Cablegate: Mozambique - Monitoring and Evaluation Visit To

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RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHTO #1354/01 2920833
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 190833Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY MAPUTO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6264
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP 0103

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MAPUTO 001354

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AF/S FOR HTREGER
MCC FOR SGAULL
USAID FOR AA/AFR AND AFR/SA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF PHUM MZ
SUBJECT: Mozambique - Monitoring and Evaluation Visit to
Maratane Refugee Camp, September 24-25

Ref: Maputo 428

MAPUTO 00001354 001.2 OF 003

1. Summary: PRM/PIM officer Perlita Muiruri conducted a
monitoring and evaluation trip in Mozambique in late
September. The trip consisted of a visit to Maratane camp
in northern Mozambique and discussions with UNHCR staff in
Maputo and Nampula, as well as briefings from the
implementing partners in the camp.

2. The population of asylum-seekers continues to grow in
Mozambique, due to a slow but steady flow of new arrivals
from the Great Lakes region. The population stood at 4,899
when PRM refugee officer Perlita Muiruri visited the
Maratane camp. The government of Mozambique (GRM) allows
refugees and asylum-seekers to live outside Maratane refugee
camp as long as they are self-sufficient. For this reason,
UNHCR is emphasizing the implementation of a comprehensive
self-reliance strategy for refugees. UNHCR is advocating
with the GRM for creation of a legal framework for local
integration that will permit refugees to settle permanently
in Mozambique if voluntary repatriation is not a viable
option. The GRM will begin tripartite talks with UNHCR and
the Government of Rwanda in October 2006 to facilitate the
repatriation of approximately 400 Rwandan refugees in
Maratane. UNHCR believes repatriation of Burundian and
Congolese refugees will gain momentum once political
circumstances in those countries stabilize and as assistance
in the camp gradually diminishes. End Summary

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Background on Maratane Camp
---------------------------

3. Maratane camp is located in northern Mozambique near the
city of Nampula. The camp was established in February 2001
and covers an area of 170 square kilometers. The almost
5,000 refugees currently in the camp are mainly from the
Bembe ethnic group of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Congolese refugees make up 77.7% of refugees in the camp,
13.5% are Burundians, 7.7% are Rwandese and only 1.1% are
from Somalia and Sudan.

4. Implementing partners in the camp include; the GRM
Foreign Ministry's Institute of Refugee Assistance (INAR)
World Vision, Save the Children-US, and World Relief. INAR
is in charge of camp management and maintenance of camp
infrastructure and roads, as well as security issues. World
Vision has responsibility for community services, GBV
programs, HIV/AIDS, and education. Save the Children
managed the food distribution program until October 2006
when this responsibility was transferred to WFP. (Beginning
in January 2007, WFP will assume the cost of the program as
well.) Save the Children also manages the health clinic in
the camp and nutrition programming. World Relief runs all
the refugee integration programs, encompassing agriculture,
animal husbandry, vocational training, and micro-credit
programs.

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PRM Camp Visit September 24-25
------------------------------

5. PRM officer Muiruri spoke at length with UNHCR program
officer Giovanni Lepri during plane travel from Maputo to
Nampula. Lepri highlighted UNHCR-Geneva's desire to phase
out the majority of UNHCR involvement in Maratane within the
next two years. Lepri believes this will be possible with
improved conditions in the Great Lakes region and fewer new
arrivals. In this period the existing camp population of
refugees and asylum-seekers should be able to repatriate or
take advantage of the GRM's policy in support of local
integration. Lepri said UNHCR's current emphasis is on
improving the capacity of the GRM to manage the existing
refugee population, while simultaneously providing refugees
with the skills to become self-sufficient enough for local
integration.

6. Muiruri visited the camp, escorted by John Tabayi, head
of the UNHCR field office in Nampula, and INAR
representatives. The camp appeared well organized and
service standards seemed quite high. Family compounds were
fenced and generally included sufficient space to grow
vegetables or maintain animals. As an indicator of the
camp's relative affluence, UNHCR had recently cut fresh fish
and vegetables from the rations provided to each family.
Muiruri saw the camp's well-maintained health center, which
provides basic primary health care services to 50-100

MAPUTO 00001354 002.2 OF 003

patients (both refugees and locals) every day. She was told
that the GRM provides essential medical supplies and the
health staff for the facility. Difficult cases are referred
to Nampula provincial hospital and emergency cases are taken
by ambulance to the hospital. There are plans underway to
upgrade the health facility to a clinic, which will meet GRM
standards, by installing a water system and building an
incinerator.

7. Muiruri saw two schools in the camp. One school conducts
classes in Portuguese and conforms to the standards set by
the Mozambican government. This Mozambican school has 779
students and is housed in three separate stone buildings.
Because of concerns voiced by refugees about the utility of
a Mozambican education in their future lives, a second
school, with classes taught in French, has been established.
The French school has 765 students and is currently housed
in temporary plastic shelters.

8. As part of UNHCR's focus on promoting local integration
through self-sufficiency, World Relief manages several
income generating projects. The World Relief representative
highlighted their animal husbandry project, which gives
refugee families (collectively) 500 chicks to be maintained
on their compounds. The families are educated on caring for
the chickens, assisted in building coops on their compounds,
and assisted in selling the eggs or the chickens at market.
World Relief also manages an agricultural project on growing
tomatoes and other vegetables for sale in the local markets.
As part of this project, World Relief provides product
transport from the camp to various viable economic outlets.

