US embassy cable - 03AMMAN7017

UNCLAS AMMAN 007017 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR NEA AND PRM; DHS FOR BCIS 
CPA BAGHDAD FOR BARTLETT AND CARTER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF, PREL, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: UNHCR COMPLETES PROFILE OF KURDS ON JORDANIAN 
BORDER; REPORTS ONLY 4,000 KURDS LEFT IN IRAQ'S AL TASH 
 
REFUGEE CAMP 
 
REF: AMMAN 4306 
 
1.  (U) In an October 21 meeting with Amman- and Cairo-based 
refcoords, UNHCR Sr. Protection Officer Jacqueline Parlevliet 
reported that UNHCR completed its profile of the 1,070 asylum 
seekers currently held in no-man's land between the Iraqi and 
Jordanian border posts.  1,065 individuals (189 cases) are 
Iranian Kurds from Iraq's Al Tash refugee camp.  The 
remaining five individuals are Iranians who were held as POWs 
in Iraq following the Iran-Iraq war.  Of the 189 Al Tash 
cases, only 141 have records at UNHCR's Baghdad office and 
only 33 of those cases have been interviewed by UNHCR Baghdad 
for durable solution options. 
 
2.  (U) By mid-November, UNHCR plans to identify cases for 
voluntary repatriation to Iran, local integration in northern 
Iraq, and resettlement in a third country.  Parlevliet 
cautioned that UNHCR's limited presence in Iraq as well as 
the lack of any formal agreement between CPA and Iran on 
voluntary repatriation of refugees likely would limit UNHCR's 
ability to move on the first two options.  Resettlement 
cases, however, could be ready for presentation to embassies 
by mid-December (including to the U.S., should we agree to 
consider the Kurds).  Noting that resettlement processing 
would be difficult from no-man's land, Parlevliet said UNHCR 
would prefer to move the Kurds from no-man's land to the 
UNHCR refugee camp at Ruweished, Jordan.  UNHCR would then be 
able to bus the Kurds to the UNHCR office in Amman for 
resettlement interviews, as UNHCR recently did for the 77 
Sudanese and Somali refugees from the Ruweished refugee camp. 
 Parlevliet added that UNHCR likely would need some help 
persuading Jordanian authorities to allow the Kurds to be 
moved from no-man's land. 
 
3.  (U) Separately, Parlevliet reported that only 4,000 of 
the original 14,000 Al Tash Kurds remain in the Al Tash 
refugee camp outside Ramadi, Iraq.  Due to its very limited 
presence in Iraq, UNHCR has been unable to confirm where the 
Kurds have gone but anecdotal evidence indicates that most 
have relocated to northern Iraq, near Sulaimaniyah. 
Parlevliet believes that the diminished numbers at Al Tash 
camp have significantly reduced the risk of a "pull factor" 
once UNHCR begins identifying refugees for resettlement. 
 
4.  (SBU) Comment:  New Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez told 
the Ambassador October 28 that he fully supports the previous 
PM's decision to allow the Ruweished refugee camp to remain 
open through December 31.  That said, we believe the GOJ is 
increasingly serious in its intent to close the camp early in 
the new year and move any unresolved cases to the no-man's 
land camp.  For these reasons, we doubt the GOJ would 
consider moving the Kurds from no-man's land to the Ruweished 
camp.  Our best hope is to persuade the GOJ to keep the 
Ruweished camp open until the Sudanese and Somali refugees 
referred to the USRP are able to travel.  Amman and Cairo 
refcoords will also continue their efforts to find solutions 
for the no-man's land Kurds, including the screening and 
referral of refugees who may be appropriate candidates for 
resettlement in the U.S. 
 
5.  (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
GNEHM