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FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHGI/AMEMBASSY BANGUI 1132
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 6400
RUEHNJ/AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA 3900
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 8171
INFO RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 5834
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 2543
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 4741
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 9304
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 4013
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME 0447
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3232

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STATE 103508 
 
SIPDIS 
KAMPALA/ADDIS/NDJAMENA/ACCRA/NAIROBI FOR REFCOORDS 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
USEU FOR FRANCIS 
DOD FOR OSD/AFRICOM LIAISON M SWAYNE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF CD CM CT
SUBJECT: REGIONAL REFUGEE COORDINATOR NDJAMENA DUTIES AND 
RESPONSIBILITIES 
 
REF: STATE 69690 
 
¶1.  As noted reftel, Perlita Muiruri has taken up duties as 
the Regional Refugee Coordinator (RefCoord) for Chad, Darfur, 
the Central African Republic, and Cameroon.   The Bureau of 
Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), would like to draw 
your attention to the important role played by the 
Ndjamena-based RefCoord in programming and monitoring U.S. 
Government humanitarian assistance managed by the State 
Department. This message outlines the key responsibilities 
and priorities for PRM RefCoords generally and for RefCoord 
Muiruri specifically.  PRM appreciates posts, ongoing 
support and collaboration with RefCoord Muiruri as we address 
the challenging humanitarian issues confronting the region. 
 
------------- 
REFCOORD ROLE 
------------- 
¶2.  PRM currently has 27 RefCoords deployed in 19 posts 
around the world.  Most have regional responsibilities while 
some focus on a specific country or a complex humanitarian 
emergency.  The majority of our RefCoords work on issues 
related to protection and assistance for refugees and 
conflict victims (including internally displaced people-IDPs) 
and voluntary repatriation and reintegration in post-conflict 
situations, while some others work mainly on issues related 
to resettlement of refugees to the United States.  They have 
responsibility for input into PRM -- and USG -- humanitarian 
strategies; overseeing implementation of USG policies and 
implementing partner programs for refugees, conflict victims, 
stateless persons, and other vulnerable migrants; liaising 
with governmental authorities to help resolve spot problems 
with protection and assistance programs; and helping 
represent the USG -- for example to explain humanitarian 
policies/strategies.   Their work with other donor countries 
and our key implementing partners from UN agencies, Red 
Cross, other international organizations and non-governmental 
organizations (IOs and NGOs) is essential to the work of PRM 
and our management of a budget which was over $1.4 billion in 
FY08 (including over $380 million for Africa).  RefCoords 
also serve as a resource for Embassy-appointed Refugee 
Officers, providing guidance and back-up as requested in 
responding to refugee issues, including Embassy supported 
programs via PRM,s Taft Refugee Fund. 
 
¶3.  PRM,s RefCoord in Ndjamena is the field focal point for 
the PRM role in the protection and assistance for some 3.2 
million refugees and conflict victims in Cameroon, the 
Central African Republic, Chad, and Darfur.   Given the 
inherently cross-border character of refugee flows, she will 
also coordinate closely with the Horn (Addis-based) and Great 
Lakes (Kampala-based) Regional RefCoords as well as the 
Refugee Admissions RefCoords in Nairobi and Accra.  We hope 
you will consider RefCoord Muiruri as a key member of each of 
your country teams. 
 
--------------------------------- 
KEY CHAD/CAR/DARFUR ISSUES/TOPICS 
--------------------------------- 
¶4. The primary issues to be covered by the RefCoord on a 
regular basis -- and to be reported on both formally through 
cable traffic and less formally through the Weekly Activities 
Report (WAR) as "recurrent issues" --  include the general 
status of refugee and conflict victim populations in the 
region, including treatment of refugees in host countries; 
factors influencing protection, assistance, and security 
issues; institutional performance of the IOs and NGOs; United 
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) protection and 
assistance programs for refugees, IDPs, and any stateless 
populations; UNHCR resettlement procedures (in cooperation 
with our Accra-based Admissions RefCoord); International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) protection and assistance 
 
STATE 00103508  002 OF 005 
 
 
programs for conflict victims; World Food Program (WFP) 
feeding programs for refugees; gender-based violence (GBV), 
sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), and HIV/AIDS issues 
related to refugees; NGO monitoring and evaluation (M&E); 
coordination among USG agencies, including especially USAID 
on IDPs; upcoming RefCoord travel and other activities of 
interest. 
 
