VZCZCXRO4212
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0697/01 0780850
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 190850Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1947
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KHARTOUM 000697 
 
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:  Nuba Mountains - Where are the Peace Dividends? 
 
REF:  a) Khartoum 2138, b) Khartoum 2140 
 
------------------- 
Summary and Comment 
------------------- 
 
¶1.  This is the first of two cables prepared by a USAID team 
that visited South Kordofan State and Abyei from February 26 
to March 8, 2006.  The purpose of the mission was to a) 
monitor USAID Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and 
Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/DCHA) programs, b) assess the 
returns and transition process, c) examine protection 
issues, d) examine local issues, and e) identify potential 
additional areas of assistance to facilitate realization of 
the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). 
 
¶2.  In addition to the recommendations included in Ref A, 
the team recommends additional interventions to support 
returnee communities.  Other recommendations include 
livelihood support involving water catchment (hafirs) and 
storage containers, conflict resolution through support to 
family tracing and unification initiatives, and civil 
society engagement in the implementation of the South 
Kordofan and Nuba Mountains protocol. 
 
¶3.  The absence of a state government appears to have 
resulted in backsliding on implementation of joint 
institutions.  Governance issues appear to have more 
relevance in South Kordofan than the humanitarian 
conditions.  Nevertheless, it is important to demonstrate 
peace dividends to the general population in order to 
assuage rising frustration levels. 
 
¶4.  The U.N. is introducing a new coordination structure 
under the Resident Coordinator's office.  The first roll out 
of the new model is targeted at Kadugli, the South Kordofan 
State capital, in order to jump start humanitarian and 
recovery activities.  End summary and comment. 
 
----------- 
Background 
----------- 
 
¶5.  A USAID team visited Kadugli and Kauda from February 26 
to March 5, 2006, to review the humanitarian situation in 
advance of the rainy season.  The team consisted of staff 
from the USAID/Khartoum and USAID/Washington.  The team's 
work should be seen in the context of the recently drafted 
USAID Sudan strategy, which emphasizes support to the Three 
Areas, especially in assisting the implementation of the 
CPA, standing up of state governments, and assistance to 
returnees. 
 
¶6.  The political situation in general remains as reported 
in Ref A.  There has been limited progress on the South 
Kordofan State constitution since December 2005.  Hopes are 
high that a recent agreement to form a caretaker government 
by mid-March will be implemented.  This will establish a 
structure allowing for day-to-day government operations 
while the current draft state constitution is discussed and 
finalized.  In the absence of this governmental 
suprastructure, the parallel, Northern-dominated Government 
of National Unity (GNU) and Sudan People's Liberation 
Movement (SPLM) systems have remained in place.  While 
neither system is performing particularly well, service 
delivery is conspicuously lacking in former SPLM areas.  The 
team noted that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 
former SPLM areas were engaging in costly activities 
supporting the parallel structures without consideration of 
the potential development and political implications.  This 
is particularly relevant in the field of health, where 
organizations are moving ahead with plans concurred with by 
either GNU or SPLM authorities. 
 
¶7.  The team met with the USAID funded customary land 
security project in Kauda.  Establishment of this mechanism 
should facilitate resolution of land-related issues once the 
regulatory suprastructure for Southern Kordofan is in place. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Returns - Desires, Expectations, and Frustrations 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
KHARTOUM 00000697  002 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶8.  The willingness to return to areas of origin is high. 
In interviews with potential returnees in the internally 
displaced persons (IDP) camps outside Khartoum, USAID staff 
were told that given the financial means for transport to 
areas of origin, they would return in spite of a known 
absence of basic services.  Indeed, spontaneous returns 
continue.  The Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission 
(SRRC) reports that approximately 51,420 returnees have 
arrived in the Kauda area since November 2005.  Between May 
and October, 2005, the U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) 
identified 12,687 returnees to the Nuba Mountains area and 
27,892 transiting returnees.  The U.N. World Food Program 
(WFP) distributions in February targeted 9,568 returnees. 
Undoubtedly the absence of organized returns precludes 
having completely accurate figures; however, the veracity of 
the numbers presented by SRRC is also questionable.  In 
addition, there are unconfirmed reports of returnees going 
back to Khartoum due to lack of services and livelihood 
opportunities. 
 
¶9.  The team noted that returnees to the Nuba Mountains 
benefited from considerable host community support and 
requested livelihood support and transport assistance to 
return. 
 
¶10.  UNMIS Returns, Reintegration and Recovery unit (UNMIS- 
RRR) has plans for 28 way stations to be established 
throughout the transition areas and the south.  Thus far 
only two of these way stations are functioning (Kosti and 
Malakal).  The way stations are to be managed by the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Office 
of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), or the 
Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).  In order to discourage the 
pull factor inherent in a way station, a 72-hour time limit 
has been established.  During this time returnees will be 
registered, provided water, cooking facilities, and health 
referrals.  In addition, general information through a U.N. 
Children's Fund (UNICEF) information campaign is planned. 
 
¶11.  In Kauda, a way station managed by NRC is set to be 
operational at the end of March.  In anticipation of 
potential tensions between the host population and the 
returnees, water points have been established both inside 
and outside of the way station.  Discussions are ongoing as 
to how better to assist returnees who are arriving directly 
to their villages rather than via routes anticipated by the 
international community.  The SRRC has recommended that 
mobile teams be used to conduct registration at the village 
level.  It is unclear whether or not this approach will be 
undertaken. 
 
¶12.  Information about the conditions in areas of return is 
provided informally, increasing frustration among returnees 
upon arrival to their areas of origin.  IDPs and returnees 
often obtain information about conditions in their areas of 
origin from their own networks.  Information about the CPA 
is generally poor in the Nuba Mountains.  The local 
population in the area is unaware of the special protocol. 
 
