US embassy cable - 05GABORONE951

UNCLAS  GABORONE 000951 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
AF/S FOR MALONEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF, PGOV, PHUM, AO, CG, WA, ZI, BC, Refugees, Human Rights, HIV and AIDS 
SUBJECT: REFUGEES IN BOTSWANA: AN UPDATE 
 
REFERENCE: (A) 04 GABORONE 756 
 
           (B) GABORONE 535 
 
1.  SUMMARY:  The United Nations High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) in Botswana and the Francistown 
Vicariate of the Catholic Church are exploring the 
possibility of providing anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment 
to a limited number of refugees.  Approximately 550 
Angolan refugees are registered to return home in mid- 
July.  Repatriation of Namibian refugees, complicated by 
political factors, is proceeding more slowly.  Zimbabwean 
refugees fear that Mugabe agents are circulating in Dukwi 
camp.  The GOB continues to detain refuge/asylum seekers 
and their children until their initial interviews despite 
objections from UNHCR.  Mission has encouraged the GOB to 
review its policy not to provide ARV treatment to 
refugees and is exploring possibilities to materially 
support efforts to do so through civil society.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
POSSIBLE ARV TREATMENT FOR SOME REFUGEES 
 
2.  The UNHCR and the Francistown Vicariate of the 
Catholic Church are exploring possibilities of providing 
ARV treatment to some residents of the Dukwi refugee 
camp, located an hour's drive northwest of Francistown in 
north-eastern Botswana.  The GOB maintains that budgetary 
constraints do not allow it to extend to refugees the 
free access to ARV treatment enjoyed by Batswana and that 
most will not benefit from such treatment once 
repatriated.  Bishop Nubuasah of the Francistown 
Vicariate told PolOff on June 28 that the Catholic Church 
already pays for ARV treatment for 25 patients who are 
ineligible to receive treatment from the Government. 
According to the Bishop, the Vicariate could accommodate 
an additional 25 patients.  If UNHCR can ensure that 
refugees will be able to travel from Dukwi to Francistown 
on a regular basis for the necessary check ups, the 
Vicariate will include them in the program, thereby 
bringing it to full capacity.  While UNHCR representative 
at Dukwi Maureen Masters welcomed this opportunity, she 
pointed out that the number of refugees in need of 
treatment exceeded the additional 25 the Vicariate could 
fund. 
 
3.  UNHCR HIV/AIDS Coordinator for southern Africa Laurie 
Bruns told PolOff on June 30 that UNHCR's ultimate hope 
is to persuade the GOB to amend its policy to include 
refugees in its ARV and PMTCT programs on an equal basis 
with Batswana.  She pointed out that given the small 
number of refugees in Botswana, their inclusion would 
occasion only a minor increase in the total bill for 
HIV/AIDS treatment.  Bruns agreed that failing to provide 
effective prevention in the camp undermined prevention 
campaigns in the surrounding communities, which 
intermingle with the refugees. 
 
4.  Few refugees take advantage of the counselling and 
testing services offered to them, Masters told PolOff, 
because they know treatment is not available.  Although 
both UNHCR and the Red Cross have prevention programs 
involving peer educators, the general disinterest in 
knowing one's status undermines these efforts. 
 
ETHNIC TENSIONS AMONG CONGOLESE REFUGEES 
 
5.  According to Masters, the security situation in the 
refugee camp is also somewhat problematic.  Recently, 
ethnic and regional differences among some of the 
Congolese had created tensions.  These were brought to a 
head when a Congolese man from one group accused four 
from a rival group of stealing from a UNHCR ration 
warehouse.  Counter-accusations ensued and polarized the 
Congolese community.  The Botswana Police Service took 
the four suspects into custody and relocated them to the 
Center for Illegal Immigrants in Francistown.  Mr. Rufus 
Tawana, Deputy Commander of the camp, told PolOff on June 
27 that the police did not have enough evidence to charge 
the four.  Nonetheless, he expected the four suspects to 
remain in detention until tempers have cooled.  Although 
uneasy with the indefinite detention of the suspects, 
Masters thought that the incident had caused tensions to 
reach a boiling point and hoped that the absence of the 
four would ease that situation. 
 