¶5.  The Chad/CAR/Darfur situation has been dubbed a "complex 
regional protracted emergency."  With the conflicts in Chad, 
the CAR, and Darfur far from being resolved despite a number 
of peace agreements (particularly in the case of the CAR and 
Chad), PRM focus in the region in the coming year will 
continue to be on preparedness for new refugee flows, 
emergency response, maintaining minimum standards of 
protection and assistance, such self-reliance measures as may 
be possible with CAR refugees, and ensuring that the 
humanitarian response architecture is well coordinated and 
free of any sexual exploitation and abuse.  Difficult 
challenges over the coming year will include shrinking 
humanitarian space owing to insecurity and/or to governments 
being unable or unwilling to support humanitarian efforts, 
security and neutrality of refugee and IDP camps, and the 
carrying capacity of eastern Chad in particular.  We expect 
public interest in the Darfur situation to remain high, 
resulting in multiple VIP-type visits to Chad, including 
CODELs for which RefCoord Muiruri will likely have some 
control officer responsibilities. 
 
¶6.   Key situations of interest include: 
¶A.  Sudanese Refugees in Chad 
-- Protection, especially of children, from recruitment into 
fighting forces. 
-- Preventing militarization of camps, including through 
relocation. 
-- Maintaining protection and assistance standards, including 
in treatment of vulnerable children and women and a reliable 
food aid pipeline, in what has become a protracted refugee 
situation. 
-- Possible solutions to fuel wood and water depletion. 
-- Impact of refugees on affected Chadians. 
-- Coordinated security measures among the many implementing 
partners in eastern Chad. 
-- MINURCAT and EUFOR.  Deployment of the MINURCAT-trained 
Chadian police to enhance refugee and IDP security. 
-- Contingency planning for additional refugee inflows. 
-- Referral of appropriate vulnerable cases to the U.S. 
Refugee Admissions Program. 
 
¶B.  Sudanese Refugees in the CAR 
-- Protection, especially of children, from recruitment into 
fighting forces. 
-- Reaching and maintaining protection and assistance 
standards, including in treatment of vulnerable children and 
women and a reliable food aid pipeline. 
-- Contingency planning for additional refugee inflows. 
-- MINURCAT and EUFOR. 
 
¶C.  Chadian IDPs 
-- Improved and coordinated UN and ICRC attention to 
IDPs/conflict victims; monitoring UNHCR,s coordination role 
in addressing IDP protection/camp coordination-camp 
management/shelter needs; monitoring OCHA,s role. 
-- Ensuring complementarity of USAID and PRM programming. 
 
¶C.  Chadian Refugees in Darfur and Cameroon 
-- Protection of Chadian refugees in Darfur from possible 
manipulation in the Darfur conflict; ensuring that return to 
Chad is not foreclosed by land redistribution in Chad. 
-- Reaching and maintaining protection and assistance 
standards, including in treatment of vulnerable children and 
women and a reliable food aid pipeline for Chadian refugees 
in Darfur and in Cameroon. 
-- Appropriate measures to shape repatriation from Cameroon. 
 
¶D.  CAR Refugees in Chad and Cameroon (and Darfur) 
-- Reaching and maintaining protection and assistance 
 
STATE 00103508  003 OF 005 
 
 
standards, including in treatment of vulnerable children and 
women among the CAR refugees, in refugee camps in Chad and in 
Cameroon where refugees are not encamped. 
-- Self-reliance strategies for CAR refugees with access to 
land for farming and grazing. 
-- Addressing conflict between Peul refugees and local 
populations. 
-- The situation of CAR refugees who have sought safety in 
Darfur. 
-- Referral of appropriate vulnerable cases in southern Chad 
to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. 
 
¶E.  CAR IDPs 
-- Role of rebel and FACA forces in displacement. 
-- UN and ICRC attention to IDPs/conflict victims; monitoring 
UNHCR,s coordination role in addressing IDP protection/camp 
coordination-camp management/shelter needs; monitoring 
OCHA,s role. 
-- Ensuring complementarity of USAID and PRM programming. 
 
