US embassy cable - 05HARARE1307

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001307 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DCHA/FFP FOR LANDIS, WELLER, MUTAMBA, PETERSEN 
DCHA/OFDA FOR GOTTLIEB, PRATT, MENGHETTI, MARX 
AFR/SA FOR LOKEN, COPSON, HIRSCH 
EGAT FOR HOBGOOD, THOMPSON, HESS, MCGAHUEY, GILL, 
RUSHIN-BELL, HURDUS 
STATE/AF FOR NEULING, MOZENA 
USUN FOR EMALY 
PRETORIA FOR DISKIN, HALE, SINK 
ROME FOR FODAG FOR GAST 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR, EAID, PREL, US, ZI, Humanitarian Assistance 
SUBJECT: UN IN ZIMBABWE ANNOUNCES MEASURES TO STRENGTHEN 
COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE 
 
 
1.(SBU)Summary.  UN Resident Representative and Humanitarian 
Coordinator Agostinho Zacarias met with donors on September 
15, 2005 to announce a series of measures intended to 
strengthen the overall coordination of humanitarian 
assistance efforts in Zimbabwe.  Donors welcomed these 
measures as long overdue.  If the UN takes steps to 
demonstrate the improvements announced by Zacarias, post 
would recommend considering increased support for 
humanitarian coordination.  End Summary. 
 
2.(SBU)On September 15, 2005, USAID Officers attended a 
meeting called by the UN Resident Representative and 
Humanitarian Coordinator, Agostinho Zacarias, to update 
donors on humanitarian assistance issues.  Participants 
included major donors, members of the UN Country Team and 
visiting representatives from the UN,s Office for the 
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York and 
Geneva.  Zacarias introduced the meeting by announcing a 
series of measures intended to strengthen humanitarian 
coordination and information sharing.  To start with, the UN 
will establish a new office for humanitarian coordination, to 
be staffed by OCHA, that will be more autonomous than the 
existing Humanitarian Support Team administered by the UNDP. 
The UN will seek donor funding for this new office in the 
approximate amount of US$2 million/year. 
 
3.(SBU) The new humanitarian coordination office will take 
primary responsibility for the related tasks of information 
sharing and humanitarian assistance coordination.  Regarding 
information sharing, the new office will begin next week 
issuing weekly humanitarian situation reports to donors, NGOs 
and other partners to ensure that all interested parties are 
kept up to date on current issues.  The office will also 
systematically track and report on contributions from donors 
and expenditures of funds.  On the coordination side, 
Zacarias stated that he will convene regular meetings (at 
least monthly) of UN agencies and NGO implementing partners 
on humanitarian issues, as well as regular consultations with 
donor countries. 
 
4.(SBU) To highlight the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe, 
Zacarias noted that the UNDP is currently discussing with the 
GOZ a proposed visit to Zimbabwe of Jan Egeland, Under 
Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, which the UN 
 
SIPDIS 
hopes to reach agreement on in the next few weeks. 
 
5.(SBU) USAID Officers had the opportunity to discuss these 
developments privately prior to and after the meeting with 
Agnes Asekenye-Oonyu, the OCHA Assistant Director visiting 
from New York.  Ms. Asekenye-Oonyu (protect source) confided 
that she viewed her assignment as providing daily, on-the-job 
training to Zacarias on his responsibilities as UN 
Humanitarian Coordinator, ensuring that humanitarian 
principles are fully respected and not compromised.  In this 
vein, she informed USAID Officers that she had specifically 
suggested the measures Zacarias announced to strengthen 
humanitarian coordination. 
 
6.(SBU) Comment:  The measures announced by Zacarias to 
strengthen humanitarian coordination and information sharing 
are welcome.  We and other donors have noted the UN,s recent 
lack of regular reporting on humanitarian issues, compared to 
last year when the UN issued weekly situation reports.  We 
have also noted the dearth of UN-sponsored donor consultation 
meetings, which afford donors the opportunity to express 
their views on current humanitarian issues and thereby try to 
shape the UN,s approach to dealing with the GOZ.  With only 
a few exceptions, most of the UN-donor meetings on 
humanitarian issues that have been held in the past several 
months were called at the request of one or more donor 
agencies, not the UN.  Despite these positive statements from 
Zacarias, the proof will be in the pudding.  We suspect that 
other donors, like us, will want to see concrete improvements 
in humanitarian coordination and information sharing before 
opening up the checkbook even more.  The complexity of 
Zimbabwe,s humanitarian crisis requires active coordination 
and post is in favor of continued support for this function 
through OCHA.  If the UN Country Team takes real steps to 
demonstrate the improvements announced by Zacarias, we would 
recommend considering increased support. 
DELL