US embassy cable - 03ROME5073

UNCLAS  ROME 005073 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
AIDAC 
 
FROM U.S. MISSION IN ROME 
 
ABIDJAN FOR REFUGEE COORDINATOR 
DAKAR FOR USAID 
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH 
CONAKRY FOR POL; USAID FOR AADAMS, RBONCEY, DATTEBERRY 
FREETOWN FOR POL; USAID FOR JKOENEN-GRANT 
MONROVIA FOR USAID/DART 
NAIROBI FOR OFDA/ARO 
BRUSSELS FOR USAID PLERNER 
NSC FOR JDWORKEN 
USUN FOR MLUTZ 
STATE FOR PRM, AF, IO 
USAID FOR DCHA/AA, DCHA/FFP, DCHA/OFDA, AFR 
 
E.O.  12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID, EAGR, AORC, PREF, WFP, UN 
SUBJECT:  WFP EXECUTIVE BOARD APPROVES WEST AFRICA 
COASTAL PROTRACTED RELIEF AND RECOVERY OPERATION FOR 
2004 
 
Ref:  Rome 4996 
 
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Summary 
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1.  The U.S. Delegation (USDEL) provided a number of 
comments to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) regarding 
its new Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) 
for West Africa during WFP's Executive Board (EB) 
meeting the week of October 20.  The USDEL expressed 
support for the activation of the contingency measure to 
cover the current food needs in Liberia, disappointment 
that the longer-term refugees in the camps in Guinea who 
had been able to engage in farming or income-generating 
activities continued to receive full rations, support 
for use of land transport, shipping and handling (LTSH) 
funds to cover post-distribution monitoring costs, and 
concern over reported malnutrition rates in the refugee 
camps in Sierra Leone.  USDEL's concerns in Guinea and 
Sierra Leone are being addressed by the WFP country 
representatives.  WFP's regional director was very 
pleased with the USDEL proposal regarding the use of 
LTSH funds for post-distribution monitoring.  He is 
quite optimistic about the future of Liberia, but quite 
pessimistic about Cote d'Ivoire.  End Summary. 
 
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Background 
------------ 
 
2.  The current PRRO for the West Africa Coastal region 
began on January 1, 2003, and ends with this calendar 
year.  The new PRRO is for one year and begins January 
1, 2004.  The PRRO covers three countries, accompanied 
by the following beneficiary numbers:  Sierra Leone 
(275,000), Liberia (454,400), and Guinea (172,700). 
Note:  Last year, Cote d'Ivoire (CI) was added to the 
PRRO because of the number of Liberian refugees in CI. 
During the year, however, the caseload of refugees 
inside CI was transferred to the new WFP Emergency 
Operation (EMOP) for CI.  End Note. 
 
3.  Because PRRO documents are prepared four to five 
months in advance of their presentation at the EB 
meetings, the summer's events in Liberia were not 
included in the project document.  WFP distributed an 
addendum during the EB that provided an update of the 
current situation in Liberia.  WFP's regional director, 
Manuel Aranda da Silva, requested that the EB 
immediately approve activating the contingency measure 
in the PRRO to accommodate an additional 150,000 
beneficiaries in Liberia, which currently is sufficient 
to address the increased needs in Liberia and is 
included in the 454,400 number give above. 
 
--------------------------------- 
WFP Executive Board Presentation 
--------------------------------- 
 
4.  The U.S. delegation made the following comments to 
WFP during its Executive Board meeting. 
 
A.  We congratulate WFP on its current work in Liberia. 
Although we had trouble getting timely information at 
the beginning of the re-entry operation, that element, 
as well as others, has greatly improved. 
 
B.  The USDEL is pleased to learn that the contingency 
measure in the new PRRO is sufficient in addressing the 
current needs in Liberia.  This reflects good planning. 
 
C.  We are very supportive of the continued emphasis on 
women in the PRRO and the safeguards needed to ensure 
that sexual abuse of beneficiaries is not tolerated. 
Constant vigilance is indeed required. 
 
D.  We are disappointed to see that only in 2004 is WFP 
planning to reduce the ration size in the refugee camps 
in Guinea, and only in Kola Camp.  It was our 
understanding that this was to begin in 2003 because of 
the extensive farming that the refugees had achieved in 
2002 and 2003 in the Albadariah camps in Kissidougou, as 
well as in other camps, such as Kola.  We had hoped that 
all camps would be periodically assessed to review the 
refugees' status of self-reliance, which would include 
benefiting from one successful cultivation season or 
from other income-generating activities and reviewing 
the refugees' nutritional status.  We strongly encourage 
WFP and UNHCR to monitor such progress systematically in 
the camps so that refugees can enjoy the feeling of some 
self-sufficiency.  If ration cuts are implemented, we 
would expect that WFP would have in place sufficient 
mechanisms to ensure that food-insecure refugees 
continue to receive adequate assistance. 
 
