VZCZCXRO7505
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHLS #0498/01 1281411
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071411Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY LUSAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5779
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1352
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0481
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LUSAKA 000498 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR PRM/AFR AND AF/S 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF KHIV ZA CG
SUBJECT: ZAMBIA: UNHCR LAUNCHES CONGOLESE REPATRIATION 
 
 
 ¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  On May 5, DCM joined Zambian Government 
(GRZ) officials and members of the Lusaka diplomatic corps to 
launch the 2009 repatriation of Congolese refugees in Zambia. 
 UNHCR's 2008 goal is to repatriate 19,336 refugees, 
transported 400 at a time three times per week through 
December by boat on Lake Tanganyika.  If UNHCR Meets its 2008 
goal, it and the GRZ intend to consolidate the refugees into 
a single camp in late 2008 and complete the repatriation by 
the end of 2009.  The refugees appear genuinely enthusiastic 
about the repatriation, especially in light of security 
guarantees arranged over the last few months by the DRC, 
Zambia and UN agencies.  DCM also visited an impressive, but 
temporary, USG-funded UNHCR transit center where returning 
refugees are staged prior to embarkation.  UNHCR reports only 
about that there are only about 20 HIV positive refugees -- 
an infection rate of only a fraction of a percentage (but 
inconsistent with earlier studies of prevalence in the 
camps).  Of these, eight are on treatment.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  On May 5, DCM traveled with Zambian Minister of Home 
Affairs Ronnie Shikapwasha, UNHCR Representative James Lynch, 
The International Organization for Migration Country 
Director, the Ambassadors of Sweden and the DRC and European 
Commissioner Representative Derek Fee to Mpulungu in northern 
Zambia on the shores of Lake Tanganyika to launch the 2008 
repatriation of Congolese refugees.  Shikapwasha was 
accompanied by his Permanent Secretary and the Home 
Ministry's Commissioner for Refugees, Jacob Mphepo. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  After touring the UNCHR-leased transport ship at 
quayside, the team saw off 365 Congolese refugees from the 
Kala camp; a follow-on to the 446 who had departed on the 
first voyage over the weekend.  The repatriation by boat of 
about 400 refugees at a time to Moba, DRC from Mpulungu will 
continue on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays through 
mid-December, 2008.  During July, when high winds inhibit 
transportation on Lake Tanganyika, the boat repatriations 
will be suspended in favor of weekly overland repatriations 
of up to 800 refugees by bus through the border at Pweto. 
UNHCR plans to repatriate 19,336 Congolese refugees from the 
Kala and Mwange camps this year.  If successful, fewer than 
15,000 Congolese refugees will remain in Zambia by early 
¶2009.  UNHCR plans to consolidate Congolese refugees in a 
single camp after the 2008 repatriations.  GRZ and UNHCR 
officials say that full and final repatriation (except for a 
small "residual" that will choose to stay in Zambia) can be 
completed by the end of 2009. 
¶4.  (SBU) In mid-2007, after reports of violent attacks on 
returning refugees in their home region in eastern DRC 
filtered back to the camps, repatriations were suspended 
after fewer than 8000 Congolese refugees had been transported 
home.  Several tripartite meetings of Congolese, Zambian and 
UN officials in the ensuing months reassured refugee 
officials that the situation in the DRC was safe and secure. 
"Security is good," said Lynch, "but anything can happen." 
According to UNHCR, International Organization for Migration, 
and Red Cross officials in northern Zambia, the refugees in 
the camps -- who have been enjoying safe haven in Zambia 
since 1999 -- now say they are ready to return home. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  The team visited a UNHCR transit center funded by 
PRM bureau contributions.  Refugees travel 10 hours by bus 
from the camp in Luapula Province to the Transit Center in 
Mpulungu where they spend the night before embarking for the 
DRC.  Sturdy latrines, an infirmary, and temporary tents have 
been erected on a hillside overlooking the port of Mpulungu. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  UNHCR officials reported that only eight of the 
refugees in Zambia are on Anti-retroviral treatment; another 
14 have tested positive for HIV.  (Comment:  This is 
inconsistent with a 2005 CDC-funded UNHCR Sentinel 
Surveillance study that found HIV rates between two and three 
percent among pregnant women in the camps.)  According to 
UNHCR officials, HIV positive refugees are discouraged from 
traveling home to the Congo ostensibly because treatment is 
unavailable there -- this may result in fewer seeking 
voluntary testing and counseling. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Comment:  The 19,336 goal seems achievable, if 
ambitious.  Home Affairs officials seem very eager to make 
progress on the repatriations.  UNHCR reports that returning 
refugees receive three months of food supplies, seeds, tools, 
and building materials upon arrival in Moba.  The joint 
Congolese/Zambia/UN meetings in late 2007 and early 2008 seem 
to have satisfied all parties that security will be provided 
and that the repatriations will continue unhindered for the 
rest of the year.  The first groups of refugees appeared 
 
LUSAKA 00000498  002 OF 002 
 
 
eager to return, but after nearly a decade in Zambia, 
hundreds of refugees who can only remember Zambia (including 
hundreds of children born in the camps) may be less eager to 
(re)start their lives in the uncertain Northern Katanga 
Province.  The transit center in Mpulungu seems like money 
well spent by the USG.  The repatriation -- funded mainly by 
the USG and the EU -- is most welcome to GRZ officials. 
 
MARTINEZ