P R 221437Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BRAZZAVILLE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1751
INFO AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY ROME 
AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 
AMEMBASSY PARIS 
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 
USMISSION GENEVA 
AMEMBASSY BRAZZAVILLE

UNCLAS BRAZZAVILLE 000053 
 
 
PRM FOR HENNING 
KAMPALA FOR LARSON-KONE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL UNHCR WFP CF
SUBJECT: DRC REFUGEES IN LKOUALA- LOGISTICAL CHALLENGES AND 
INSECURITY COMPLICATE RELIEF EFFORTS 
 
REF: BRAZZAVILLE 39 
 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The government of Congo-Brazzaville (GROC) 
estimates the total number of DRC citizens displaced to ROC now 
totals 115,077. Since mid-January, UNHCR has registered over 
40,000 displaced persons and expects that the total number of 
registrations will be about 10% below the GROC's estimates. 
Humanitarian operations continue to be hampered by logistical 
problems and insecurity in the region. Currently the World Food 
Program's supplies in Impfondo have been exhausted, but the 
decision to begin airlifting food from Pointe Noire should 
ensure a more regular supply of food aid and bridge the gap 
until more commodities arrive. Improved security in the region, 
however, seems unlikely in the near future. Despite the launch 
of a new DRC military operation, militia activity continues 
along the Oubangui river and further inland in the DRC. 
 
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WFP WAREHOUSE EMPTY, AIRLIFT TO BEGIN THIS WEEK 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2. (U) World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director Alix Loriston 
confirmed that the WFP warehouse in Impfondo, ROC is empty. 
However, in an effort to contextualize recent media reports, 
Loriston stressed that no new cases of malnutrition have been 
reported in the wake of this shortage. Although the need for 
food remains great, WFP does not expect the current break in the 
supply pipe line will adversely affect the displaced. To date, 
WFP has provided food to 52,000 people, or about half of the 
estimated 114,000 people in the region. There has been no 
re-distribution since the initial donation and there is no 
regular distribution in place. The displaced population remains 
largely self-sufficient. A few of the displaced still have 
supplies. The rest are making short trips to the DRC to harvest 
their crops, fishing, or foraging on the ROC side of the river. 
WFP donations have been targeted to meet immediate needs of 
specific populations, but not to provide long term support. 
 
¶3. (U) As time progresses, however, the displaced population 
cannot remain self-sufficient. Crops are being harvested in the 
DRC, but no one is replanting. The price of food on the local 
market continues to rise as the displaced compete with the 
indigenous population for the little food available. Fish are 
plentiful in the Oubangui River, but the Prefet says that the 
fish stock traditionally declines in the dry season 
(March-July). Both the UN System and Doctors Without 
Borders-France (MSF) stress the need to start food distribution 
as soon as possible. Regular food distribution would improve 
health and help prevent the outbreak of epidemics. It would also 
limit the potential for conflict between ethnic groups and 
between the indigenous population and the displaced as local 
resources become ever scarcer. 
 
¶4. (U) WFP has food shipments en route to Impfondo from Bangui 
and Brazzaville. WFP expected to receive these shipments this 
week, but difficult road conditions between Bangui and Impfondo 
and continued insecurity on the Oubangui River have delayed 
their arrival. Even with these additional supplies, however, WFP 
forecasts continued breaks and shortfalls in the food supply 
pipeline due to the lack of regional stockpiles and the 
difficulty of moving supplies to the remote Likouala region on a 
timely basis. Because of the difficulty reaching Impfondo by 
land or water and the prospect for additional shortages while 
awaiting delivery food donations, WFP is now making plans for an 
airlift operation to Impfondo. According to Loriston, WFP plans 
to move nearly 600 tons from Pointe-Noire to Impfondo using a 
DRC based Antonov 12. Lorriston says the airlift operation will 
begin as soon as the GROC grants the required flight permissions. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
REBEL ACTIVITY CONTINUES SOUTH OF IMPFONDO 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (U) Over the weekend of February 13-14, the FARDC launched a 
new operation against the rebel militia in the DRC. American 
missionaries resident in Impfondo reported hearing shelling and 
gun fire across the river near the DRC town of Buburu. The FARDC 
have moved a gunboat into the region to patrol the river. The 
American missionaries reported seeing one boat speeding down the 
river and firing into the DRC on February 14 south of Impfondo. 
 
¶6. (U) Some elements of the FARDC mission, however, appear to 
have come to a literal standstill following the weekend 
offensive. On February 15, a FARDC gunship ran aground just 
downstream from Impfondo, ROC. FARDC forces have been unable to 
get the boat off the sandbar and UNHCR Impfondo reports that a 
helicopter was dispatched to take the FARDC soldiers back to 
base. Reportedly, the boat has been abandoned in the hopes that 
it will free itself when the river level rises with the return 
of the rains sometime in July. 
 
¶7. (U) Due to the continued instability in the region, the UN 
system has forbidden its employees from travelling south of 
Impfondo on the Oubangui. UNHCR reports that MSF has been 
operating south of Impfondo, but that their boats have come 
under fire earlier this week. UN shipments from Brazzaville have 
also been attacked. As a result, the ROC Army is now providing 
armed escort for all UN shipments and the Prefet has ordered a 
17H curfew on all river traffic in an effort to cut down on 
attacks. WFP reports that they have a 250 ton barge stopped en 
route to Impfondo under orders from the ROC military that they 
cannot go any further. The WFP barge is still on the Congo River 
and has not reached the junction with the Oubangui. The barge 
has been stopped for the last five days and WFP does not know if 
the delay is due to the lack of an available military escort or 
the inability of the military escort to guarantee the barge's 
safety any further upriver. 
 
------------------- 
41,432 AND COUNTING 
------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Since launching the formal registration campaign on 
January 15, UNHCR has registered 41,432 displaced persons in the 
Betou District of the Likouala Department. The registration 
process is ongoing and UNHCR hopes to have registered the entire 
population by the end of March. Initially, UNHCR feared that the 
GROC overestimated the displaced population. The 11% discrepancy 
between GROC reports and UNHCR registration figures previously 
reported (REF A), however, has held true. With nearly 40% of the 
refugees registered, UNHCR is confident that their total will 
not differ greatly from the GROC's last official count issued on 
February 4 of 115,077 displaced persons. 
 
 
EASTHAM