VZCZCXRO0409
PP RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1789/01 2061305
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251305Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3886
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 001789 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AIDAC 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/SPG, PRM, AND ALSO PASS USAID/W 
USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AFR/SP 
NAIROBI FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA, USAID/REDSO, AND FAS 
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH 
NAIROBI FOR SFO 
NSC FOR JBRAUSE, NSC/AFRICA FOR TSHORTLEY 
USUN FOR TMALY 
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI SU
SUBJECT:  Darfur - Supplemental Provides Opportunity to 
Expand Humanitarian Services 
 
 
KHARTOUM 00001789  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  From July 5 to 19, a USAID/OFDA Sudan Disaster 
Operations Specialist (DOS) traveled to Darfur to meet 
with USAID/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance 
(OFDA) implementing partners and monitor existing 
programs.  In addition to meeting the critical needs of 
newly displaced families, USAID/OFDA partners continue 
to provide services and goods to camp residents that 
will be transferable to their home communities should 
they decide to return.  USAID/OFDA is currently 
evaluating proposals to meet gaps in area coverage.  End 
summary. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
New Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  From July 5 to 19, a USAID/OFDA Sudan DOS traveled 
to Darfur to meet with USAID/OFDA implementing partners 
and monitor existing programs to the extent possible 
given time and security constraints.  From July 10 to 
12, the DOS visited El Fasher, North Darfur, and area 
camps Zam Zam, Abu Shouk, and Al Salaam.  From July 15 
to 16, the DOS visited Kass, South Darfur, and from July 
13 to 14 and on July 17, the DOS visited Nyala and area 
camps Otash, Kalma, and Alintifada.  (Note: Alintifada 
is a settlement and not a designated IDP camp.  It was 
the original planned site for Kalma camp.  End note.) 
The DOS also met with representatives from the United 
Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), the U.N. Children's 
Fund (UNICEF), and the U.N. Office for the Coordination 
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in El Fasher, North 
Darfur. 
 
¶3.  The DOS visited three camps near El Fasher, two of 
which, Zam Zam and Al Salaam, are currently registering 
new arrivals displaced by recent fighting in the 
Tawila/Korma/Kafod areas west and southwest of El 
Fasher.  In Zam Zam camp, more than 1,600 people or 
approximately 437 households arrived between July 8 and 
10, and more people were arriving daily.  OCHA reported 
on July 13 that they expect an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 
new arrivals will be registered in Zam Zam or Al Salaam 
camps in the coming weeks due to the increased fighting 
in the abovementioned areas.  On July 18, OCHA reported 
that more than 14,000 new arrivals have been registered 
in camps in El Fasher. 
 
¶4.  The DOS spoke to several IDP families who were 
waiting to register with the camp coordinating agencies 
in Al Salaam and Zam Zam camps.  Through these 
conversations, the DOS learned that one village sheik 
received a letter from the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) 
Commander in the region stating that that there would be 
fighting in the area, and the sheikh and villagers 
should leave if they wanted to avoid the violence. 
These families were able to pack up some belongings and 
traveled by donkey for two to three days to El Fasher. 
Another IDP family recounted how violence erupted around 
their village, and they gathered supplies and left the 
area.  One man reported that his family was able to 
leave, but while at the fringe of the town, a soldier in 
a Sudanese government uniform took away all their food. 
One man who fought with the soldier over this issue was 
shot and killed.  The woman he was with continued to the 
camp with other families from the village.  USAID/OFDA 
partners are responding in Zam Zam camp with critical 
shelter, relief commodities, and health services.  In Al 
Salaam camp, USAID partners are responding in the areas 
of camp coordination, relief commodities, and health 
services. 
 
------------------- 
Continuing Services 
------------------- 
 
¶5.  In addition to meeting the critical needs of newly 
displaced families, USAID/OFDA partners continue to 
 
KHARTOUM 00001789  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
provide services to camp residents and provide services 
and goods that will be transferable to their home 
communities should they decide to return.  Several 
USAID/OFDA partners are working with women's groups to 
provide basic education and income-generating 
activities.  The DOS visited women's centers in Zam Zam 
camp in North Darfur and Kass in South Darfur where 
women were making fuel-efficient stoves, improving their 
skills to make local handicrafts and traditional cheese 
products, and receiving basic education.  One USAID/OFDA 
implementing partner has a community center in Zam Zam 
camp where men improve sewing and tailoring skills while 
creating clothing for children that is then distributed 
to IDP children in the camp. 
 
¶6.  The DOS met with USAID/OFDA partners working 
throughout North and South Darfur.  Current program 
activities of implementing partners include camp 
coordination and management, primary health care 
services, therapeutic and supplementary feeding centers, 
food security and agricultural programs, water and 
sanitation, and programs focusing on women and children. 
 
¶7.  As the rainy season begins, health clinics in El 
Fasher, Kass, and the Nyala areas continue to see cases 
of acute respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases, 
the main cause of clinic visits; however cases of 
malaria are also increasing.  All USAID/OFDA 
implementing partners were asked about their preparation 
for any cholera response given the cholera cases 
reported at the end of June 2006.  USAID/OFDA 
implementing partners stated that operating medical 
clinics were appropriately prepared to respond to a 
potential cholera outbreak in their areas of operation 
through both clinical treatment and hygiene campaigns 
designed to reduce and prevent the transmission of 
cholera through water and latrine sources. 
 
----------------- 
Expansion of Work 
----------------- 
 
¶8.  As USAID/OFDA begins to program USD 66.2 million 
from the supplemental for program activities, many 
implementing partners are proposing to expand in new 
areas and will meet the needs of a diverse population 
including multiple ethnic groups, pastoralists, 
agriculturalists, and nomads.  New locations for 
activities include areas along the Darfur border with 
Chad and the Central African Republic.  Implementing 
partners also plan to expand activities in current 
program locations to reach more rural areas and home 
communities. 
 
¶9.  One critical location where programs will be 
implemented is Gereida, South Darfur.  Fighting in 
Gereida between March and May 2006 caused displacement 
of people from their homes as well as the re- 
displacement of IDPs in Donkey Dereissa, Dito, and 
Joghana.  Gereida is now thought to house the largest 
IDP camp in Darfur, with more than 120,000 residents. 
USAID/OFDA is examining funding partners in programs in 
the areas of water and sanitation, health care, and camp 
management; all are critical sectors that are not 
currently being addressed.  USAID/OFDA partners are now 
able to access some of the home areas of these IDPs and 
are working to establish services such as health, 
education, and agriculture for those who are interested 
in returning. 
 
¶10.  USAID/OFDA partners are also planning to work with 
host communities, IDPs, and nomads to address much 
needed basic services in areas such as food security, 
health, and water and sanitation, while programming 
activities through a conflict mitigation lens.  For 
example, proposed activities include new boreholes that 
both reduce the time and distance for water collection, 
but also reduce tensions by locating the boreholes in 
areas where communities historically compete for water 
services.  A USAID/OFDA partner in Kass is working to 
support peace agreements between sheiks in rural 
 
KHARTOUM 00001789  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
communities by providing equal services to the home 
community, IDPs, and nomadic groups that "compete" for 
resources.  USAID/OFDA partners have had success through 
this type of programming for the past several months and 
propose to expand these services in the coming year. 
 
¶11.  USAID/OFDA is currently evaluating proposals to 
meet gaps in area coverage as partners move out of 
cities and into rural areas and re-enter places such as 
Jebel Mara.  USAID/OFDA anticipates that many of the 
programs that will be funded will be for up to one year 
ensuring that IDPs have basic services met through mid- 
fiscal year 2007. 
 
STEINFELD