees to talk to (Note: These villages are 
populated by various ethnic groups/nationalities.  End note.) 
 In Georgestown, the Refugee Committee Chairman said he was 
unaware of the deadline for repatriation to Liberia, but, 
curiously, he explained that he had just returned from 
Liberia where he had spent the last several months receiving 
free medical treatment in Harper.  RefCoord could not even 
find the Refugee Committee Chairman in Gozon, and was 
eventually told he had left to San Pedro.  Dr. Toure, UNHCR 
Head of Field Office in Tabou, later told RefCoord he might 
even be in Liberia, since his family had just returned last 
week. 
 
¶5.  Kakule Dieudonne, Head of Field Office for IRC, confirmed 
to RefCoord that student enrollment figures dropped 
significantly between the 2005/2006 school year, when IRC 
enrolled 2,700 Liberian students in their alternative 
education schools, to just 987 Liberian students for the 
2006/2007 school year.  Dieudonne said only 163 of those not 
registered this year could be accounted for on UNHCR's 
repatriation lists.  In Harper, Liberia, UNHCR staff estimate 
some 10,000 Liberians have returned without UNHCR assistance 
from Cote d'Ivoire.  So far they have deregistered 302 
families (786 individuals), most of whom are from Maryland 
County.  Based on their observations, they believe 
deregistration numbers remain low as many Liberian refugees 
have either lost their refugee cards or continue to hold on 
 
ABIDJAN 00000293  002 OF 003 
 
 
to their cards in case a future resettlement program in Cote 
d'Ivoire is launched.  They also said that some Liberians use 
the cards to facilitate travel when they return to Cote 
d'Ivoire to conduct business, and that others have even sold 
their cards to third country nationals (Burkinabe, Nigerians, 
Ghanaians) who hope to use them to benefit from assistance 
and/or resettlement programs in host countries. 
 
Liberian Refugees in Guiglo 
--------------------------- 
 
¶6.  The PRM-USAID/FFP team also traveled to Duekoue and 
Guiglo and visited several villages in the Zone of Confidence 
(Fengolo, Ieurozon, Blodi, and Toa-Zeo) that had experienced 
population displacements.  UNHCR organized a meeting with 
approximately 350-400 Liberian refugees in Nicla Camp and a 
group of about 25 Liberian refugees in Guiglo town.  RefCoord 
communicated the same message to refugees as in Abidjan and 
Tabou (ref. B).  The Nicla refugees are still a cohesive 
group, opening their meetings with prayers for resettlement, 
but they were less rowdy than in previous meetings.  Their 
questions focused on the security situation in Cote d'Ivoire 
and what would happen to Liberians who remain in Cote 
d'Ivoire after the June 2007 deadline.  They appear to have 
largely accepted the end of group resettlement to the U.S., 
but many in Nicla still have pending P-3 cases.  RefCoord 
assured them that the U.S. will process all eligible P-3 
cases, but that those refugees who choose to remain in Cote 
d'Ivoire need to recognize that repatriation assistance is 
ending in June 2007.  In Guiglo town, one Refugee Committee 
member angrily asked why UNHCR is not holding such 
discussions with the larger refugee population in town, 
particularly the issue of the closing of transit and 
reception facilities in Liberia after June and what impact 
this will have on potential returnees.  Ironically, another 
refugee complained that health care for refugees in Guiglo is 
inadequate and that he had traveled all the way to Monrovia 
on two occasions for free medical care - even producing his 
medical card to prove his point. 
 
The Village of "Zaa" 
-------------------- 
 
¶7.  Azam had promised RefCoord and the Ambassador on several 
occasions in 2006 that refugee assistance in the Nicla Camp 
in Guiglo would end in December 2006 and that Nicla would be 
transformed into an Ivoirian village (to be called "Zaaglo" - 
the village of "Zaa").  However, Azam complained that the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs is delaying the process and that 
they are waiting for the Minister that will then be 
transferred to the military Prefect in Guiglo for official 
announcement.  Azam said with confidence that the Ministry 
would deliver this announcement before the end of February 
(which did not happen).  WFP, IRC, and Caritas confirmed, 
however, that they had agreed with UNHCR in December to 
continue assistance in Nicla and Tabou until the end of June 
¶2007.  According to UNHCR Guiglo, the Ivoirian government 
requested approximately $800,000 to complete the 
transformation of Nicla into a village, a figure that UNHCR 
could not pay.  Azam produced a letter signed by the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs on March 8 that confirms the decision to 
transform Nicla camp into a village has been submitted to an 
inter-ministerial committee for further review and eventual 
authorization. 
 
The Mie N'Gou Center 
-------------------- 
 
¶8.  The PRM-USAID/FFP mission also visited the Mie N'Gou 
Center in Yamoussoukro.  According to UNHCR documents, the 
Center holds 550 people and, along with the CATD in Guiglo, 
is without "adequate support and infrastructure" where 
"promiscuity and high risk behavior, malaria, and other 
diseases" have caused "despair and frustration" among the 
residents.  A UNHCR official accompanying the mission said 
they had just completed a census and had registered only 368 
persons in the Center (Note: The Center was designed to hold 
250 persons.  End note.).  Indeed, the Center was grossly 
overcrowded in 2002 when some 9,000 IDPs fleeing the war 
crammed its facilities.  However, several NGOs, including 
Save the Children/UK, used to provide assistance in the 
Center and the World Food Program (WFP) carried out food 
distributions until December 2005.  An IRC official said 
their estimate of repairs to the plumbing system in the 
Center came to only about $2,000.  The U.S. delegation 
 
ABIDJAN 00000293  003 OF 003 
 
 
learned that most families manage to pay the required fees 
for their children to attend school and that there are no 
reported cases of malnutrition in the Center.  Three 
gentlemen the delegation spoke to in fact either have jobs 
outside the Center or are receiving a government pension. 
The Nun running the center confided to RefCoord that she just 
wants the IDPs to leave so she can return to her original 
work providing physical therapy to handicapped persons in the 
Center. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9.  UNHCR has stepped up its refugee activities since the 
start of the U.S. delegation's visit.  Return numbers jumped 
between February 27 and March 8 and Azam raised the issue of 
local integration of Liberian refugees in Cote d'Ivoire after 
June 2007 with the UN Country Team and local partners on 
March 13.  UNHCR staff have also worked out a solid 
promotional plan they intend to implement as of late March to 
inform Liberian refugees about their options for local 
integration after the June deadline and have shared a copy of 
that strategy with RefCoord.  The issue of whether or not the 
Nicla camp will soon close is a moot point at this stage as 
the June 2007 repatriation deadline takes the spotlight.  WFP 
confirmed they will no longer provide food assistance to 
Liberians on the basis of their refugee status after June 
2007, but vulnerable groups remaining in Cote d'Ivoire will 
be eligible for WFP country program assistance on the basis 
of "vulnerability" criteria that applies equally to 
Ivoirians.  Despite some delays between November and 
February, UNHCR appears on track to conduct a strong 
promotion campaign as assisted repatriation comes to a close 
and they move to local integration activities. 
Hooks