VZCZCXRO4346
OO RUEHDE RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNR #2024/01 2681008
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 251008Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHXX/GENEVA IO MISSIONS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1097
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 7563
RUCNRCC/REFUGEE COORDINATOR COLLECTIVE
INFO RUCNEAE/EAST AFRICAN ESC POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUCNRCC/REFUGEE COORDINATOR COLLECTIVE
RUCNSOM/SOMALIA COLLECTIVE
RUEAHQA/AFAAO WASHINGTON DC
RUEHNR/KUSLO NAIROBI KE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 002024 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PRM/FO POLLACK, PRM/AFR LANGE, AND RMA/MULREAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KE OPDC PGOV PREF PREL
SUBJECT: A "STEP BACKWARD" ON LAND IN DADAAB 
 
REF: A. A. AUGUST 07 2009 EMAIL: PETER MULREAN TO PRM 
        FRONT OFFICE 
     ¶B. B. 09 ADDIS 574 
     ¶C. 09 NAIROBI 1616 
 
¶1. Summary.  This is an action request. See paragraph 7. 
The Government of Kenya (GOK) has yet to authorize the United 
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to construct a 
fourth refugee camp in Dadaab to relieve severe overcrowding. 
 UNHCR Africa Region Head George Okoth-Obbo said the delay in 
authorizing land means that the direct intervention by 
President Kibaki will now be necessary to overcome entrenched 
local Member of Parliament (MP) opposition and central 
government security concerns to allocate the land to UNHCR. 
Ambassador Ranneberger and Okoth-Obbo agree that senior USG 
and other international representatives at the United 
National General Assembly (UNGA) and the UNHCR Executive 
Committee (EXCOM) meetings should be used to increase the 
pressure on GOK to allocate land for a fourth refugee camp in 
Dadaab. End Summary. 
 
¶2. George Okoth-Obbo - UNHCR Africa Region Head - briefed the 
Ambassador on September 23 on the status of UNHCR's efforts 
to secure needed additional land in Dadaab.  Okoth-Obbo said 
he came to Kenya in advance of UNHCR's annual EXCOM meeting 
(September 28 - October 2) to follow-up on Kenyan President 
Kibaki commitment to UNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Guterres 
to send a high-level inter-ministerial delegation to Dadaab 
and respond to UNHCR's request for additional land (Ref A). 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Proposed Camp Expansions Are Impractical 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. Okoth-Obbo said MP Farah Maalim (MP for Lagadera District 
and Deputy Speaker of Parliament) traveled to Dadaab together 
and was emphatic that Maalim would only agree to an extension 
of the two camps in his district (Hagadera and Dhagahaley) 
and demarcated for Okoth-Obbo the extent of the camp 
extensions he would accept.  Okoth-Obbo confirmed to the 
Ambassador that UNHCR has already deployed technical staff 
(engineers and hydrologists) to Dadaab to plan the 
extensions, but admitted that "in the best of circumstances" 
the extensions could only accommodate 50,000-60,000 refugees 
while UNHCR required space for an estimated 200,000 refugees. 
 Okoth-Obbo said the camp extensions were an impractical 
solution to the overcrowding with the only feasible option 
being the establishment a fourth camp in Fafi District for 
100,000 refugees that had already been agreed to with MP Adam 
Sugow and the Fafi community. 
 
¶4.  Okoth-Obbo said Maalim warned him he would vigorously 
oppose the creation of a fourth camp in neighboring Fafi 
District even if the proposed camp were located in another 
MP's district and the local community supported it.  Maalim 
confirmed that he is the "obstacle" to UNHCR's request for a 
fourth camp in Dadaab and would negatively influence the 
central government's decision to allocate land.  Maalim 
warned UNHCR that if the fourth camp were to be allocated, 
there would be "bloodshed."  Okoth-Obbo said Maalim repeated 
the "alarming" language the following day when he entered 
Minister Otieno Kajwang's (Minister of Immigration and 
Register of Persons) office and confronted MP Sugow during a 
meeting with UNHCR.  According to Okoth-Obbo, Minister 
Kajwang escorted Maalim from his office to avoid Maalim 
physically confronting Sugow. 
 
