VZCZCXRO1633
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0491/01 0580652
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 270652Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1628
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY 0156

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KHARTOUM 000491 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AIDAC 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/SPG, PRM, AND ALSO PASS USAID/W 
USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AF/EA, DCHA 
NAIROBI FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA, USAID/REDSO, AND FAS 
USMISSION UN ROME 
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH 
NAIROBI FOR SFO 
NSC FOR JMELINE, TSHORTLEY 
USUN FOR TMALY 
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI KAWC SU
SUBJECT:  Sudan/Unity State: Sources of Fragility 
 
 
KHARTOUM 00000491  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
------------------- 
Summary and Comment 
------------------- 
 
¶1. USAID staff visited Rubkona/Bentiu from February 19- 
22, 2006.  The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) has 
significantly improved security as the militia groups 
that dominated the area during the war have integrated 
into the SPLA.  However, a number of factors threaten the 
uneasy peace:  a dispute over the border with South 
Kordofan and thus the revenues of the lucrative Heglig 
oil field, he mhgr!tion ofJaggra@(Liw3ipm) nouads-qnd$5hc!dc2gQbeczQ_gz'QupNok`kh@~BcQ`% udo,^Q^c4QH+a1be%E`U3Q7QQ5e it clear that he was 
"counting on USAID" to provide humanitarian assistance 
while the SPLM "takes care of the army." Capacity in the 
area for community-based organizations to manage a 
humanitarian response is also very weak, making it 
difficult for the small international NGO community to 
expand their work rapidly.  Provision of potable water is 
the most urgent need, especially in the urban and peri- 
urban zones, in addition to a food aid package to carry 
returnees up through the next harvest.  A strong 
injection of energy and expertise is needed from the 
humanitarian community to support the reintegration of 
the returnees, while dialogue with the state government 
on what it will contribute to the process must continue. 
End summary and comment. 
 
---------------- 
Brief Background 
---------------- 
 
¶3.  USAID staff (Senior Humanitarian Advisor and FSN IDP 
focal point) visited Unity State from February 19-22, 
2006, to investigate reports of large number of returnees 
to the northern part of the state and to examine factors 
of fragility as part of an ongoing exercise to fine tune 
the DCHA programming in Sudan (Note: visits have already 
been made to the Nuba Mountains, Abyei, Twic County, Bor, 
and Wau/Aweil - ongoing).  During the visit, the team 
traveled to Abiemnon in Mayom County, near the border 
with Warrap State and South Kordofan/Abyei, and to a 
fishing village along the White Nile in the oil fields to 
visit a group of fishermen who are benefiting from USAID 
funding. The delegation held meetings with GoSS 
authorities, traditional leaders, and community-based 
organizations as well as the UN agencies and NGOs 
operating in the area. 
 
¶4.  Unity State comprises an estimated population of 
587,639 based on the WFP Annual Needs Assessment of 2005. 
Approximately 75 percent of the population is Nuer, and 
the remaining part Dinka and other tribes. There are 9 
counties under the current administrative system, with 
the Governor (Taban Deng) based in Bentiu along with his 
state cabinet.  A tributary of the nearby White Nile, the 
Bahr el Ghazal River, flows through the town, dividing 
Rubkona (where NGOs live and work and the location of the 
airport) and Bentiu town (seat of government).  A new 
bridge has recently been constructed by one of the oil 
companies linking the two cities. 
The tributary as well as the Nile are heavily clogged by 
papyrus and water lily in this area and have been 
unnavigable since 2004.  Unity State is rich in oil and 
fertile land, but the population depends heavily on 
humanitarian assistance due to the insecurity endured 
during the war. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Rubkona/Bentiu Transformed by Peace 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  The peace accord has brought about a level of 
security unknown by the population of the state during 
 