¶F.  Darfur conflict victims and IDPs 
-- Monitoring UNHCR,s coordination role in addressing IDP 
protection/camp coordination-camp management; evaluation of 
"protection through presence" programming. 
-- Camp security/neutrality. 
-- ICRC,s protection and assistance efforts for conflict 
victims (including IDPs, the Gereida IDP Camp in particular) 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
KEY SKILLS AND RESPONSIBILITIES (REPORT, ANALYZE, 
TROUBLESHOOT, SOLVE PROBLEMS) 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶7.   The information that RefCoords gather and analyze helps 
PRM enhance the operational capacity and efficiency of our 
partners, and is therefore the key to the Department,s 
accountability to both beneficiaries and U.S. taxpayers. 
With performance increasingly tied to resources, monitoring 
and evaluation continue to play a critical role in justifying 
budget requests.  RefCoord/Ndjamena should also approach 
refugee issues in the region from a holistic standpoint with 
an eye towards highlighting both humanitarian and USG foreign 
policy implications and possible courses of action for PRM 
and the Department.  She should not only collect information, 
but also critically analyze it and offer options for action. 
Ideas of how PRM as a bureau (and AFR as an office) might 
work more efficiently towards its performance goals 
(including better M&E practices) would be highly valued. 
 
¶8.  RefCoord,s activities, including input for the various 
Mission Strategic Plans, should promote key PRM objectives 
and indicators, as outlined in PRM,s Bureau Strategic Plan, 
the OMB Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART)s, the Annual 
Framework Agreement with UNHCR, and in the Operational Plans 
(both country and global) and Country Assistance Strategies 
developed with guidance from the Director for Foreign 
Assistance (F).  (Note that, given the contingency and 
regional nature of PRM programming, PRM funds are part of the 
global operational planning rather than country plans in the 
F framework.) 
 
¶9.  RefCoord should cultivate relationships with key members 
of the following groups: 
-UNHCR (both national and local offices) 
-ICRC 
-Other IOs (mainly WFP, IOM, UNICEF, and OCHA) 
-NGOs working in refugee support (Implementing and 
Non-Implementing Partners 
        of UNHCR) 
-Governmental Authorities (primarily in Ndjamena and Bangui) 
-Embassy and USAID Mission contacts in all embassies, as well 
as appropriate 
        other USG personnel such as Defense Attaches, CDC 
staff working on 
        HIV/AIDS and malaria, DHS. 
-PRM Missions and Colleagues (Washington, Geneva, Brussels, 
Addis, Kampala, 
        Accra and Nairobi) 
 
STATE 00103508  004 OF 005 
 
 
 
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MONITORING AND REPORTING ON UNHCR, ICRC, 
 and OTHER IOs 
--------------------------------------- 
¶10.  The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR), which has the international lead on all refugee 
situations in Africa (and generally in the world apart from 
the Palestinian refugees in the Middle East) is PRM's largest 
financial 
partner, receiving over 40% of PRM,s overseas assistance 
funds, and is the agency with which we have the broadest and 
deepest relationship.  Humanitarian reform in the United 
Nations has also given UNHCR additional responsibilities with 
respect to IDPs under the "cluster approach".  The 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is 
similarly present in almost every conflict situation, is 
second with approximately 20%.  Support for other IOs varies 
from situation to situation.  In general, USG food aid for 
refugees through WFP is provided in kind by the Food for 
Peace Program managed by USAID.  PRM may provide some cash 
support to WFP to fill critical gaps in the refugee food 
pipeline.  RefCoords are tasked with coordinating with USAID 
to report on refugee feeding activities by WFP and to report 
on any coming food shortages and pipeline breaks. 
 
¶11.  RefCoords are to report regularly on the performance of 
UNHCR and ICRC in each country, against the objectives laid 
out in their annual appeal documents. Findings are used not 
only at the field level in terms of pressing UNHCR to make 
changes that the USG might deem useful/necessary and/or in 
encouraging other donors to join in support of a particular 
program approach; they are also used in the USG engagement on 
the Executive Committee of the UNHCR which meets in plenary 
once a year and in Standing Committee at least three times a 
year.  Findings on ICRC,s performance are used primarily at 
the field and HQ levels in pressing for any program changes 
that the USG might deem useful/necessary and/or in 
encouraging other donors to join in support of a particular 
program approach.  The ICRC does not have a multinational 
governing board as UN agencies do, but there is a Donor 
Support Group mechanism in which the USG participates and the 
USG is a full member in the quadripartite Red Cross Movement 
(ICRC, the International Federation of Red Cross/Crescent 
Societies, the National RC Societies, and the National 
Governments). 
 
