VZCZCXRO2743
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHCO #0224 0811339
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221339Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY COTONOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9375
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 0126
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0299

UNCLAS COTONOU 000224 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W (DBANKS) AND PRM (CCHANG) 
PARIS FOR D'ELIA 
KAMPALA FOR FLINTROP 
LONDON FOR HAHN 
ACCRA FOR REFCOORD BLUHM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PHUM EAID BN
SUBJECT:  BENIN: REDUCTION IN TOGOLESE REFUGEE POPULATION 
 
REF: COTONOU 0030 
 
¶1. (SBU) A UNHCR official told TDY PolOff on March 21 that the 
Togolese refugee population in Benin now stands at an estimated 
5,900, down from a high of some 25,000 immediately after Togo's 
political crisis erupted in early 2005.  This number represents 
those Togolese refugees living both within and outside of the UNHCR 
refugee camp.  Since March 2006, 2,500 refugees have returned to 
Togo with UNHCR assistance, and UNHCR estimates that an even larger 
number have returned spontaneously without direct UN aid. 
 
¶2. (U) None of the 2005-era Togolese refugees have been resettled by 
UNHCR to third countries, but UNHCR contends that they are working 
toward the resettlement of those with serious medical conditions. 
(NOTE: Benin also shelters, according to UNHCR, 6,246 other 
refugees, including several hundred Ogoni from Nigeria, and some 
pre-2005 Togolese.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) Of the 5,900 Togolese refugees remaining from the 2005 
events, UNCHR estimates that more than half will return to Togo at 
the end of the 2007 school year in June, when Togolese elections are 
over.  UNCHR plans to facilitate the integration of the remaining 
refugees at the Agame camp through the placement of their children 
in local schools outside of the camp. 
 
BROWN