VZCZCXRO8985
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHAR #0070/01 0301045
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301045Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7539
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0416
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ACCRA 000070 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR PRM, AF/FO, AND AF/W 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
BRUSSELS FOR FRANCIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL LI GH SL
SUBJECT: Ghana Refugee Update 
 
Ref: A. 08 Accra 258 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  On January 16, 2009, PRM (Bureau of Population, 
Refugees, and Migration) Africa Office Director, PRM/AFR West Africa 
Program Officer, and Accra Refugee Coordinator and Refugee Assistant 
visited the Krisan Refugee Camp and the Buduburam Refugee Settlement 
in the company of UNHCR/Ghana and the Ghana Refugee Board (GRB). 
For PRM/AFR, this was part of a five-country mission to assess 
(inter alia) the prospects for local integration of Liberians and 
Sierra Leoneans as a durable solution to their refugee status.  The 
PRM team found that Ghana is lagging behind its neighbors in 
implementing effective local integration strategies for refugees as 
envisioned under ECOWAS protocols.  As elsewhere in the region, 
residual Liberian refugees (and some residual Sierra Leoneans) are 
holding rather steadfastly on to the unrealistic hope that they will 
be resettled in a third country - specifically the United States. 
The Ghana government has not yet made fundamental decisions 
regarding legal status, social integration or facilitating economic 
self-sufficiency for the refugees who have (in the case of the 
Sierra Leoneans) or will (in the case of the Liberians) lose their 
prima facie refugee status through invocation of the "cessation 
clause" (in the refugee conventions).  The Ghana Refugee Board (GRB) 
did not fully clarify the government's intentions regarding the 
Buduburam Refugee Settlement, but indicated that the GOG still 
intends to close the settlement and disperse the refugees, although 
it has no operational or logistical plan to do so.  The GRB further 
intimated that GOG security services may "sanitize" the camp to 
address concerns about idle young men who may be ex-combatants 
and/or involved in drug or other criminal trade.  END SUMMARY 
 
Liberians in Buduburam:  Should I stay or should I go now? 
 
¶2.  (U)  With the anticipated invocation of the cessation clause and 
the end of large-scale resettlement programs for Liberians, combined 
with the use of DNA in the P3 family reunification program, 
Liberians must choose between repatriation to Liberia or local 
integration.  Should they reject both options, and cessation is 
invoked, Liberians would become illegal migrants subject to Ghanaian 
immigration law. 
 
¶3.  (U) Repatriation:  Per the terms of the Tripartite Agreement 
signed by UNHCR and the governments of Liberia and Ghana last year 
after the troubles in Buduburam,  assisted repatriation for 
Liberians will continue extraordinarily until March 31, 2009.  Since 
re-opening the assisted repatriation in April 2008 (it had 
officially closed at the end of June 2007), UNHCR has returned 8,795 
Liberian refugees to Liberia.  Others returned on their own; some 
registered with UNHCR in Liberia on arrival, and others did not. 
Consequently, neither UNHCR nor the GRB has an accurate count of the 
Liberian refugees remaining in Ghana or the number living in the 
Buduburam settlement.  UNHCR's ProGress database lists some 14,000 
persons remaining.  UNHCR is conducting a re-verification exercise 
this month (January) to determine the actual number of refugees 
remaining in Ghana.  The GoG seems to be waiting for this number 
before deciding whether and how to proceed with local integration. 
 
 
¶4.  (U) Local Integration:   UNHCR/Ghana is working on a local 
integration strategy in concert with UNHCR's regional strategy for 
the local integration of Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees in 
seven countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ctte d'Ivoire, Guinea, 
Ghana, the Gambia, and Nigeria.  The local integration strategy has 
two components: one is to secure a legal residence status (other 
than refugee status) for former refugees, the second is to ensure 
economic self-reliance through ensuring access to social and 
economic rights equal to those enjoyed by the host community.  Other 
ECOWAS countries hosting Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees have 
made progress on both these tracks, offering permanent resident 
status and access to services, and some even offering the ability to 
naturalize. 
 
