VZCZCXRO7282
PP RUEHBC RUEHBZ RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHKUK RUEHMA
RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNJ #0512/01 3071325
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 031325Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7407
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NDJAMENA 000512 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR AF/C 
STATE ALSO FOR S/USSES 
STATE ALSO FOR 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: UNHCR/WFP ON FOOD AND PHYSICAL SECURITY SITUATION FOR TWO 
CAR REFUGEE POPULATIONS IN SOUTHERN CHAD 
 
REF: Bangui 219; Bangui 212; N'Djamena 173 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  Following a Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) in 
mid-October to study the situation of CAR refugees and Chadian host 
populations in southern Chad, UNHCR ResRep Stefano Severe and WFP 
ResRep Jean-Luc Siblot held an October 27 briefing to present agency 
assessments of two sites of CAR refugees camps, one site located in 
Gore, in Southwestern Chad (Department of Logone Oriental) and one 
in Daha-Hararze, Southeastern Chad (Department of Salamat).  The 
camp in Gore hosts CAR refugees who have arrived in several 
successive waves beginning in 2003, and who continue to arrive in 
small numbers as a result of tensions in Northwestern CAR (Refs A 
and C).  The main goal of UNHCR and WFP for the population in the 
Gore camp is to determine whether a better-coordinated assistance 
approach would allow improvements in social, health and economic 
conditions, to the point where the population could become 
self-sustaining over a period of time.  As for the Daha-Haraze 
group, consisting mainly of women and children who arrived in spring 
2009 (Refs B and C), immediate relocation of the existing camp away 
from the CAR border to avoid armed bandit attacks is under 
consideration, as well as methods to improve coordination in 
logistics, security, food distribution, medical care and education. 
Agencies are planning for an additional 5000 arrivals in 2010 due to 
instability deeper in CAR.  End Summary 
----------------------- 
GORE REFUGEE CONDITIONS 
----------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) According to UNHCR'S Field Officer in Gore, the current 
population of CAR refugees in the camps in the region numbers 32,000 
(out of an estimated 74,000 CAR refugees in all locations in 
Southern Chad in October 2009).  Social conditions for refugees at 
the Gore sites now approximate those of surrounding Chadian 
populations.  Police protection is inadequate.  Refugees produced 50 
percent of the food they needed in 2008, but with 2009 harvests 
expected to be smaller, additional support mechanisms are under 
consideration.  A bridge outside Gore is down, with the result that 
aid deliveries must be rerouted; pressuring local authorities to fix 
the bridge, or finding an international organization willing to do 
so, is considered a priority.  The JAM recommended that UNHCR, WFP, 
FAO and partners undertake yet another study to determine how 
economic, health and social conditions of refugees could be improved 
to the point where the population might become self-sustaining. 
 
------------------------------ 
DAHA-HARAZE REFUGEE CONDITIONS 
------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (U) The two Daha-Haraze CAR refugee camps, currently hosting 
15,500 women and children (most of whom arrived from Northeastern 
CAR in May 2009), are two kilometers from the border (international 
norms stipulate that refugee camps be located at least 45 kilometers 
from the border of refugees' countries of residence).  Pressure from 
armed bandits is widespread.  The JAM reQmmends relocation of the 
refugees as soon as possible in 2010.  JAM participants also noted 
that UNHCR, WFP and UNICEF might consider consolidating operational 
planning so that short-term needs of the population could be met 
more efficiently.  Measures to protect, feed, provide medical 
treatment to, and educate the populations in Daha-Haraze need to 
improve, and access to primary services must be better facilitated. 
The GOC refugee agency CNAR has been asked to provide additional 
security around the camps in Daha-Haraze by hiring more Chadian 
gendarmes.  (NOTE: The Chadian special police force known as the 
Dtachement Integr de Scurit -- "DIS" -- was created to enhance 
security around the refugee and displaced persons camps in eastern 
Chad.  That UNHCR would request for gendarme forces to provide 
security in southern and south-eastern Chad may be a measure of how 
thinly stretched this specialized force already is.  END NOTE.) 
Lack of roads in the area is a significant problem, particularly 
because the two camps are separated by ninety kilometers. 
Transportation is expensive when available.  Organizations are 
planning for the possible arrival of approximately 5000 new refugees 
in 2010 due to instability ultimately provoked by activities of the 
LRA further south in CAR.  It is hoped that by planning for new 
arrivals, 2010 budgets will be more in line with needs. 
 
-------- 
COMMENT 
-------- 
 
NDJAMENA 00000512  002 OF 002 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  Following a Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) in 
mid-October to study the situation of CAR refugees and Chadian host 
populations in southern Chad, UNHCR ResRep Stefano Severe and WFP 
ResRep Jean-Luc Siblot held an October 27 briefing to present agency 
assessments of two sites of CAR refugees camps, one site located in 
Gore, in Southwestern Chad (Department of Logone Oriental) and one 
in Daha-Hararze, Southeastern Chad (Department of Salamat).  The 
camp in Gore hosts CAR refugees who have arrived in several 
successive waves beginning in 2003, and who continue to arrive in 
small numbers as a result of tensions in Northwestern CAR (Refs A 
and C).  The main goal of UNHCR and WFP for the population in the 
Gore camp is to determine whether a better-coordinated assistance 
approach would allow improvements in social, health and economic 
conditions, to the point where the population could become 
self-sustaining over a period of time.  As for the Daha-Haraze 
group, consisting mainly of women and children who arrived in spring 
2009 (Refs B and C), immediate relocation of the existing camp away 
from the CAR border to avoid armed bandit attacks is under 
consideration, as well as methods to improve coordination in 
logistics, security, food distribution, medical care and education. 
Agencies are planning for an additional 5000 arrivals in 2010 due to 
instability deeper in CAR.  End Summary 
----------------------- 
GORE REFUGEE CONDITIONS 
-Q-------------------- 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) Regarding the refugee and host populations in the Gore 
region, there have been no shortage of studies of whether this 
refugee population might be self-sustaining.  A trip report from a 
USAID regional food for peace officer in 2006 stated that the 
feeding program in southern Chad should be phased-out by the end of 
¶2007.  Most agencies concur that those who crossed the CAR border 
into Chad are in fact extended family members of the Chadian host 
population; the arrival of the southern cousins has meant a major 
international effort to provide health care, clean water, and food 
to an area which, in the absence of a refugee flow, would have 
continued to live without assistance as best they could manage.  The 
somewhat perverse impact of cross-border population movements, and 
the international reaction to them, is in strong evidence in 
Southern Chad.  END COMMENT. 
 
NIGRO