VZCZCXRO0246
PP RUEHBC RUEHBZ RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHKUK RUEHMA
RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNJ #0482/01 2991433
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261433Z OCT 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7362
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NDJAMENA 000482 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR AF/C, S/USSES, AND PRM/AFR 
USAID FOR OFDA 
KHARTOUM FOR OFDA 
NSC FOR GAVIN 
LONDON FOR POL - LORD 
PARIS FOR POL - KANEDA 
ADDIS ABABA FOR AU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM SU CD
SUBJECT: CHAD HUMANITARIAN UPDATE 
 
NDJAMENA 00000482  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (U) The following is an update of RefCoord N'Djamena activities 
for the period of 12 to 23 OCT, 2009. 
 
------------------------------ 
RET'S SUDAN CURRICULUM EXAMS 
FOR GRADES 8 AND 11 -- PILOT 
CONTINUES IN 2010 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  RefCoord met 12 OCT with Refugee Education Trust (RET) 
Global Programme manager Guillaume Villard and outgoing Country 
Director Jennie Taylor (en route to take on RET's programs in 
Burundi).  RET is providing education services in life skills and 
French/English instruction, Secondary Education through Distance 
Learning (SEDL), as well as formal secondary education, in the Oure 
Cassoni, Touloum, Am Nabak, Bredjing, Gaga, Treguine, Farchana, 
Djabal, and Goz Amir refugee camps, and the local communities of 
Hadjer Hadid, Kourkourgin, Farchana, Goz Beida, Koukou and Aradip. 
Regarding the 2010 administration of Sudanese curriculum grade 8 and 
11 leavers' exams for Sudanese refugees in Chad, in cooperation with 
Sudan's Ministry of Education, the RET team sought to clarify that, 
though school programs other than those that RET managed would be 
producing grade 8 leavers, RET would only have the capacity to 
organize the grade 8 and 11 exams for pupils in the RET-managed 
programs.  RET expects to have some 500-800 8th grade leavers at the 
end of the school year, out of roughly 4,000 completing the grade in 
all programs.  At the grade 11 level, RET, in conjunction with 
partner IRC, expect to graduate 78 students. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  RET will only be able to push forward the pilot exams for 
their 8th graders, and the combined RET-IRC 11th graders, because 
the exams must be administered in a central location -- likely 
Abch -- due to the limited number of exam administrators that 
Khartoum is to provide.  All pupils who will take the exams must be 
transported to that location from the camps where they reside, with 
the rainy season already in full swing.  This meant, in 2009, that 
RET organized for the pupils to be transported by air, and provided 
lodging in Abch.  RET has made certain all other organizations 
managing education programs in the camps are aware that these 
constraints will mean that, for the coming academic year, they will 
need to organize their own exams under UNICEF certification. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The RET team also reported that they have found what may 
be an excellent site for their secondary school pilot in Hadjer 
Hadiid, very near to their current compound.  However, the 
structures and land are privately-owned, bringing up the question as 
to whether RET would be in the position of purchasing the site with 
donor funding.  Last, RET brought up the subject of the need to 
replace their vehicles in order to have sufficient transport to 
mitigate their security risks -- the vehicles purchased in 2006 are 
currently falling increasingly into disrepair -- and asked for 
guidance on budgeting for additional vehicles. 
 
------------------------------------- 
PLANNING FOR WFP/UNHCR JOINT 
ASSESSMENT MISSIONS TO SOUTHERN CHAD 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  RefCoord attended planning meetings on 13 OCT for subject 
Joint Assessment Missions (JAM).  Two teams were originally set to 
travel simultaneously from 15 through 21 OCT, one to the five 
refugee camps in the Danamadji and Gore areas, and the second to the 
populations in motion in the area of Daha and Haraze.  In both 
cases, the focus of the missions was to assess the level of food 
security in each of the areas; develop an understanding of possible 
self-reliance strategies that may be encouraged among the host 
populations and old CAR refugee caseloads in the Danamadji and Gore 
region; and explore the needs for essential services among the newer 
caseloads in the Daha / Haraze region. RefCoord determined that, 
with upcoming visits from Accra RefCoord and a Khartoum/Washington 
OFDA team beginning 16 OCT, joining one or the other of the JAMs was 
not appropriate.  Results of the assessments will be released as 
part of WFPs overall assessment of needs in the coming weeks. 
 
---------------------------------- 
MINURCAT READY TO SUPPORT LODGING 
NEEDS FOR FUTURE DHS CIRCUIT RIDES 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  N'Djamena and Accra REfCoords began two weeks of work on 
 
NDJAMENA 00000482  002 OF 003 
 
 
admissions issues with a 19 OCT meeting at MINURCAT headquarters 
with Guy Siri, Chief of Support Services.  Mr. Siri's engineering 
staff has been the locus of assistance to PRM and all other USG 
travelers lodging in Abch during missions to Eastern Chad.  Under 
the Embassy's current security policy which limits lodging for USG 
personnel in Abeche to a military base, maintaining cooperation with 
MINURCAT on lodging is essential for all staff overseeing the use of 
USG funds in the East and particularly important for the refugee 
resettlement program.  Accra RefCoord, seeking to plan for a 
probable requirement to lodge up to six DHS Circuit Riders for 
several weeks to conduct admissions interviews of Sudanese refugees, 
sought Mr. Siri's guidance as to how we might best be able to expand 
the existing cooperation with MINURCAT to accommodate a more 
intensive use of the base's facilities.  Mr. Siri stated that 
organizing lodging for these numbers was entirely within the base's 
capacities, given that by end-November, some 170 pre-fabricated 
housing units would be fully operational with en suite baths (vice 
some six units at last Embassy visit to the camp in September).  He 
suggested that, in order to regularize the arrangement, a 
fee-for-use agreement would need to be worked out to cover the 
significantly greater costs to MINURCAT of lodging several visitors 
for a period of time beyond a night or two -- right now, USG 
visitors have lodging for free.  Siri will consult with MINURCATs 
lawyers on the next steps to establish an appropriate mechanism for 
funds transfer. 
 
------------------------------ 
ACTED PREPARING FOR 2010 
SUBMISSIONS FOR SOUTHERN CHAD 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  RefCoord met 22 OCT with Regional Director Benoit PIOT, 
and Country Director Norik Soubrier of the NGO Agency for Technical 
Cooperation and Development -- "ACTED" to discuss the organization's 
intention to submit project proposals for PRM funding to benefit CAR 
refugees in southern Chad.  ACTED staff believe that current 
self-reliance strategies will soon have diminishing returns, as 
nearly all fallow land in the region is now under cultivation.  They 
believe that work done now to ease relations among refugees -- who 
do not appear to be preparing to return to CAR -- and host 
populations will help in a de facto integration strategy for the 
near future.  ACTED sees the most pressing needs to be in water and 
sanitation for the coming year, with continuing work on agricultural 
production and economic recovery also needed.  ACTED believes that 
projects can be appropriately formulated to meet the PRM requirement 
for focus on refugees, while allowing for conflict-mitigating 
benefits to host populations.  They said they are working closely 
with UNHCR on proposal concepts. 
 
-------------------------- 
REF COORD FACILITATES RSO 
TRAVEL SECURITY ASSESSMENT 
-------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  RefCoord has joined with RSO to develop a field 
assessment strategy to review and update Post's travel security 
policy to areas commonly visited by USG travelers within RefCoord's 
areas of responsibility.  RefCoord drafted a summary of current 
"best practices" used for travel in the areas of Abch and further 
east that are based on Post's current travel security requirements, 
as a starting point for review and update.  RefCoord has used 
contacts within the humanitarian community to introduce RSO to 
security officers from UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA, MINURCAT contractor 
PAE, and UNDSS, as well as to help set up briefings in N'Djamena 
with MINURCAT's chief of security.  N'Djamena and Accra RefCoords 
will travel to Abch 27-29 OCT to establish contacts with field 
security officers at UNHCR, WFP, IOM and MINURCAT (see calendar, 
below). 
 