¶5.  (U) UNHCR/Ghana has been advocating for government to issue 
three-year residence permits to refugees who opt for local 
integration and obtain passports from their respective embassies 
(effectively renouncing their refugee status).  The GoG has 
confirmed that Liberians will have the right to apply for residence 
and work permits, but has not indicated that they would give any 
special consideration to make it easier for those Liberians who do 
apply for residence.  Normally, under GOG policy governing residence 
permits, an individual must make an exceptional contribution to the 
country, have matrimonial or parental ties to a Ghanaian national, 
have an employer willing to sponsor the work permit, or have $10,000 
invested in a business (for those who are self-employed).  Few 
Liberians or Sierra Leoneans meet these standards.  Many Liberians 
technically qualify for residence through family ties, by virtue of 
 
ACCRA 00000070  002 OF 004 
 
 
having a Ghanaian spouse or parent.  UNHCR has so far assisted only 
a handful of skilled professionals in obtaining work permits, and 
does not have information on how many refugees have successfully 
secured family-based residence. 
 
¶6.  (U) To promote self reliance, UNHCR, in collaboration with 
UNIDO, is providing some 250 refugees with skills training (e.g., in 
construction and computers) and will provide start-up tools to begin 
work using those skills.  In collaboration with FAO, UNHCR has 
identified 100 households with an interest in receiving assistance 
in small-scale farming.  UNHCR is also advocating for Liberians to 
be allowed to register for the National Health Insurance scheme and 
to pay the same rates as Ghanaians.  Refugees in Krisan and the 
Volta have registered; negotiations regarding Liberians in Buduburam 
are continuing. 
 
¶7.  (U) UNHCR/Ghana is working to improve the capacity of potential 
host communities to potentially continue to host refugees.  In 
Buduburam town (outside the settlement), UNHCR has recently built an 
extension of the primary school, installed water stand pipes in the 
host community and built 20 family latrines.  Near Krisan, UNHCR has 
recently provided two boreholes and plans to construct two more in 
¶2009. 
 
¶8. (U) During a meeting with the Liberian Refugee Welfare Council in 
Buduburam, the refugees asked for concrete information about what 
local integration actually entails so they can make an informed 
decision on whether to return to Liberia.  In previous meetings with 
the Council, UNHCR had raised refugees' expectations by announcing 
to the Refugee Welfare Committee that UNHCR was negotiating with the 
GoG to secure 3-year renewable residence permits and the right to 
access health care through the national health insurance scheme.  In 
the January 16 meeting, both the GRB and UNHCR were forced to admit 
that many decisions on status had not yet been made, and they were 
therefore unable to provide information about legal residence, 
assistance with shelter or provision of land, or economic 
assistance.  [Comment: In this "chicken and egg" situation where the 
GOG is not making decisions until it knows how many of the Liberians 
are going to opt to stay and the Liberians are not making decisions 
about returning home or staying until they know what local 
integration looks like, there are bound to be delays in moving 
forward.  End comment.] 
 
Plans to Close and Sanitize Buduburam Refugee Settlement 
 
¶9.  (U) The program of voluntary assisted repatriation of Liberians 
is scheduled to end on March 31, 2009.  According to the original 
agreement, Ghana will close the Buduburam settlement, disperse the 
refugees into communities throughout Ghana, and return the land to 
the legal ownership of the local government.  The details, including 
the date for closure, are still unclear.  The GRB did not comment on 
any plans to effect this closure and has not approached UNHCR for 
assistance.  It appears that government does not have an operational 
or logistical plan to move thousands of people from the settlement, 
transport them throughout Ghana, and settle them into host 
communities. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Both UNHCR and GRB stressed that security is the 
principal reason for planning closure of Buduburam - a settlement 
that was an isolated spot some 20 years ago but that is now part of 
the extended strip development of greater Accra, marked by a road 
sign that is barely visible among all of the other signs advertising 
this and that business.  The GRB said that the number of idle young 
men, including former combatants and others who are suspected of 
being in the drug or other criminal trades, constitutes a security 
threat to Ghana.  The GRB indicated the security services may 
"sanitize" the settlement.  [Comment: Although this was not 
elaborated upon, this could include arrests and detentions with or 
without a legal basis and resulting in possible refoulements of 
recognized refugees.  End Comment.] 
 
Krisan Refugee camp "De-population" 
 
¶11.  (U) According to its 2008 Country Operations Plan, UNHCR/Ghana 
was to have closed the Krisan refugee camp, hosting some 1,400 
refugees before the end of 2008.  UNHCR had planned to relocate the 
remaining Liberians to Buduburam and facilitate durable solutions, 
including resettlement fornon-Liberians.  Among the reasons for the 
delay, is that UNHCR Ghana again fell short of the country target 
for resettlement referrals, submitting only 248 individuals toward 
the target of 450, and thus not diminishing the numbers in Krisan as 
much as had been hoped.  The GRB clarified that the camp will not be 
closed, but will be "de-populated" and will remain available as a 
refugee camp in the case of a future influx - from Ctte d'Ivoire 
which continues to be a worry of those in Ghana.  The population in 
Krisan (excluding those on resettlement programs and pending 
 
ACCRA 00000070  003 OF 004 
 
 
departure) is now just under 1,000.  The population includes 325 
Liberians, 133 Sierra Leoneans, 210 Sudanese (both Southern and 
Darfuri), 248 Togolese and smaller numbers from Rwanda, Chad, the 
Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, and Cote 
d'Ivoire.  As in Buduburam, a meeting with the Liberian and Sierra 
Leonean refugee communities largely entailed their call for 
resettlement in the United States. 
 
