VZCZCXRO7939
PP RUEHGI
DE RUEHNJ #0469/01 2960744
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 230744Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7342
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0953
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 0574
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 1761
RUEHGI/AMEMBASSY BANGUI 1584
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 0548

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NDJAMENA 000469 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR PRM, AF/C AND S/USSES 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL PGOV CD
SUBJECT:  IOM IN CHAD:  NEEDS MORE STAFF AND RESOURCES TO SUPPORT 
GROUP RESETTLENT OPERATIONS 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (SBU)  Accra and N'Djamena RefCoords have found that, in the 
continued absence of permanent staff to manage the USG's 
resettlement program for Central African and Sudanese Refugees in 
Chad, IOM's temporary staff are increasingly overwhelmed.  We have 
requested acting IOM Chief of Mission in Chad to prepare a report on 
IOM's plans to properly staff and resource the office and assess 
their capacity to support group resettlement within the current 
timeframe.  Ambassador Nigro has agreed to meet with Tonneau, should 
that be necessary, to underscore the importance of adequately and 
appropriately staffing and resourcing IOM to achieve USG 
resettlement goals.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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ASSESSMENT 
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¶2.  (SBU)  Following meetings with IOM Chad Acting Chief of Mission 
Qasim Suffi, the Refugee Coordinators are concerned that the IOM 
Chad mission lacks the necessary capacity to implement any 
significant operations in Chad at this time.  Immediate action is 
needed to appropriately staff and resource IOM Chad if IOM is to be 
able to safely operate the Abeche refugee transit center and 
facilitate departure flights.  Immediate action is also needed to 
keep on the current schedule and depart 1,000 individuals from Chad 
in FY10.  Any delay in staffing will necessitate a delay in 
processing, exacerbating the protection and safety issues facing the 
refugees, as well as causing a shortfall in departures. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  At present, IOM is operating out of a room in the 
courtyard of the Hotel Shanghai, with computer and internet access 
through a neighboring cyber caf.  In order to maintain 
communications with partners and with the field, IOM needs to 
establish an appropriate communications infrastructure.  Although an 
office space has been rented, it is not complete, and the current 
arrangement is completely inadequate to conduct any reasonable 
operations. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Staffing is at present completely inadequate to 
accomplish the current resettlement project, and cannot confront the 
preparations for moving into the next phase.  Only one international 
position, the P3 Security Officer, is staffed. One other 
international position, a P2 Operations Officer, is filled by a 
national staff member from the region who it is hoped will become an 
international staff member and remain assigned to Chad.  TDY support 
has been provided from Accra, by the Senior Regional Medical Officer 
and the Senior Regional Operations Officer.  However, the temporary 
placement of individuals with full regional portfolios has proven 
inadequate.  Due to their particular qualifications, background, 
lack of resources and regional responsibilities, they have not 
succeeded in creating a functional operation.  Due to the lack of 
other resources, the acting Chief of Mission is also conducting 
pre-departure medical exams and accompanying refugees to the U.S. as 
a medical escort. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Local staffing is also limited, with two local staff in 
Abeche, one in Gore and one in N'djamena.  This may have had an 
impact on what appeared to be a fragile water supply system at the 
Abeche transit center when RefCoord visited it in September, which 
required water truck delivery to fill a 3,500 liter stand-by 
reservoir every 1.5 days due to the intermittent functioning of the 
Abeche city water supply to the compound.  Residents were taking 
jerry cans to a city water point outside the compound during our 
visit; the plan to install a pump in an existing well inside the 
compound to provide washing water has still not been implemented a 
month later. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Despite requests for IOM to fill key Chad positions (and 
assurances from IOM that everything is appropriately in progress), 
only the Chief of Mission and two P2-level Operations Officer 
positions (N'djamena and Abeche) are advertised.  The critical 
Senior Operations Officer position has not yet been posted.  There 
have been admirable successes during the pilot and in the current 
phase; to date there have been 127 refugee departures from Chad and 
nearly two hundred individuals were brought to Abeche for 
prescreening and returned.  IOM experienced and overcame many 
challenges during the pilot phase.  However, many problems were 
repeated during the transportation for prescreening in Abeche in 
late September to early October.  Although IOM claimed to have 
prepared a plan, they had not conducted a road assessment and 
struggled at the last minute to get the refugees to the site. 
 
NDJAMENA 00000469  002 OF 002 
 
 
During the return movements from the transit center to the camps, it 
appears that IOM again failed to share a movement plan with UNHCR, 
although fortunately the refugees returned without incident. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Security procedures remain a concern, particularly 
following a parental abduction at the transit center in July.  We 
have received reports about inappropriate visitors on the compound, 
and the IOM N'djamena office is unaware of security SOPs (if 
established).  There have been gaps in reporting of security 
incidents and threats to partners.  Refcoords will hold additional 
meetings with the IOM Security Officer to review security policies 
and close existing gaps. 
 
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IOM - UNHCR RELATIONS 
---------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Relations between UNHCR and IOM have deteriorated; to the 
extent that IOM appears incapable of effectively protecting refugees 
while facilitating operations, UNHCR requires continued involvement 
in IOM's affairs.  IOM expressed some resentment that they weren't 
trusted.  (Refcoords reiterated that UNHCR has responsibility and 
accountability for refugee protection and it was appropriate for 
them to request information and incumbent upon IOM to provide it, 
and to intervene when IOM operations were clearly lacking sufficient 
preparations to avoid putting refugees and staff in danger). 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  With present resources, IOM could continue the departures 
for the remainder of the refugees interviewed during the first 
circuit ride (pending SAOs or Med clearances), although even this 
requires improved planning and implementation, to ensure the safety 
the refugees and staff.  Other plans for follow-on phases simply 
cannot be undertaken with current staff and need to be reassessed. 
The 44 cases/ 197 persons from eastern camps that were prescreened 
in October were to be adjudicated in late December/early January, 
together with approximately 30 cases/120 persons in the south (to be 
prescreened in December).  This would require that IOM be able to 
appropriately plan for and conduct movements in both locations.  To 
meet the US target of facilitating 1,000 departures from Chad during 
FY10, we would need to begin group processing, with prescreening in 
March and adjudications in May.  This requires that appropriate 
office and refugee transit facilities be built from scratch and 
completed in advance, which would require that construction begin 
before mid-November.  Land for the transit center has yet to be 
identified by the government of Chad.  Without appropriate permanent 
staff, IOM is unlikely to succeed in locating, building or managing 
the larger transit center and office facility. 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  IOM's Director of International Operations Michel 
Tonneau will be in Chad next week to sign an MOU between IOM and the 
Government of Chad to establish the IOM mission.  Refcoords have 
scheduled a meeting with him.  Ambassador Nigro has stated he is 
open to meeting with to Tonneau should that be necessary, to 
underscore the importance of appropriately staffing and resourcing 
IOM. 
 
¶11.  (U)  Minimize considered. 
 
NIGRO