--------------------------- 
CAM MAKING A GOOD START IN 
IRIDIMI AND TOULOUM CAMPS 
--------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  RefCoord met 23 OCT with Comit d'Aide Mdicale (CAM) 
Chief of Mission Adolf Bushiri Lukal to discuss the first months' 
work of this new PRM partner.  CAM is providing services to maintain 
access to primary health care for the populations of the Iriba 
Health Distict, in the Touloum and Iridimi refugee camps, after the 
departure of MSF -Luxembourg (MSF-L) in June 2009.  Mr. Bushiri 
 
NDJAMENA 00000482  003 OF 003 
 
 
reports a successful hand-off of staff, including 33 refugee health 
assistants staffing pharmacies, vaccination units, and consultation 
rooms, and nine Chadian medical staff.  MSF-L transferred a 
two-month supply of essential medications and supplies; CAM ordered 
another two-months in supplies in July, and once PRM funding was 
availlable at end-September topped up to a six-month stock.  Current 
health problems among the population are dominated by watery 
diarrhea, particularly among those who take water from ouaddis near 
farm fields far from fixed water points. Mr. Bushiri noted he had 
the impression in these first weeks of real engagement in the camps 
that CARE Canada, working on water and sanitation in the camps, has 
had some difficulties with drawing supplies from existing bore-holes 
providing for the host population, with output at times only seven 
liters/person/day.  He also noted that the IMC-run hospital at Iriba 
appears easily overwhelmed with referrals from both the Iriba Health 
District and as far afield as Bahai and the Oure Cassoni camp 
populations. 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  Mr. Bushiri reports that CAM is conducting a case study 
in conjunction with CAM USA on primary health care delivery and the 
health environment in the camps and host community to determine 
whether a change in the mix of the MSF-L health program is 
necessary.  He said the study will be completed by end-NOV, and will 
be shared for feedback with the Health Cluster in Abch, and then 
used as a basis of a conference of partners in the Iriba Health 
District for services coorcdination.  Mr. Bushiri noted that CAM has 
had to establish a health data collection system brom scratch, 
having not received access to the MSF-L data system and collection 
in the hand-off.  CAM has also been struggling to take on staff 
payment standards of UNHCR, requiring a reduction in payments to the 
refugee health assistance of up to 30 percent from the levels MSF-L 
had provided.  CAM has sought to give some additional incentives to 
the refugee staff in the form of some non-food items.  Last, Mr. 
Bushiri reports that UNHCR is encouraging CAM to pursue at least 
limited cost recovery, initially by charging a fee to refugees for 
their health care treatment booklet.  CAM has delayed implementation 
until new refugee health committes can be orgainzed to sensitize the 
populations to the change in procedures. 
 
--------------------- 
VISIT OF OFDA TEAM 
M'BARECK AND SIASOCO 
--------------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  RefCoord provided basic assistance to OFDA/Khartoum's 
Oumar M'Bareck, and OFDA/Washington's George Siasoco, during their 
one-week visit to Chad, including help with scheduling appointments 
with FAO and the NGO Solidarits, in- and out-briefs with Ambassador 
Nigro, obtaining flights between N'Djamena and Abch, and filing 
requests for their lodging at the MINURCAT base there.  Of 
particular interest was their finding that most humanitarian 
agencies appear to be following the lead of UNHCR's reorganization, 
and intend to relocate from Abch to N'Djamena, in an apparent 
effort to support increased humanitarian coordination.  OFDA 
colleagues found that, although the planned move may have funding 
and program implications, agencies are indicating that none have a 
clear plan for operations yet, and planning remains ongoing.  OFDA 
has drafted cables on these and other findings of their visit, to be 
transmitted septel. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Calendar 
 
-- 15 -- 30 OCT:  Visit of Accra RefCoord Emily Mestetsky 
 
-- 27 -- 29 OCT:  Security Assessment Travel to Abch of N'Djamena 
and Accra RefCoords, N'Djamena RSO 
 
-- 02 -- 10 NOV:  (Proposed -- TBC) RefCoord Monitoring Travel to 
Iriba, Farchana Areas 
 
NIGRO