US embassy cable - 03ACCRA570

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ACCRA 000570 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR PRM, GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREF, IO, GH, UNHCR, refugees 
SUBJECT: PRM/DAS KELLY RYAN'S MEETINGS WITH OPE STAFF 
 
 
1.  Summary:  PRM/DAS Kelly Ryan visited Accra, Ghana on 
February 28 - March 4 to review U.S. Resettlement 
Program (USRP) operations in West Africa.  This cable is 
one in a series of cables outlining meetings, 
discussions and impressions gleaned from the visit. 
Provided with various opportunities for consultations 
with Overseas Processing Entity (OPE) staff over the 
five-day period, Ryan came away with an appreciation of 
numerous challenges faced following the events of 9/11. 
Increased security checks, the implementation of RAVU, 
limited access to refugee camps and expired medical 
reports added to a significant delay in processing. 
Despite the obstacles nearly 20,000 refugees were 
processed in FY02 indicating the motivation and 
professionalism is there among OPE colleagues to move 
the program in the right direction.  Addressing OPE 
concerns with WRAPS will also keep momentum going.  As a 
result, DAS Ryan came away with a feeling of optimism 
that once the backlog of stalled cases are cleared, the 
operation will move more quickly. End summary. 
 
OPE BRINGS NEW STAFF ON BOARD TO FACE POST 9/11 
CHALLENGES 
 
2.  In background discussions with Refcoord, DAS was 
debriefed on the history of OPE/Accra's office.  Only 
two years old, OPE inherited processing responsibilities 
from the Joint Voluntary Agency (JVA) in Nairobi.  Both 
OPE and JVA were awarded cooperative agreements under 
the auspices of Church World Service (CWS) based in NY. 
Within this brief two year period, CWS changed the 
leadership at OPE by replacing previous OPE Director 
Regine McCalla with current Director Frances Tinsley. 
Arriving with a strong background in domestic refugee 
resettlement, Tinsley's posting in January of this year 
provided a much-needed boost to OPE operations as it had 
been without a permanent director for nearly six months. 
Tinsley's ability to hit the ground running allowed OPE 
to confront processing issues needing immediate 
attention.  Tinsley's deputy, Lucie Gagne also brings 
extensive refugee experience to OPE as she has worked at 
both UNHCR and JVA in W. African operations over the 
past six years. 
 
FY 02 OBSTACLES TO SPEEDIER PROCESSING 
 
3.RAVU - Refcoord explained the myriad of issues and 
policy concerns that surfaced following the events of 
9/11.  Acknowledging OPE's efforts to address the 
rapidly changing USG policy on resettlement, Refcoord 
informed DAS that despite some Herculean efforts, 
refugees were not moving through the pipeline very 
quickly.  With the much-needed creation of the Refugee 
Access Verification Unit (RAVU) at INS, now called the 
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), all Priority 3 
(P3) cases were being reviewed for fraud and thus, 
thousands of cases were stalled, while relationship 
claims are being verified with DHS records.  Department 
and DHS expect final resolution of the cases within the 
coming month with word that approval rate of cases 
reviewed by RAVU may be less than 50 per cent.  Once 
this backlog of file review is finalized, OPE and other 
processing partners look forward to processing refugees 
in a timelier manner and with a lower rate of fraud. 
 
4.  Increased Security Provisions  - The USRP has seen a 
number of new security initiatives enacted in the wake 
of 9/11.  As efforts to vet security advisory opinions 
(SAOs) became more cumbersome, OPE as well as other 
processing entities, saw a slow-down in the movement of 
refugees while SAOs trickled in. 
 
5.  Restricted Access to Refugee Camps - Throughout the 
past fiscal year DHS interviews have been limited to 
sites approved by both the post regional security 
officer (RSO) and the DHS.  As a result, much time and 
effort was spent securing acceptable interview sites in 
Accra, Conakry, Banjul and Abidjan.  Collaboration on 
these efforts were laudable as evidenced by the DHS 
circuit ride in Abidjan last year.  When DHS could not 
get to the refugees, the refugees were brought to them. 
Partners successfully moved and processed over 4,000 
refugees residing in camps in the north of Cote d'Ivoire 
by moving the caseload to Abidjan for adjudication. The 
caseload consisted almost entirely of P-3 Liberians with 
one UNHCR P-1 referral.  Further collaboration allowed 
the processing of smaller caseloads at 
embassies/consulates in Nigeria, the Central African 
Republic, Mali and Niger.  Some of those cases had been 
waiting for processing for years. 
 
6.  Ban on Priority One Cases from UNHCR - Following the 
resettlement scandal at UNHCR/Accra, the Department 
placed a ban on all processing of P-1 Referrals in W. 
Africa.  This ban was in effect for most of FY 02 and 
contributed to the slowing down of processing and 
departures.  Upon DHS review of all UNHCR/Accra cases 
and implemented investigative/corrective measures by 
UNHCR, the Department lifted the ban late last year. 
 
7.  Expired Medical Reports - The majority of refugee 
medical examinations have a validity period of one year, 
with certain cases only having six months.  The 
cessation of departures inevitably led to thousands of 
cases needing second medical exams as the validity 
period came and went.  OPE worked closely with the 
International Office of Migration (IOM) to sift through 
records to determine at which point the case cleared 
RAVU and then needed another medical examination. 
Following the review, thousands of applicants throughout 
W. Africa were rescheduled for medical examinations with 
country panel physicians. 
8.  Cross-Referenced Cases - Due to the high number of 
cases that were linked, OPE soon discovered that if one 
family was not cleared for departure either for waiting 
for security approval, medical re-examination or RAVU 
approval, neither case would be allowed to travel. 
Acknowledging the size of many refugee families, this 
obstacle proved significant in the slowing down of 
processing.  (Comment: This issue is being tackled in 
part, by Tinsley who maintains that many cases were 
inappropriately hard cross-referenced by OPE staff prior 
to her arrival. End comment) 
 
DESPITE OBSTACLES, 20,000 PROCESSED IN FIVE MONTHS 
 
9.  Despite the numerous challenges faced by OPE and 
partners during the past fiscal year, 19,500 refugees 
were processed in just five months.  In addition, 
interviews were conducted in nine countries throughout 
W. Africa.  Consolidation of Visas 92 and Visas 93 
efforts at OPE has also nearly eliminated a 10 year 
backlog at post. Initially handed approximately 600 
Visas 92 and 93 cases, OPE has sifted through the 
caseload and in collaboration with Post, resolved most 
of the cases.  OPE expects to move all several hundred 
eligible Visas 92 and 93 cases this fiscal year. 
 
FY 03 - RESOLVING OLD ISSUES, STREAMLINING FUTURE 
OPERATIONS 
 
10. RAVU Revoked cases - OPE informed DAS Ryan that 
approximately 70 per cent of previously approved cases 
in W. Africa are expected to be revoked in the coming 
months.  Furthermore, of those cases not yet 
interviewed, at least 50 per cent will never make it 
past RAVU to the INS interview stage.  While this 
reduction in the pipeline will affect previous 
projections significantly, OPE believes it can still 
complete processing for and move 4,000 people this 
fiscal year. 
 
11. WRAPS Needs Tweaking - OPE data staff provided DAS 
Ryan with an overview of concerns regarding the newly 
implemented World Wide Refugee Admissions Processing 
System (WRAPS).  While seeing WRAPS as a necessary 
improvement from the old system, OPE outlined technical 
delays in design construction that have caused 
difficulty in maneuvering through the system.  Refcoord 
confirmed with OPE that most concerns involved technical 
improvements scheduled for the future that had not been 
made in what OPE viewed as a timely manner.  DAS Ryan 
took OPE's concerns on board and promised to raise 
concerns with Washington upon her return.  (Note: 
Refcoord has raised OPE's concerns with WRAPS program 
Manager Amy Nelson who is considering sending an 
additional team to OPE/Accra as a follow up to initial 
installation.  A similar effort was successfully made in 
Moscow to tweak the system and provide a training review 
for OPE staff. End Note) 
 
12.  Cultural Orientation - Cultural Deputy Director 
Emily Russ provided DAS Ryan with an overview of 
operations in W. Africa.  Confirming that refugees were 
only scheduled for CO after clearing RAVU, Russ 
described the curriculum, which includes a heavy 
emphasis on self-sufficiency and U.S. law.  Russ was 
pleased to be developing a new section for youths. 
 
13.  Comment:  It is clear that the obstacles facing OPE 
and the USRP as a whole during FY 02 were significant. 
While these obstacles contributed to frustration among 
partners, domestic voluntary agencies and refugees 
alike, it appears that the frustration may soon ebb. 
Methodically and collaboratively working through the 
challenges and resolving the thousands of cases pending 
RAVU and security clearances will release the logjam in 
the system.  Despite OPE's concerns with the WRAPS 
network, it appears that the problems as outlined are 
scheduled to be resolved as each successive build is 
completed.  In the interim, the possibility of a second 
WRAPS TDY support visit might be just the trick needed 
to tweak the system and assuage OPE concerns.  End 
comment. 
YATES