E.  We also thought that emergency school feeding in the 
Guinea refugee camps was to be introduced during 2003 
that would coincide with a reduction of the general 
ration.  We truly hope this can take place in 2004.  We 
are pleased to see that the surrounding communities in 
Guinea will also be targeted for emergency school 
feeding.  And we add that school feeding in the fragile 
districts of Kono and Kailahun in Sierra Leone and now 
in Liberia is extremely important. 
 
F.  We fully support WFP's post-distribution monitoring 
(PDM) efforts under the PRRO and would like to see WFP 
using land transport, shipping and handling (LTSH) funds 
to ensure that PDM takes place. 
 
G.  We take note of the rates of malnutrition in the 
refugee camps in Sierra Leone, and have also heard 
reports of rates of malnutrition increasing among the 
returnees coming from Guinea resettling in Sierra Leone. 
We urge WFP and UNHCR to take serious steps to address 
these issues. 
 
H.  We take note of WFP's efforts in Sierra Leone to 
closely link the rehabilitation efforts to the longer- 
 
I.  We once again this year want to emphasize the 
important roles that UNHCR and FAO play in regards to 
food security.  We ask that UNHCR ensure that non-food 
items (NFIs) are being provided in the refugee camps, so 
that high-valued food commodities are not bartered for 
NFIs and that FAO continue its agricultural support to 
the refugees and internally displaced so they are not 
completely reliant on food aid and can achieve some 
degree of self-sufficiency for their own self-esteem. 
 
J.  USDEL recommends approval of the West Africa Coastal 
PRRO with noted comments 
 
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WFP's responses 
----------------- 
 
5.  WFP made the following responses to the USDEL 
intervention: 
 
A.  Aranda da Silva said WFP was committed to 
maintaining its focus on women and continuing its 
vigilance in safeguarding against sexual exploitation 
possibilities. 
 
B.  Arnada da Silva also said he was pleased with the 
USDEL proposal to use LTSH funds to cover PDM costs.  He 
believes PDM to be an important investment and one that 
yields high returns. 
 
C.  Note:  In a follow-on meeting the next day, WFP and 
the USDEL further discussed this proposal of using LTSH 
funds for PDM.  USDEL clearly stated that it firmly 
supported the use of LTSH funds to cover PDM costs and 
pointed to the language in the Guidelines for LTSH 
Guidelines for P.L. 480, Title II emergency commodities 
that allow the expense.  Aranda da Silva added that the 
European Community is also very supportive of using LTSH 
funds to support PDM.  WFP agreed to pursue the issue 
internally, but this may require pushing from the USG. 
PDM costs now are either covered by UNHCR in a refugee 
setting or by another donor, usually USAID/OFDA or ECHO, 
for internally displaced persons (IDPs).  End Note. 
 
D.  Stefano Porretti, the new WFP country representative 
in Guinea, addressed the points concerning the refugees 
in Guinea.  He said that he and the new UNHCR country 
representative had conducted a joint mission to the 
refugee camps in eastern Guinea in September, and they 
agreed that a downsizing of the ration is warranted in 
some camps.  They are in the process of establishing a 
task force to focus on the issue.  It is WFP's and 
UNHCR's goal to effect a reduction in the ration by the 
end of this year and put into place other activities of 
self-reliance.  He also mentioned that FAO had provided 
the seeds (with State/PRM funding) and the Government of RBONCEY, 
Guinea had provided the land in some of the camps. 
 
E.  Porretti also remarked that WFP and UNHCR hoped to 
soon initiate support of income generating activities 
targeting women. 
 
F.  Porretti confirmed the importance of ensuring that 
the local population surrounding the refugee camps was 
not forgotten when providing for the refugees. 
 
G.  Louis Imbleau, the WFP country representative in 
Sierra Leone, said malnutrition problems were identified 
in July and August.  UNHCR and WFP with their 
implementing partners, Medecins Sans Frontieres and 
Merlin, are now performing nutritional screening in the 
way stations and in the camps.  WFP supports the 
supplementary and therapeutic feeding centers with food. 
During September and October, a nutritional survey was 
conducted in all the camps, reported Imbleau, and the 
results will be out soon. 
 
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Parting Shots 
--------------- 
 
6.  Aranda da Silva added that the timespan for this 
PRRO has remained one year due to the very fluid nature 
of the region.  Next year, he said, the landscape may be 
quite different.  He said he feels that we, the 
international community, have turned the page in Liberia 
and that Liberia will be one of the most stable 
countries in the region in two years.  Being a 
Mozambican and having experienced the civil war in his 
country, Aranda da Silva said that the hope for change 
in Liberia is immense and that hope can have profound 
effects on the population.  In contrast, he said we have 
not yet opened the book on Cote d'Ivoire.  He and his 
staff are quite concerned about the future in Cote 
d'Ivoire. 
 
7.  WFP's Executive Director Morris added that 
responding to the crisis in Liberia, with its waves of 
serious security problems for the UN staff, is "as 
difficult a situation in Africa in which WFP has had to 
work in a long time."  Hall 
 
 
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2003ROME05073 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED