US embassy cable - 05HARARE832

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000832 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR D. MOZENA, B. NEULING 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE 
USUN FOR EMILY BRUNO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2010 
TAGS: EAID, PHUM, PREL, ECON, ASEC, ZI, Food Assistance, Restore Order/Murambatsvina 
SUBJECT: UNDP RESREP GETS RELIGION ON LOOMING IDP, FOOD 
CRISES 
 
REF: (A) HARARE 830 (B) HARARE 790 (C) HARARE 786 (D) 
     HARARE 773 (E) HARARE 737 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Eric T. Schultz under Section 1 
.4 b/d 
 
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Summary 
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1.  (C) In a meeting at UNDP offices on June 13, the CDA told 
UNDP Resrep Zacarias that we were concerned about the 
potential for the Operation Restore Order to further 
exacerbate the looming food crisis.  Moreover, as long as the 
operation continued, donors and relief agencies were chasing 
a moving target in trying to help victims.  Zacarias said the 
UN was also deeply concerned and was pressing GOZ officials 
both locally and from New York.  However, the UN needed to 
maintain its channels of communication to the GOZ and for 
that reason was reluctant to criticize the GOZ publicly.  End 
Summary. 
 
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U.S. Concerns 
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2.  (C) The Charge opened the meeting by stressing that the 
GOZ's "Operation Restore Order" (refs A and E) was continuing 
and that with each passing day was creating more displaced 
people.  IOM,s figure had jumped from 150,000 to 200,000 in 
just the past week.  The daily displacement of new IDPs and 
the absence of any "authorized" place for many to relocate 
made the needy a moving target, compounding the challenges of 
relief agencies and the donors trying to support them.  We 
were also receiving reports that the GOZ was obstructing 
relief agencies from accessing the swelling ranks of 
desperate IDPs. 
 
3.  (C) The Charge noted that the abrupt dislocation of so 
many people would also undoubtedly compound Zimbabwe's 
increasingly precarious food situation (refs B and D). 
Indeed, the IDP and food situations were mutually reinforcing 
crises.  He urged the UNDP to use its good offices to press 
the GOZ to cease "Restore Order" and to cooperate fully with 
the international community on food security.  The USG stood 
ready to help on humanitarian relief but could do little 
without greater transparency and cooperation on the GOZ's 
part. 
 
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UN Growing Increasingly Worried As Well 
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4.  (C) Zacarias responded that the UN offices shared our 
assessment of Zimbabwe's converging food and IDP crises. 
Transparency and a lack of access to vulnerable populations 
were central problems presented by the GOZ.  Getting better 
information on Zimbabwe's food security was especially 
imperative.  The UN was pressing the GOZ both from here in 
Harare and from New York.  Zacarias said he had a meeting 
scheduled June 14 with Minister of Public Service, Labor, and 
Social Welfare Goche, and undertook to brief us after the 
meeting. 
 
5.  (C) Zacarias said there were differences of opinion 
within his office on how to address the IDP situation in the 
face of GOZ obstructionism.  Relief efforts were only 
reaching about 20 percent of those affected by Restore Order 
and the degree of cooperation from local authorities varied 
widely.  The local IOM chief felt efforts should cease until 
the GOZ gave explicit authority to deliver relief.  Zacarias 
complimented IOM's efforts but said he disagreed with his IOM 
chief.  He felt relief efforts to aid those in need should 
continue to the extent possible.  He planned to raise these 
issues with Goche and hoped to get explicit approval for 
IOM,s operations. 
 
6.  (C) Zacarias noted that Zimbabwe's situation was 
receiving attention at the highest levels in New York.  The 
Secretary-General would be meeting in the coming week with 
 
SIPDIS 
representatives from the UN bureaus on humanitarian, 
development, and political affairs on how to approach 
Zimbabwe.  He said the UN could take a more forceful role on 
Zimbabwe if the GOZ did not change course.  A meeting might 
be arranged between the Secretary-General and Mugabe, 
possibly in July.  Zacarias asked that we treat this 
information with the utmost discretion. 
 
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But Wants to Keep Channels to GOZ Open 
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7. (C) Zacarias said discretion was critical to the UN,s 
hopes of influencing GOZ behavior.  His office wanted to 
change GOZ behavior without jeopardizing its influence and 
channels of communication with the GOZ.  In that vein, his 
office would not be speaking publicly on these issues; any 
statements on Zimbabwe would emanate from New York or Geneva 
- and none were planned at this time.  He noted in that 
regard that the public comments of the UN Special Rapporteur 
on Housing, Miloon Kothari, were not authoritative.  Kothari 
was outside the UN,s central hierarchy.  Zacarias noted, 
however, that public statements by other governments and NGOs 
on Zimbabwe's deteriorating situation were useful to the UN 
in its dealings with the GOZ. 
 
8. (C) The Charge agreed that keeping channels open with the 
GOZ open was an important means to an end but was not an end 
in itself.  The goal was to get the GOZ to stop "Restore 
Order" and to open up the food situation before it was too 
late.  He closed by urging continued close collaboration 
between UN offices and the broader diplomatic community. 
 
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Comment 
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9.  (C) Just a week ago, in a June 7 meeting with the donor 
community (ref B), Zacarias had downplayed the food and IDP 
situations, only to be contradicted by his own staff.  He now 
appears to share his IOM and WFP chiefs' sense of alarm at 
the convergence of these two crises in the months ahead.  As 
a result, he also appears ready to abandon the UN,s 
cherished role here as a mediator between the GOZ and the 
international community and to join the latter in putting 
pressure on the GOZ.  This would be a welcome development 
since the UN remains one of the few external actors with any 
real influence over the GOZ. 
SCHULTZ