Sierra Leonean Refugees? 
 
¶12.  (U) The cessation clause for Sierra Leonean refugees went into 
effect on December 31, 2008.  In the absence of mandate refugee 
status, any Sierra Leonean who believed that he orshe had a 
continued refugee claim was required to apply for an exemption to 
cessation in order to maintain refugee status.  Sierra Leoneans who 
did not apply would be subject to Ghanaian immigration law.  Of the 
134 refugees remaining in Ghana (all at Krisan), 131 applied for 
exemption, UNHCR did not know what happened to the other 3.  Of the 
131 who applied, 66 were approved for continued refugee status by 
the GOG and 65 were rejected.  Those who were rejected have the 
right to appeal and to remain in Ghana pending the resolution of 
their appeal.  Ghana lacks an effective appeals process for rejected 
asylum seekers, and the decision could potentially take years.  But, 
should those appeals be rejected, the individual would be subject to 
Ghanaian immigration law and would need go to the Ghana Immigration 
Service to apply for residence or be subject to deportation. 
 
¶13.  (U) The GRB, which has typically been headed by retired UNHCR 
staff of Ghanaian nationality who seek to ensure that their home 
government abides by international refugee principles as well as 
tenets of basic humane treatment, said it had approved continued 
refugee status for some individuals who were enrolled in ongoing 
skills training but who did not actually qualify for continued 
refugee status on the basis of persecution.  [Comment:  The GRB may 
have had good intentions to protect these individuals and allow them 
to finish up their programs being financed by UNHCR; however, this 
runs counter to efforts to create a transparent, law-based asylum 
system in Ghana.  This also prevents the conversion to a viable 
non-refugee status, and circumvents the Ghana Immigration Service 
which must be involved in any regularization of status.  This also 
continues to count non-refugees among the beneficiary population, 
counter to the expectations of the donor community.  End comment.] 
 
Conclusions and Comments 
 
¶14. (U) Liberians (and some Sierra Leoneans) in all of the asylum 
countries that the PRM team visited continue to hold on to the 
unrealistic hope that they will be resettled in the United States 
and have talked themselves into believing that all news from Liberia 
is bad and that their collective recitation of abuses suffered over 
the years will ultimately lead to their resettlement.  In public 
they reject local integration as well as repatriation, believing 
that accepting a durable solution will foreclose their chances for 
resettlement.  They are not entirely prepared yet to focus on the 
fact that once the cessation clause is invoked, they will for the 
most part cease to be refugees and that no durable refugee solutions 
will be on the table any more.  UNHCR/Ghana and the GRB tend to 
focus on resettlement as the primary impediment to local integration 
or repatriation, but lack of information about just what local 
integration would entail may also be part of the problem.  While 
Liberians do hope for resettlement, most will likely carefully 
calculate their decision between repatriation and integration when 
it becomes even more clear over time that they are not going to be 
resettled. 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Repatriation to Liberia will continue until March 31, 
2009 but decisions on what happens after to refugees or to Buduburam 
settlement have not yet been made.  With no reparation in place, it 
is very unlikely that Ghana will disperse the entire residual 
population.  The government is not likely to agree to give the 
Liberians residence permits, but neither would Ghanaians be likely 
to voice a rejection of the local integration proposal, particularly 
while the communities are receiving UNHCR assistance.  It is very 
possible that the GOG security services will address the 
government's security concerns by "sanitizing" Buduburam by 
arresting idle young men who may be ex-combatants.  It is also 
likely that the Sierra Leoneans rejected for continued refugee 
status and now trying to appeal will remain without a final 
decision, protecting them from refoulement, but keeping them in a 
legal limbo.  A similar future is likely for the Liberians as well 
once the cessation clause is invoked.  UNHCR/Ghana and the GRB will 
need to move more smartly to operationalize a local integration 
effort before the international donor community decides that it is 
finished with Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees and ends its 
funding. 
 
 
ACCRA 00000070  004 OF 004 
 
 
TEITELBAUM