KHARTOUM 00000491  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
the war.  The South Sudan Independence Movement (SSIM) 
and South Sudan Unity Movement(SSUM) SSIM and SSUM 
militia have been absorbed into the SPLA, guns are no 
longer evident on the streets, and gunshots no longer 
interrupt the night.  Random taxation by armed groups is 
a thing of the past, although government-imposed taxes 
remain.  The curfew is lifted and the population is free 
to move around between the two cities throughout the day 
and night.  The market in Rubkona is filled with goods, 
including furniture, clothing, watches, and sunglasses, 
in addition to food items.  Although expensive, and not 
much evidence of wide-scale purchasing by the local 
population, the mere presence of so many merchants and 
goods shows there was some confidence within the private 
sector. (Note:  As a security measure, the GoSS is 
staffing security posts at the market edges following a 
spike of violence that included destruction of some 
stalls in the market, after the death of John Garang in 
late July.  A significant number of traders in the market 
are Zaghawa from Darfur.  End note.) During the team's 
visit, a huge dredger was cutting away the papyrus and 
water lily to open up the river.  According to the 
governor, the rivers, both the White Nile and the 
tributary, will be clear by the end of the month, 
permitting a resumption of water traffic into the state. 
 
-------------------- 
Sources of Fragility 
-------------------- 
 
¶6.  The most pressing issue threatening stability in 
Unity State is the row over the northern border with 
South Kordofan/Abyei.  At stake is the siting of the well- 
head of the lucrative Heglig oil field.  The state owning 
the well would receive 2 percent of the revenues. 
According to the local authorities, the border of Unity 
State per the 1956 maps that are the guide for the CPA 
puts Heglig well into Unity State.  They are very upset 
with the UN, which has issued maps showing Heglig outside 
of Unity State and as a "contested area" reflecting 
claims by Khartoum that Heglig is part of Abyei (and for 
the time being, South Kordofan due to the lack of 
administration in Abyei).  The Sudanese Armed Forces 
(SAF), which relied on the southern militia to protect 
the oil fields during the war, has recently deployed 
about 500 troops to the area to maintain a counterbalance 
to the militia who are now SPLA.  Recent pronouncements 
from the Presidency indicate that any decision on the 
Unity State border will await the review of the Boundary 
Commission that will be looking at other border issues 
throughout the south. Meanwhile, the stand off continues 
on the ground. 
 
¶7. Throughout the war, militia aligned to the government 
and the SPLA battled for control of the area and 
disrupted the population through banditry, harassment, 
and violence.  As a result, the northern part of Unity 
State was in a persistent state of emergency throughout 
the war, and the few NGOs who operated in the area were 
often forced to evacuate or reduce staff.  Keeping the 
militia under control will be critical to consolidating 
the peace.  The Governor told USAID that his priority is 
to use any financial resource coming to the state to pay 
the army. 
 
¶8.  More worrying to local authorities is what they 
describe as a deliberate arming of Missirya nomads by the 
SAF.  The annual migration is one time when the encounter 
of Arab nomads and Nuer farmers/herders can result in 
tensions.  Traditional conflict resolution mechanisms 
were employed to negotiate migration routes and access to 
water.  This time, there is concern that the Missirya are 
trying to lay claim to land in the area and to take over 
economic activities, including charcoal production, sale 
of poles, and forest products. The governor told USAID 
that a meeting between Dinka, Nuer, and Missirya was 
reportedly held recently near Heglig to calm tensions and 
that further discussions are planned. 
 
¶9.  The UN estimates that over 45,000 internally 
displaced persons have returned to Unity State, with most 
 
KHARTOUM 00000491  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
of them passing through a northern point at Kharasana in 
Pariang country and then moving on to Rubkona/Bentieu and 
points south or to Warrap to the west or Upper Nile and 
Jonglei to the east.  Tracking and monitoring of returnee 
flows has been marred by irregular payments to 
enumerators, and the fact that Kharasana is in a 
"contested area," means that IOM has opted not to put a 
way station there, instead convincing the governor it 
should be in Bentiu town. 
 
¶10.  The team visited Abiemnon in Mayom County in the 
northwest of the state.  The area was completely 
abandoned during the war and counted only 15 huts a few 
months ago when CARE conducted an initial assessment. 
Today, the small village is now a town, with a market, 
several thousand residents, and a local administration. A 
busload of returnees from Khartoum had just arrived, 
offering the opportunity of interviews by the USAID and 
CARE team.  Overwhelmingly, everyone asked why he or she 
had returned to Unity State said it was because security 
had been restored.  However, returnees also said that 
they had expected to find services in the area and were 
concerned to be learning that there was little to be 
found (Note:  CARE does have a clinic and has been 
providing a food rations to the returnees.  End note.) 
Because in Abiemnon and in other places there is no 
genuine "host population," the entire population of 
returnees is dependent on international assistance until 
the first crops can be grown. 
 