¶5.  Okoth-Obbo believes the central government's failure to 
make a decision on the land has only empowered Maalim to try 
and intimidate Sugow and UNHCR into accepting Maalim's 
unrealistic resolution to the looming crisis.  Okoth-Obbo, 
however, doubts Minister Kajwang is able to affect a central 
government decision on the land and believes that President 
Kibaki has been "poisoned" by his advisors to not accept a 
fourth camp on security grounds. 
 
-------------------------- 
Ratcheting Up the Pressure 
-------------------------- 
 
¶6.  The Ambassador agreed that only a fourth camp will 
sufficiently relieve the overcrowding in Dadaab and relayed 
our offers to the Kenyans to assist them in addressing their 
 
NAIROBI 00002024  002 OF 002 
 
 
security concerns.  He indicated he continues to emphasize to 
senior GOK officials that, while the GOK has legitimate 
security concerns with Somalis flowing uncontrollably into 
Kenya, he argued that a new camp would be a positive 
contribution to Kenya's security by improving the ability of 
GOK to screen and manage Somali asylum seekers and provide an 
opportunity to mitigate public health threats.  The 
Ambassador also indicated that the delay in sending the 
delegation to Dadaab and a decision on the land means that 
now direct intervention by the President will be the only way 
to overcome Maalim's objections and the central government's 
security concerns for a fourth camp.  The Ambassador 
suggested that the presence of senior USG and international 
representatives to the UNGA and the upcoming UNHCR EXCOM 
meetings offer opportunities to ratchet up the pressure on 
GOK officials. 
 
¶6.  Okoth-Obbo agreed to the Ambassador's suggestion that 
High Commissioner Guterres call both President Kibaki and 
Prime Minister Odingo asking them why commitments made in 
August have yet to be fulfilled and to alert them to his 
intention of using EXCOM to highlight the GOK's failure to 
take timely action in relieving humanitarian suffering in 
Dadaab.  Okoth-Obbo said UNHCR will also mobilize its 
international partners to pressure GOK to allocate land 
during EXCOM.  Finally, Okoth-Obbo agreed that the Deputy 
UNHCR High Commissioner, who had established a working 
relationship with George Saitoti, Minister for Provincial 
Administration and Internal Security, should alert Saitoti to 
the High Commissioner's plans to call the President and Prime 
Minister and UNHCR's intent to use EXCOM to highlight how the 
GOK's failure to allocate land in a timely manner is directly 
related to a looming humanitarian crisis in Dadaab. 
 
¶7. Action Request. As part of the effort to ratchet up the 
pressure on the GOK, we recommend that the Africa Bureau and 
the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration: 
 
-- ensure the talking points prepared for meetings with GOK 
officials at UNGA and EXCOM express our concern that a 
humanitarian crisis is looming in Dadaab due to overcrowded 
conditions and that GOK failure to allocate land for a fourth 
camp is directly responsible for exacerbating the 
deteriorating conditions in Dadaab.  We suggest that the 
talking points include the following points: that the Fafi MP 
and Fafi community leaders have already agreed to the 
establishment in Fafi District; that a fourth camp will 
enhance Kenya's security by controlling the flow and 
management of Somali asylum seekers in Kenya, by providing an 
opportunity for Kenyan security officials to screen new 
arrivals before they enter the camps, and by giving public 
health officials an opportunity to identify and control 
communicable diseases such as cholera, measles and H1N1 
before they spread in the camps and to local communities; 
and, that the USG continues to extend its offer to reinforce 
Kenyan security measures around the camps including 
contributions towards building a screening center for asylum 
seekers and training Administrative Police slotted to patrol 
the refugee camps. 
 
-- draw on this and the referenced cables (Ref B)to demarche 
key international partners - most notably the EU - to seek 
opportunities during EXCOM to express their frustration with 
GOK's failure to allocate land for a fourth Dadaab camp and 
urging GOK to work more collaboratively with UNHCR to improve 
conditions for Somali refugees in Kenya. 
RANNEBERGER