ZIMBABWEANS FEAR MUGABE'S HENCHMEN 
 
6.  A second security concern involved complaints from 
Zimbabweans.  Masters estimated that Zimbabweans 
 
accounted for roughly 70 percent of new refuge/asylum 
seekers.  On several occasions, she said, Zimbabweans 
living in the camp had expressed their belief that 
security agents from the Government of Zimbabwe were 
moving among refugees in the camp.  She had no evidence 
to confirm or disprove these fears, but given the 
openness of the facility, did not dismiss them.  Mr. 
Tawana told PolOff that the camp administrators had 
received such complaints.  He pointed out, however, that 
when the GOB had stationed Botswana Defense Force troops 
at the camp "human rights groups" had complained that 
this restricted the refugees' freedom of movement, so 
they were removed.  In the absence of evidence that 
Zimbabwean or other residents are in danger, the GOB is 
unlikely to enhance security at the camp. 
 
ANGOLAN REPATRIATION IN MID-JULY 
 
7.  Approximately 550 Angolans have registered for a 
repatriation scheduled for mid-July.  UNHCR was still 
awaiting final confirmation from the BDF of whether it 
would provide two planes to transport refugees on one day 
or one plane that would make two trips on separate dates. 
This repatriation would halve the number of Angolans in 
the camp.  Masters explained to PolOff that at the end of 
2005, UNHCR no longer will provide assistance to Angolan 
refugees, either in the form of repatriation or the food 
and non-food rations it currently provides.  She hoped to 
be able to organize another repatriation before year-end 
but believed that would depend on whether the feedback 
from those Angolans who returned in July could convince 
the sceptics that it is safe to go home. 
 
MOST NAMIBIANS STILL RELUCTANT TO RETURN 
 
8.  Repatriation of the slightly larger number of 
Namibian refugees (about 1,200) is proceeding more 
slowly.  Only thirty-six Namibians signed up to 
participate in two repatriations earlier this year, which 
UNHCR Country Representative Benny Otim described to 
PolOff as largely symbolic.  Masters explained that many 
Namibians genuinely fear for their safety upon return to 
Namibia.  A significant portion, however, refuse to 
return for political reasons.  During a registration 
exercise in June, several Namibian refugees indicated 
that they intended to return only to "an independent 
Caprivi."  Recognizing that repatriations to the Caprivi 
Strip weaken their cause, advocates of independence for 
Caprivi discourage their compatriots within the camp from 
returning. 
 
REFUGE/ASYLUM SEEKERS WAIT IN PRISON FOR INTERVIEW 
 
9.  In 2002, the GOB instituted a policy that refuge and 
asylum seekers would have to wait in the Center for 
Illegal Immigrants (operated by the Department of 
Prisons) until their interview by the Refugee Advisory 
Committee.  They could then transfer to the refugee camp 
in Dukwi to await a decision by the Ministry of 
Presidential Affairs and Public Administration on whether 
they would be accepted as refugees or asylees.  In a June 
28 meeting with PolOff, Commanding Officer at the Center 
Mr. Diseko, could not say what prompted the GOB to 
institute this costly policy change.  (Unlike at the 
camp, where UNHCR provides food and clothing, the GOB 
must provide for those at the Center.)  He explained that 
the Center has a capacity of 500 but rarely has more than 
200 inmates at a time.  Roughly one-third of these, 
Diseko estimated, are refuge/asylum seekers who can be in 
detention for months before their interview.  Most of the 
remainder are illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe who rarely 
stay more than one night before being deported. 
 
10.  According to Masters, some refuge/asylum seekers 
have complained to the UNHCR of conditions in the Center. 
Some claimed to have been beaten by guards there.  Others 
complained that family members rarely got to see one 
another.  UNHCR, which opposes the practice of detaining 
refuge/asylum seekers, has specifically objected to the 
detention of children in the Center whose parents are 
awaiting interviews.  These children do not have access 
to education or recreation for the duration of their 
detention, which can last for months.  Mr. Diseko 
confirmed to PolOff that five such children currently 
were in detention with a parent.  He denied, however, any 
incidents of violence within the camp, either among 
inmates themselves or involving guards, since the March 
2004 escape attempt and riot that left the would-be 
escapee dead and one inmate severely injured (Ref A). 
 
COMMENT 
 
11.  Mission has encouraged the GOB to reassess its 
refusal to provide ARV treatment to refugees (Ref B). 
While that advocacy will continue, Mission is also 
exploring with UNHCR and the Francistown Vicariate 
possibilities to obtain additional funding to expand the 
Vicariate's existing program and enable it to send 
doctors to the camp rather than require refugees to 
travel to Francistown. 
 
HUGGINS 
 
 
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