¶11.  One of the first challenges to returnees is to 
reclaim their original villages.  Many of the villages no 
longer exist having been taken over by the oil companies, 
whose presence is significant in this area. Formal 
compensation plans are not yet in place, but the subject 
is heavily discussed by officials and the local 
population.  The northern part of the state is heavily 
criss-crossed with oil roads, many of which the governor 
said are damaging to the environment as they were 
constructed without consideration for the drainage that 
is needed in this heavily swampy area. 
 
¶12.  Villages have also been reclaimed by heavy forest 
and will require extensive clearing by the population to 
open areas for habitation and cultivation.  Some UNMIS 
officials believe that the GoSS is deliberately 
encouraging resettlement in the northern part of the 
state to protect the oil fields.  If the past is prologue 
in the South (i.e., the "Bor Wars") an aid-receiving 
population can be a source of sustenance for a fighting 
army. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Humanitarian Response Behind the Curve 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶13.  The organization of the humanitarian community in 
Unity is not yet fully consistent with the new situation 
in the south.  OCHA pointed out to USAID that NGOs who 
worked from the "southern sector" for the most part have 
still not established a presence in the capital of the 
state, a former garrison city under then-GOS control. 
Likewise, NGOs who served Bentiu and other GOS-controlled 
areas from Khartoum continue to do so largely for 
logistics reasons and have not yet moved their center of 
operations to Juba.  There is a monthly coordination 
meeting, but OCHA indicated that not all NGOs are 
actively participating as yet.  The small UN team in 
Rubkona/Bentiu needs to be reinforced to handle the 
growing returnee situation and the potential crises that 
could erupt in the area over oil and/or inter-ethnic 
tensions. 
 
¶14.  USAID partner CARE is off to a slow start in 
implementing a community based livelihoods and capacity 
building program for returnees that was funded in 2005. 
It has started a carpentry workshop, obtained land, and 
provided seeds for women's communal gardening, and is 
supporting groups of fishermen along the White Nile.  The 
need for community organization and grass-roots driven 
development is high, but the implementing capacity of 
 
KHARTOUM 00000491  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
local NGOs is very weak, slowing down delivery of 
urgently needed skills building. 
 
¶15.  CARE has been WFP's partner in the distribution of 
full rations to the returnees and half rations to 
vulnerable groups.  CARE also has a separate pipeline 
from USAID/FFP that it will use to target a specific 
community before handing over all distributions to German 
Agro Action.  The WFP program targets a total of 103,304 
food aid beneficiaries in Unity State.  State health care 
services are weak, and CARE serves former GOS areas of 
the State with a network of 5 clinics (Note:  NGOs who 
work from Nairobi service many of the rural areas that 
have been consistently under SPLM control.  End note.) 
MSF/F is focusing their medical work on specialized 
tuberculosis and Kala Azar clinics, while ACF/F is 
handling the nutrition sector with a small wat/san and 
food security component in Rubkona/Bentiu.  World Relief, 
operating from Nairobi, is one of several NGOs providing 
health support in the rural parts of the northern 
counties and plans under new funding from USAID to move 
some of their activities to the towns that are hosting 
large numbers of returnees. 
 
¶16.  An oil-company constructed hospital opened in Bentiu 
in late 2005, but is staffed and equipped very poorly 
according to the NGOs and UN.  Nonetheless, the one 
doctor is able to deal with difficult obstetric cases, 
saving the long trip to the next closest hospital at 
Heglig. 
 
 
¶17.  Provision of potable water is the most critical task 
facing the state now that the displaced are returning in 
droves.  The problem is particularly acute in the 
Rubkona/Bentiu urban zone, where water near the surface 
is too salty and further down has been tested as too 
contaminated for human consumption.  Wells must be 
drilled to at least 200 meters to obtain "sweet water." 
In the case of the Rubkona/Bentiu, filtering water from 
the Nile is the most logical intervention over the long 
term, but at present there is only a small system that 
provides a fraction of the town's needs.  As with Juba, 
if potable water issues are not addressed, larger-scale 
outbreaks of diarrheal disease could be anticipated in 
the near future, leading to a large-scale emergency. 
Various partners, including USAID partner PACT and ACF/F, 
are engaged in the water sector, but the pace of drilling 
is not keeping up with the needs of the population. 
 
HUME