United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs/Emergency Relief Sir John Holmes told United States director for Multilateral Coordination and External Relations Margaret Pollack that Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai was not a good politician.
Pollack said that this implied that a Tsvangirai led government was not necessarily a solution to Zimbabwe’s problems.
Home had just said that Zimbabwe was a prolonged crisis and he did not see an end in sight.
Holmes was being asked about the situation in Zimbabwe especially the passive role that his man in Harare Antonio Zacarias was playing.
There was concern that Zacarias had not taken a stronger position with the government of Zimbabwe to defend humanitarian principles, to facilitate the operations of the humanitarian community, and to protect at-risk Zimbabweans.
Holmes said that working in Zimbabwe was “a very delicate balancing act”.
His office in Harare was not viewed affectionately by the government of Zimbabwe and that it was important, therefore, to keep a low profile, noting that the UN team in Zimbabwe had protested publicly and privately the restrictions placed by the government on NGO operations.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 08STATE77761, UN HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE IN ZIMBABWE —
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Reference ID |
Created |
Released |
Classification |
Origin |
VZCZCXRO1355
RR RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHC #7761/01 2002215
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 182210Z JUL 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHSB/AMEMBASSY HARARE 2760
INFO SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 1058
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 8685
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0070
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2520
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2973
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 STATE 077761
SIPDIS
GENEVA FOR RMA
BRUSSELS/LONDON/PARIS FOR AFRICA-WATCHERS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2018
SUBJECT: UN HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE IN ZIMBABWE —
DISCUSSION WITH U/SYG-ERC HOLMES
REF: A. (A) HARARE 615
¶B. (B) STATE 74571
¶C. (C) HARARE 593
Classified By: PRM/AFR DIRECTOR MCKELVEY FOR REASON 1.4(D)
——-
Summary
——–
¶1. (C) On the margins of the OCHA Donor Support group
High-Level Meeting in New York July 14, State PRM/MCE Office
Director Margaret Pollack and USAID/DCHA/OFDA Director Ky Luu
discussed USG concerns about the performance of the OCHA
office and Humanitarian Coordinator in Harare with Under
Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs/Emergency Relief
Coordinator Sir John Holmes. Holmes understood the concerns
but stressed the delicate balancing act that the UN must take
in Zimbabwe. He confided that the current Humanitarian
Coordinator Zacarias will be leaving shortly; no replacement
has been named. During the Donor Support Group meeting,
Holmes requested that donors all press the GOZ on the need
for NGOs to restart robust humanitarian programming. In
response to a suggestion that a high level OCHA visit was in
order, Holmes noted that as a UK national, he was not well
placed to make an effective visit; the Deputy ERC Catherine
Bragg (Canadian) might be. End summary.
——————————————— ——
Concerns about UN Performance Discussed with Holmes
——————————————— ——
¶2. (U) On the margins of the OCHA (UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Donor Support group
High-Level Meeting in New York July 14, State PRM/MCE Office
Director Margaret Pollack and USAID/DCHA/OFDA Director Ky Luu
discussed USG concerns
with UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes regarding OCHA,s
role in Zimbabwe. Specifically, Pollack and Luu raised the
following issues:
¶3. (C) Concern that the UN Humanitarian Coordinator had not
taken a stronger position with the Government of Zimbabwe to
defend humanitarian principles, to facilitate the operations
of the humanitarian community, and to protect at-risk
Zimbabweans: Holmes responded that his team — and the HC in
particular — had been pressing GOZ officials “quite a bit”
on all this, albeit in a quiet, non-public way. He
acknowledged that perhaps he and his staff could do a better
job of keeping interested governments apprised of OCHA,s
diplomatic efforts.
¶4. (C) Concern over the apparent voluntary withdrawal by
OCHA of two planned protection staff at a time when they were
crucially needed: Holmes said this was the first he had
heard of this and agreed that if the explanation for this
action was that OCHA did not want to provoke an incident with
the GOZ, then OCHA should have forced the issue and placed
the burden directly on the GOZ to request that the one staff
member already in country be removed from the country. He
said he would look into this.
¶5. (C) Concern over the participation by GOZ officials in
UN assessments about the viability and safety of IDP returns:
Holmes did not specifically comment on this point, but took
our concerns under advisement.
¶6. (C) The need to ensure that the HC and OCHA,s field
operations are strengthened with the right personnel and
sufficient resources in place to adequately and robustly
engage the GOZ on humanitarian operations: Holmes clearly
heard the message that a new HC, with the requisite
humanitarian operations/diplomatic skill mix, was very much
needed. He said that the current HC — UN Resident
Coordinator Antonio Zacarias — has asked to leave. The
position is currently being advertised, Holmes said, and
commented that he thought it would be difficult to recruit
candidates (“Who wants to work in Zimbabwe these days?”).
STATE 00077761 002 OF 002
Holmes noted that problems with the HC have existed for a
while now and that the HC and OCHA staff in Zimbabwe “do not
get along.” (Note: When asked more formally during the ODSG
High-Level meeting what recourse the ERC had to deal with
non-performing HCs, Holmes sidestepped the question,
commenting that he now has “compacts” with eight of the 26
HCs, which help the HCs identify and focus on priorities and
provide a documented basis for mutual accountability.)
———————————————
OCHA Donors’ Support Group High-Level Meeting
———————————————
¶7. (C) Zimbabwe was also an agenda item (along with Burma)
on the ODSG High-Level meeting. The “basic problem,” said
Holmes is that Zimbabwe is a “prolonged crisis” and that he
did not see any end in sight. (Comment: in an aside during a
meeting break, Holmes told Pollack that Zimbabwe opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai was not a very good politician —
implying that a Tvsangirai-led government was not necessarily
the solution.) Holmes noted that the already bad food
situation is only getting worse, along with a continuing
deterioration of Zimbabwe,s infrastructure (e.g., health)
compounded by the worsening food situation. He said 2-4
million Zimbabweans are in need of outside assistance.
¶8. (C) Holmes said that OCHA is not viewed affectionately
by the GOZ and that it was important, therefore, to keep a
low profile, noting that the UN team in Zimbabwe has
protested publicly and privately the restrictions placed by
the government on NGO operations. On the NGO issue, Holmes
said that NGOs could continue some small operations, but that
in practice the NGOs found it very difficult to really
operate; he speculated that while the restrictions still
exist, that perhaps it was just a matter of time before the
GOZ would ease the restrictions. He said that humanitarian
operations “will be okay for a few more weeks,” but that it
would become a real problem if the restrictions went on
longer than that. The UN can only fill small gaps in NGO
operations and he encouraged donors, noting that the UN has
pressed at all levels, to similarly press the GOZ on this
issue. He ended his remarks by saying that working in
Zimbabwe was “a very delicate balancing act.”
¶9. (C) The ensuing discussion was equally cautionary. The
UK representative expressed concern that parts of the UN were
not ready for a deteriorating situation and that more
realistic contingency planning was needed. Ireland echoed
this concern, asking specifically what was being done by OCHA
on possibly large refugee outflows. On this point, Holmes was
very clear that UNHCR had the lead and that UNHCR had a good
contingency plan in place and was working very closely with
OCHA and governments in the region. (Pollack re-emphasized
this point with the Irish rep during a break.) Canada urged
Holmes or Deputy ERC Catherine Bragg to visit Zimbabwe and
expressed concerns about the HC that were similar to ours. In
response to another USG point regarding the critical
communication leadership role OCHA needed to play with the
humanitarian community in Zimbabwe, Holmes acknowledged that
more needed to be done, noting that Zimbabwe was one of
OCHA,s “principles of partnership” pilot countries. In
response to Canada,s point on a high-level OCHA visit,
Holmes said that he was the wrong nationality (British) —
and noted that when such a suggestion was made publicly by
British officials, it was immediately dismissed by the GOZ.
Holmes did suggest that perhaps Deputy ERC Bragg (a Canadian
national) could visit, but acknowledged that the GOZ will not
accept a UN Special Envoy position.
RICE
(41 VIEWS)