¶13.  UNMIS radio has not received its license to operate. 
UNICEF is developing radio spots and an information campaign 
to be managed by IOM to address mine risk awareness, 
HIV/AIDS, child protection, family reunification services, 
sexual- and gender-based violence, and some general 
information on the CPA.  These UNICEF and IOM information 
mechanisms are not yet functioning.  The reasons for this 
are unclear. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Protection - The Absence of Reporting 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶14.  There is a disturbing low level of awareness, 
discussion, or reporting on protection issues in the Nuba 
Mountains.  Although UNICEF and Save the Children/US (SC/US) 
are engaged in child protection issues such as family 
tracing and reunification, the USAID/DCHA team was not aware 
of any dialogue among NGOs regarding broader protection 
issues. 
 
¶15.  The importance of closure for conflict-affected 
 
KHARTOUM 00000697  003 OF 004 
 
 
communities should not be understated.  SC/US has reunited 
43 children with their families.  Such activities facilitate 
community healing and generate support for peace 
initiatives. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Humanitarian and Transition Issues 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶16.  There is broad consensus that access to water is the 
primary humanitarian need and significant potential conflict 
driver.  In addition, health, access to free education, and 
economic and livelihoods opportunities beyond mere 
subsistence may be considered necessary in all return 
communities. 
 
¶17.  Access to water is the key issue in sustaining returns, 
promoting recovery and mitigating the potential for 
conflict.  Limited water resources exacerbate tensions 
between sedentary/return communities and nomadic groups and 
generates community-level frustration currently targeted at 
the international community.  Water access is significantly 
below SPHERE standards; however, existing donor resources 
would likely prove insufficient to meet those standards or 
the expectations of local populations. 
 
¶18.  Access to free education was largely identified as the 
second priority of return populations.  A deficiency of 
trained qualified teachers, lack of a common curriculum due 
to absence of local government, and no agreement on the 
language of instruction present significant obstacles to 
ensuring quality education.  Designation of language(s) of 
instruction is significant for common quality assurance as 
well as to ensure economic opportunities for all groups of 
the population and maximize possible linkages to markets in 
north and south Sudan as well as in northern and sub-Saharan 
Africa.  Current programs in former GOS and SPLM/A areas 
continue in parallel resulting in duplication of effort, 
risking fragmentation of the Nuba Mountains areas education 
system, and creating a potential driver of conflict. 
 
¶19.  Education is highly valued by the population.  The 
critical issue from a practical and policy perspective is 
whether or not the curriculum will be taught in Arabic or 
English.  The lack of a government or overarching political 
framework is a crucial factor in determining this issue. 
Irrespective of this, the general population desires access 
to free education in either Arabic or English.  Expectations 
among the population for service delivery are extremely high 
and the largest pool of existing resources for capacity 
building and delivery are in Arabic, the local "lingua 
franca." 
 
¶20.  While access to health services remains uneven, 
particularly in the Kauda area, coordination of activities 
in this sector is poor.  Both the Diocese of El Obeid and a 
German organization have constructed hospitals in the Kauda 
area located less than one hour apart.  It appears that both 
facilities cover the same catchment area.  Referral 
mechanisms or differences in services offered by these two 
institutions is unclear. 
 
¶21.  People also expressed a need for economic and 
livelihoods recovery.  Basic infrastructure is a critical 
need.  Road rehabilitation and construction would facilitate 
access to services and markets for newly established 
villages and create needed short-term employment for asset 
generation/resource accrual.  Improved road conditions would 
ease access to markets, have definite impact on the local 
economy, and would serve to ease the tremendous workload 
that women in the Nuba Mountains face. 
 
¶22.  The impetus for most of the people who have returned to 
the Nuba Mountains to date was the 2002 ceasefire agreement. 
Most people have minimal knowledge of the CPA and those that 
do know of its existence are unaware of its contents. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
New Coordination Structure to Support Governor's Office 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶23.  The U.N. is introducing a new coordination structure 
 
KHARTOUM 00000697  004 OF 004 
 
 
throughout the country that will put some areas, such as 
Nuba Mountains, under the authority of the Resident 
Coordinator's office (in other areas, OCHA will continue to 
be the lead in coordination).  The first Resident 
Coordinator's office will be in Kadugli, with plans to 
deploy immediately a consultant to work with the government 
to draw up an action plan for the State to identify the most 
urgent priorities, their costs, government and donor 
contributions, and the gaps.  The work will be based on the 
2005 Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) information, but as the 
U.N. pointed out to donors at a recent meeting, the JAM in 
the three areas is very incomplete, hence the need for the 
consultant.  A two- to three-year plan is to be drawn up 
from this exercise. 
 
--------------- 
Recommendations 
-----=xq.YQQ25.  Family tracing and reunification:  The peace dividends 
are immense for families and local communities through the 
restoration of family and kinship units and the closure this 
brings to suffering.  SC/US currently implements this 
program with UNICEF funding.  USAID funds could augment and 
expand the activities of SC/US. 
 
¶26.  Establishment of the necessary infrastructures and 
capacity building to ensure delivery of health services are 
important for management of expectations:  Support for 
coordination mechanisms to avoid duplication should be 
considered. 
 
¶27.  Civil society consultation process for implementation 
of the protocols for Southern Kordofan and the Nuba 
Mountains:  Engaging local leaders, NGOs, and communities 
with information on the protocols and providing an 
opportunity for input is important.  This would not only 
improve awareness and understanding of the CPA and 
protocols, but also enhance ownership of the process by the 
general population.  Such an activity presents an 
opportunity to harness the population's cultural awareness 
toward realization that distinctiveness in the governance 
and social structures of the area. 
 
HUME