9. According to World Relief and UNHCR field officers,
refugees have not taken advantage of these projects in large
numbers. In their opinion, refugees hesitate to make
efforts which could improve their potential self-
sufficiency, because they are hoping to be resettled rather
than locally integrated. UNHCR field officers attributed
this persistent hope among the refugees to a resettlement
effort conducted by UNHCR in 2004-2005 which referred
several hundred cases for resettlement to the United States.
Rumors of future resettlement efforts continue to influence
the current refugee population and attract new arrivals to
the camp. (In interviews with the PRM/PIM program officer,
new Congolese arrivals to the camp said they had bypassed
refugee camps in Zambia and Tanzania because Maratane "has a
good reputation." UNHCR officers believe Maratane has this
reputation because it is perceived as an easy camp to be
resettled from.)

10. The refugee camp committee presented refugee concerns
during a meeting attended by UNHCR officers, INAR
representatives, the implementing partners, and PRM/PIM
officer Perlita Muiruri. The committee president voiced
concern about the amount and quality of the food rations,
the lack of adequate security in the camp and the
insufficient supply of medicines. These concerns led to a
request by the committee that refugees in the camp be
resettled immediately. The committee dismissed the
possibility of repatriation because of continued instability
in the Great Lakes region. They also rejected the
possibility of local integration because of what they
considered arbitrary arrests of refugees that were
sanctioned by the GRM. (Comment: Based on discussions with
implementing partners, there was no evidence supporting the
committee's claims, however. End Comment.)

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Resettlement
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11. In a separate meeting in Maputo on September 25, UNHCR
Representative Victoria Akyeampong emphasized UNHCR's
concern that the perceived potential for resettlement from
Maratane camp was preventing the current refugee population
from considering the benefits of repatriation or local
integration. Akyeampong noted an attempt to refer
approximately 1,000 refugees for resettlement had been made
in 2005, but irregularities in the process resulted in a
backlog of 400-600 cases. The delay and the long process of
interviewing families helped create a persistent expectation
of resettlement on the part of all refugees in the camp.
The continued hope that they will be considered as
candidates for resettlement to the United States or Canada
has made refugees uninterested in any activities that might
facilitate a different durable solution, according to
Akyeampong.

MAPUTO 00001354 003.2 OF 003

12. Akyeampong said that UNHCR was considering reducing
assistance to the refugees as a method of encouraging
participation in income-generating projects and other
programs which facilitate self-sufficiency. A complicating
factor was the attitude of the GRM, which does not favor
refugee resettlement from Mozambique, she said. According
to UNHCR, the GRM was cooperative on the issue of local
integration, but as a matter of national pride did not want
to welcome refugees who consider permanent relocation to
Mozambique the least desirable durable solution.

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Refugee Status Determinations (RSD)
-----------------------------------

13. The GRM currently has a backlog in excess of 4,000 cases
awaiting refugee status determination. In 2005 the GRM
processed only 150 cases, and in 2006 they have adjudicated
245 cases so far. According to UNHCR, the acceptance rate
was 99.9%. The significant backlog was mainly caused by a
requirement that the Minister of Interior personally sign-
off on each case. Another concern with the current process
was that several key ministries, working under the
immigration authority instead of INAR, were represented on
the Eligibility Committee that makes the refugee status
determinations.

14. According to Akyeampong, INAR, with UNHCR guidance,
conducts the RSD interviews. INAR has only 30 full-time
staff covering the entire country. As a result, RSD
interviews are done sporadically, the Eligibility Committee
does its work very slowly and cases pile up in the Foreign
Minister's office. UNHCR focused its efforts this year on
assisting the GRM to improve efficiency in the RSD process,
by providing training to GRM officials, financial aid in
staffing-up the relevant ministries, and a protection
officer to work with the GRM. UNHCR anticipates that the
visit of a regional RSD officer next year will help make the
process more efficient.

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UNHCR Plans
-----------

15. According to Akyeampong, UNHCR plans to hand over
management of a number of camp activities in Maratane to
INAR this year, in anticipation of eventually handing over
management of the entire settlement to the GRM. UNHCR will
offer significant financial and administrative assistance to
the Ministry's Institute of Refugee Assistance (INAR) to
increase its capacity. UNHCR Mozambique has also focused
its efforts on building the capacity of the GRM to conduct
RSD in accordance with its international obligations. This
includes financial assistance to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and recruitment of a UNHCR RSD officer to help
rationalize the process in Mozambique. UNHCR plans to
launch an information campaign to encourage refugees to
consider return and to ensure they fully understand that
resettlement may not be a realistic option for the majority.
For those who do not want to repatriate, UNHCR and the GRM
will continue to focus on efforts to promote local
integration and self-sufficiency. According to UNHCR
Maputo, UNHCR will eventually manage its operations in
Mozambique from a regional office in Pretoria and only
maintain a physical presence in Mozambique at the Nampula
field office.

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Comment
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16. Overall UNHCR, the GRM and other implementing partners
have done a good job in providing basic assistance and
protection to refugees in Mozambique's Maratane camp.
UNHCR is working closely with the GRM to address
shortcomings, most notably the backlog in RSD processing.
They are also grappling with the negative impact on
potential voluntary repatriation and local integration
programs caused by refugee hopes for resettlement.

Raspolic

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