US embassy cable - 05HARARE1489

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001489 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR B. NUELING 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE 
DCHA/FFP FOR 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 
NAIROBI FOR ESTES, DNIRANGO, PUTNAM 
PRETORIA FOR SINK, DISKIN, HALE 
ROME FOR FODAG FOR NEWBERG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, EAGR, PREL, PHUM, US, ZI, Restore Order/Murambatsvina 
SUBJECT:  GOZ REJECTS SHELTER PROPOSAL FOR 
DISPLACED VICTIMS OF OPERATION MURAMBATSVINA 
 
Ref: (a) Harare 1330     (b) Harare 1186 
 
1.   In a meeting on donor coordination on 
Thursday, October 27th, the UN Resident 
Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator, 
Agostinho Zacarias, announced to the major 
donors that the Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) 
has rejected the UN's proposal to provide 
temporary shelter to families displaced by 
the GOZ's Operation Murambatsvina (reftel 
A).  In a letter dated October 17th from the 
Minister of Local Government, Chombo, the 
GOZ told the UN Resident Representative that 
there is no longer any compelling need to 
provide temporary shelter as there is no 
humanitarian crisis and the GOZ's Operation 
Garikai has addressed the country's most 
urgent shelter needs (reftel B). 
 
2.   Zacarias has been working with the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the past 
week to try and reverse this decision by 
Minister Chombo.  Zacarias reported that as 
recently as last Friday he had received 
positive signs from Foreign Affairs that it 
would be able to reverse Chombo's decision. 
In fact, Foreign Affairs promised Zacarias 
last Friday that he would hear back within 
forty-eight hours.  As of yesterday, well 
past Foreign Affairs' own forty-eight hour 
deadline, the GOZ informed Zacarias that 
Minister Chombo was out of town and the 
issue would have to wait until next Monday. 
 
3.   Due to this lack of progress, Zacarias 
stated that he has concluded that it is 
necessary to put public pressure on the GOZ 
in the hope that it will cause them to 
reverse their decision.  He has prepared a 
draft press statement announcing that the 
GOZ has decided not to accept from the 
international community temporary shelter 
assistance for the Operation Murambatsvina 
victims, despite the fact that there are 
still a large number of vulnerable groups 
who were affected by this Operation and who 
are living out in the open.  He has reported 
his conclusions to UN headquarters in New 
York, forwarded his draft press statement 
and requested guidance on how to proceed. 
In his request for guidance, he has 
specifically asked New York whether any 
statement should be issued by the UN Office 
in Zimbabwe or by UN headquarters. 
 
4.   When the floor was opened for 
questions, the Ambassador asked Zacarias if 
it would be helpful for the major donors to 
issue a common, public statement in support 
of the UN's position.  Zacarias responded 
that yes, the UN could use all the help it 
could get on this issue.  The British 
Ambassador, European Commission Head of 
Delegation and Dutch Charge d'Affaire agreed 
with the Ambassador's suggestion of a common 
donor statement. 
 
5.  Earlier on October 27, Agnes Asekenye- 
Oonyu, UN Office for the Coordination of 
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Assistant 
Director, gave the Ambassador and USAID 
mission director the unvarnished version of 
Zacarias's battles with the GOZ.  She 
reported that on October 26,  Zacarias had 
held a heated discussion with the Minister 
of Foreign Affairs over inaction on the 
issue, at which he had told the Minister 
that the GOZ's intractability merited UN 
Security Council discussion.  She said 
Zacarias had come away from the discussion 
furious with the GOZ and he felt the time 
for trying to cooperate with the GOZ was 
over.  He needed to try a new tactic, 
resulting in the draft press statement. 
 
6.  Comment.  While it comes as no surprise 
that the GOZ is refusing to acknowledge the 
humanitarian consequences of its disastrous 
Operation Murambatsvina, or allow the 
international community to address urgent 
humanitarian needs, this development is 
nonetheless tragic.  The International 
Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates 
that roughly 20,000 families (perhaps as 
many as 100,000 people) are in need of 
temporary shelter due to the GOZ's 
destruction of housing (reftel A).  After 
having spent four frustrating months trying, 
and failing, to negotiate a humanitarian 
response with the GOZ, Zacarias is correct 
that now is the time to go public.  We agree 
with him that public statements must be made 
to assign blame where blame is due: squarely 
on the GOZ.  The GOZ's refusal to allow the 
international community to respond to urgent 
humanitarian needs raises troubling 
questions about humanitarian access and 
protection that will not go away.  We have 
no reason to believe that the situation will 
improve, so we must insist on defending 
humanitarian principles and publicly press 
the GOZ to grant unhindered access for the 
international community to address 
humanitarian needs. 
 
7.   Comment continued.  Post recommends 
that USUN engage with senior UN officials 
(e.g., Undersecretaries Egeland and Gambari) 
to express our strong support for the UN 
issuing a statement that condemns the GOZ's 
refusal to allow the international community 
to provide temporary shelter to displaced 
victims of Operation Murambatsvina.  Once 
the UN has issued its statement, it will be 
important to work quickly on issuing a 
common donor statement. To be most 
effective, such a donor statement must 
emphasize that the most important concern is 
the need to assist the innocent victims of 
Operation Murambatsvina.  Equally important, 
a donor statement must be framed to support 
the UN in its defense of international 
humanitarian principles.  Finally, given 
recent UN Security Council briefings on 
Zimbabwe's humanitarian situation, post 
believes that the GOZ's obstruction of 
humanitarian assistance in this regard may 
warrant an update to the UNSC. 
DELL