US embassy cable - 02HARARE2002

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 002002 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/30/2012 
TAGS: EAID, PGOV, PHUM, PREL, ECON, ASEC, ZI 
SUBJECT: INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS (IDP) SITUATION 
WORSENING 
 
REF: A. HARARE 1934 
     B. HARARE 1901 
     C. HARARE 1870 
     D. HARARE 1099 
     E. HARARE 0998 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Audu Besmer for reasons 1.5 b/d 
 
Summary 
------- 
1. (C) Comprised mostly of workers and their families from 
commercial farms, the number of IDPs in Zimbabwe could 
surpass half a million in the coming months.  While the GOZ 
has sought to deny the problem in the past, even accusing 
temporary squatter settlements of being opposition training 
camps, the Ministry of Labor has recently agreed to appoint 
someone to liaise with UNDP on the issue.  UN Geneva is in 
the process of hiring an OCHA-IDP Coordinator and that person 
is expected here in mid September.  With the IDP situation 
likely to deteriorate in the coming months, we urge early 
consideration of funding to extend the OCHA-IDP Coordinator's 
contract beyond the current 5-months; see action request in 
paragraph 8.  End Summary. 
 
Scope of the Problem 
-------------------- 
2. (U) Using the number of commercial farmers already 
evicted, the average number of workers per farm, and their 
average family size, George Olesh and Crispin Kukasha of UNDP 
estimate the number of displaced commercial farm workers and 
their families currently at 270 - 300,000.  They predict that 
if the GOZ proceeds to evict farmers from all properties 
listed for compulsory acquisition, the number of displaced 
people could grow to 500 - 600,000, depending only on how 
fast evictions progress.  Zimbabwe Community Development 
Trust (ZCDT), a local NGO, undertook a mail-in survey of 
commercial farmers in July - August 2002.  Of 3,200 surveys 
sent, they received 346 responses.  According to ZCDT 
Director Tim Neil, the results of the survey indicate that 
151,240 farm workers are currently displaced and at risk. 
Since there are approximately 5.2 people in each farm 
worker's family, ZCDT estimates that about 786,448 people are 
currently displaced as a result of farm invasions.  ZCDT's 
survey also asked how many days of food supply farmers and 
workers had as of August 8.  The average response was 54 
days.  99% of commercial farms are currently listed for 
resettlement.  According to Neil, if resettlement proceeds 
and the pattern of disenfranchisement continues on its 
present trajectory, 1.3 million farm workers and their 
families will be displaced in the coming months. 
 
3. (U) Mike Murray of Justice for Agriculture (JAG), also 
conducted a survey for a German NGO, Organization Help, in 
which he visited some 600 farms in Mashonaland, Manicaland 
and Midlands in May and June 2002 to assess need for a 
feeding program, and get a sense of overall food shortages. 
His data indicate 150,000 farm workers were displaced at that 
time and in need of assistance.  At 5.2 people per farm 
worker family, this gives a figure of 780,000 people 
displaced.  Based on the numbers of people seeking assistance 
from political retribution since the March elections, Amani 
Trust, a local human rights NGO, estimates the number of 
opposition members and their families unable to return home 
at 69,000.  In some cases, Amani Trust has provided bus fare 
for MDC members to simply leave the country, after concluding 
that they would be unable to return home in the near-term. 
 
Difficult Living Conditions 
--------------------------- 
4. (U) Crispin Rukasha, National Program Officer at UNDP, 
visited 15-20 commercial farms, where the farmer was already 
evicted, from July 25 - August 8 to get a better sense of the 
scope of the IDP problem and their individual circumstances. 
He observed that settlers are occupying dwellings formerly 
occupied by farm workers, and in most cases the workers are 
now squatting on some other area of the farm.  Some have 
moved into crowded dwellings in communal villages near the 
farm.  In one case, a farmer who had not yet been evicted 
would pick up his workers in the village every morning, drive 
them to the farm for the day's work, then drive them back in 
the evening.  Some displaced workers have made it to the 
Harare area where they have squatted on unused land.  In 
urban areas, most displaced workers have been forcibly 
evicted by the police and army and told to return to their 
original farms.  Very few have the option of returning "home" 
to communal lands they originally came from.  75% are of 
Malawian, Mozambican or Zambian ancestry, and in many cases 
they have lived on the commercial farms for a generation or 
more; some were born there. 
 
5. (U) There is considerable animosity between settlers and 
farm workers, and tensions are growing.  In a May 2002 
report, Amani Trust documents numerous instances of violence 
and intimidation of farm workers by settlers and Zanu-PF 
militants.  In general, new settlers plan to do the farm work 
themselves, or hire others to help.  However, Mike Murray 
reported observing on numerous occasions, settlers forcing 
farm workers to continue working under "food for work" terms, 
handing out short supplies of maize in exchange for work 
done.  As Ref. B. suggests, conflicts between workers and 
settlers will increase as evictions proceed, and more 
competition for land sprouts with the rains. 
 