¶12.  In addition, in an effort to monitor UNHCR efforts in 
support of USG priorities and increase U.S. input into and 
knowledge of UNHCR's planning process, RefCoords are annually 
requested to perform two specific UNHCR monitoring duties, in 
addition to generally monitoring UNHCR activities.  One, 
RefCoords are asked to meet with UNHCR at the country level 
to discuss its Country Operation Plan (COP) for the current 
and coming year.   Discussions will need to be held in late 
winter/early spring, typically sometime in February or March, 
as UNHCR offices are putting together their plans for the 
coming year (details regarding the consultation will be 
provided in an action cable).  Two, PRM and UNHCR annually 
negotiate a Framework for Cooperation, which lays out shared 
expectations for the year.  Once finalized, the Framework is 
shared with RefCoords who are asked to refer to it throughout 
the year in monitoring UNHCR.  These two requests and 
associated guidance will be provided to RefCoords by cable 
early in the calendar year. 
 
¶13.  PRM makes significant unearmarked contributions to ICRC 
for the Africa region.  Special attention should be paid to 
ICRC activities in the region.  Front-channel reporting on 
ICRC programs, presence, and activities is helpful several 
times during the year as the PRM Financial Plan for a given 
fiscal year is reviewed and adjusted quarterly.  Updates on 
PRM,s earmarked contributions to ICRC and/or other 
International Organizations such as UNICEF and IOM are also 
needed regularly, particularly if continued funding is 
anticipated. 
 
 
STATE 00103508  005 OF 005 
 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
MONITORING AND REPORTING ON NON-GOVERNMENTAL 
 ORGANIZATIONS (NGOs) 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶14.  PRM has cooperative agreements with a number of NGOs in 
the region to complement and/or to fill gaps in UNHCR 
programming in particular.  RefCoord responsibilities with 
regard to the NGOs that we fund includes at least two site 
visits and one M&E cable reporting specifically on the 
indicators agreed upon in the cooperative agreement, and 
others as written in the NGO final proposal.  RefCoords will 
receive notification from PRM,s Comptroller that an 
agreement has been awarded, along with an electronic version 
of the cooperative agreement.  Notification will 
identify/highlight areas for review and establish a date for 
formal reports to be submitted to Washington.  In addition, 
the PRM "nine Core Questions" should serve as a general 
outline for evaluating programs.  The deadline date for M&E 
reports is generally ninety days prior to the expiration of 
the agreement.   Washington relies on the RefCoords, 
feedback in making funding decisions for future NGO programs. 
 RefCoords should be familiar with programs, goals, 
objectives and indicators, as required in NGO cooperative 
agreements, and should work with PRM program officers to 
report on objectives and indicators in Interim Performance 
Evaluations (IPEs).  A monitoring and evaluation report must 
be written for each PRM-funded NGO program.  The M&E reports 
should also report on changes in expected funding from UNHCR 
(from the planning figures given initially in the project 
proposal).  In most situations there are multiple NGOs 
operating in a specific locale.  RefCoords should make sure 
that PRM funding for NGOs is balanced with respect to varying 
needs throughout a geographic region. 
 
¶15.  HIV/AIDS:  RefCoords with responsibilities in 
PEPFAR-focus countries (Cote d,Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, 
Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South 
Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia) should become 
active participants in the PEPFAR inter-agency country teams 
to advocate for the inclusion of refugees in Country 
Operational Proposals for PEPFAR funding.  While none of the 
countries covered by RefCoord Ndjamena is currently a 
PEPFAR-focus country, she, as all RefCoords, should review 
the availability and adequacy of HIV/AIDS interventions on 
monitoring trips to identify program gaps that our NGO or IO 
partners could address.  Active RefCoord involvement has 
resulted in increased PEPFAR funding for refugees in recent 
years to fill critical programming gaps. 
 
¶16.  WEEKLY REPORTS:  RefCoords should send Weekly Activity 
Reports (WARs) to PRM highlighting points related to key 
issues above.  WARs serve to disseminate important regional 
information throughout the Bureau. 
 
¶17.  MANAGEMENT OF POST ALLOTMENT/ICASS PARTICIPATION: 
RefCoords should alert PRM-Washington of immediate issues of 
concern and recommend appropriate responses. 
RICE