GOZ Beginning to Acknowledge Problem 
------------------------------------ 
6. (C) Until recently, the GOZ has sought to deny or gloss 
over the IDP problem.  On August 29 Police arrested Frances 
Lovemore of Amani Trust in Harare, as well as 17 workers 
preparing an IDP camp in the Mazowe area (about 50 km north 
of Harare).  The Mazowe land was leased from a farmer by 
Amani Trust and ZCDT to accommodate IDPs.  Police have 
charged Lovemore with possessing subversive material, but 
Amani Trust has been unable to determine the charges pending 
against the workers.  Last year, Police raided an Amani Trust 
safe house, detaining 27 people for 2 days and accusing Amani 
Trust of running an opposition training camp.  As a result of 
such intimidation, many IDPs don't want to be identified as 
such, fearing further victimization.  The majority of IDPs, 
therefore are "displaced" on farms where they were previously 
living and working, afraid to seek assistance but with no 
protection, income, secure food source, or medical attention. 
 However, in the past two weeks, the Ministry of Labor has 
agreed to assign a contact person to liaise with the UN on 
the issue.  Delicately, UNDP has relied on the helpfulness of 
local District Administrators, Provincial Administrators, and 
CEOs of Rural District Councils to help identify farms where 
displacement is occurring, and gain access to interview 
workers. 
 
OCHA to Assign IDP Coordinator 
------------------------------ 
7. (U) Thanks to U.S. funding, OCHA plans to assign an IDP 
Coordinator to Harare.  According to George Olesh, Deputy 
Coordinator for the Relief and Recovery Unit of the local 
UNDP office, the UN office in Geneva is in the process of 
considering applicants for the position.  UNDP expects the 
incumbent to be in Harare by mid September.  UN Geneva has 
advertised it as a 5-month position, with the possibility to 
extend (funds permitting).  According to Olesh, the intention 
is for the incumbent to act as the point person for all IDP 
issues in Zimbabwe.  The incumbent's first priority will be 
to work with local NGOs to gather better data on the extent 
of the problem.  Olesh was vague about whether the 
Coordinator would be able to design programs, as the OCHA-IDP 
Unit's primary mandate is information gathering.  (Note: In 
our view, the new OCHA person will inevitably have to 
focus--quickly--on program design and implementation, an 
effort which will require further assistance from donors. 
End note.) 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
8. (C) It is very difficult to provide precise estimates of 
the IDP population because many are afraid to report their 
plight, or they merge into extended family structures, and 
different methods are used to count them.  However, Amani 
Trust, UNDP, ZCDT and JAG numbers are consistent with each 
other.  We have no reason to doubt that Amani Trust's 
estimate of 69,000 displaced MDC supporters.  The UNDP 
estimates focus on IDPs at highest risk, i.e. farms where the 
farmer has already been evicted.  Thus there are at least 
300,000 farm workers and their families displaced whose 
plight is most acute.  ZCDT and JAG surveyed farmers still on 
their properties, but extrapolated numerically to reflect 
farms where the farmer is already gone.  Thus the figure 
780,000 includes the UN figure and cases where the workers, 
displaced economically and kicked out of their dwellings by 
settlers, are simply in the pipeline to higher vulnerability 
when the farmer is evicted.  By any interpretation, having 
lost their residences and incomes, displaced farm workers and 
their families are vulnerable to medical risks and lack basic 
food and housing necessities.  Not only could their 
numbers--and the consequent humanitarian challenges--quickly 
rise in the coming months, but animosity with settlers is 
making their bad situation worse.  While the government has 
agreed to cooperate with the UN on the issue, the recent 
arrest of workers at an IDP camp, and past harassment of IDPs 
indicate the GOZ is more interested in hiding an embarrassing 
problem than in meeting the needs of a displaced population 
for whose plight it bears exclusive responsibility.  With no 
break foreseen in the coming months on farm evictions, food 
shortages, or the drought, the Department may wish to 
consider funding the OCHA-IDP representative beyond the 
5-month period envisioned in UNDP's current contract. 
 
9. (C) Comment continued.  In an August 28 meeting between 
the Ambassador, AID and UNDP (including the ResRep), it was 
agreed by all that local NGOs have a decent grasp of numbers 
and the potential scope of the IDP issue.  However, there has 
been little to no planning on how to design and implement 
programs that address their needs.  Accordingly, our focus 
will be more on what we can do to alleviate their suffering 
than to simply track numbers and document their plight.  The 
UNDP is aware of our concerns in this area.  End Comment. 
SULLIVAN