VZCZCXRO4715
PP RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1814/01 2111242
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301242Z JUL 06 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3940
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 001814 
 
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, FAS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI KAWC SU
SUBJECT:  SUDAN Q USAID MONITORING TRIP TO SOUTHERN 
KORDOFAN, NORTHERN KORDOFAN, AND WHITE NILE 
 
KHARTOUM 00001814  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  From July 5 to 9, three USAID Office of U.S. Foreign 
Disaster Assistance (OFDA) officials traveled to the 
Nuba Mountains in Southern Kordofan, El Obeid in 
Northern Kordofan, and Kosti in White Nile to monitor 
four projects funded by USAID/OFDA.  In Southern 
Kordofan, the team visited Lagawa and Dilling localities 
in western Nuba Mountains to monitor International 
Rescue Committee (IRC) and Save the Children/US (SC/US) 
projects.  In Northern Kordofan, the team observed the 
construction of two water reservoirs being dug by 
community labor through a program managed by CARE.   In 
Kosti in White Nile, the team visited an ADRA project 
assisting internally displaced persons (IDPs) returning 
to Southern Sudan after years of living in urban centers 
in Northern Sudan.  All projects were found to be well- 
managed and provide important services to war and 
drought-affected communities.  End summary. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
Southern Kordofan:  Strong Programs, but Greater Needs 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶2.  USAID/OFDA Division Director for Disaster Response 
and Mitigation Antoinette Ferrara, USAID/Khartoum Acting 
Senior Humanitarian Advisor John Marks, and 
USAID/Khartoum Health Specialist Dr. Haidar abu Ahmed 
traveled to the Nuba Mountains in Southern Kordofan, El 
Obeid in Northern Kordofan, and Kosti in White Nile from 
July 5 to 9.  In Southern Kordofan, the team spent three 
days visiting project sites with IRC in Lagawa and SC/US 
in Dilling in the western Nuba Mountains.  The team 
found that both IRC and SC/US are operating strong 
health, water, and community recovery programs in this 
area heavily affected by the North-South war. 
 
¶3.  The Nuba Mountains has a special significance for 
USAID because it was the key that opened the door to the 
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the 
North-South war.  During the mid and late 1990s, the 
Nuba Mountains was in humanitarian crisis because the 
civil war created dire needs, but the Government of 
Sudan (GOS) refused to allow humanitarian assistance to 
reach this area.  In July 2001, at a time when the GOS- 
Sudan PeopleQs Liberation Movement (SPLM) peace talks 
were stalled, USAID asked both the GOS and the SPLM to 
agree to a two-day military stand-down to permit one 
relief flight to deliver eight tons of U.S. wheat to a 
location in the SPLM zone.  The parties agreed, and the 
flight took place August 30, 2001.  USAID then requested 
a 30-day military stand-down to allow the U.N. World 
Food Program (WFP) to deliver 2,000 tons of food 
assistance to the entire SPLM region in the Nuba 
Mountains, in parallel to a distribution already planned 
for GOS areas.  The parties also agreed to this, and 
2,000 tons of food were delivered in November 2001.  At 
the same time, U.S. diplomatic leadership in the peace 
process, through Special Envoy John Danforth, led to GOS 
and the SPLM signing the Nuba Mountains Cease-Fire 
Agreement in Switzerland in January 2002.  Six months 
later, the two parties signed the Machakos Protocol in 
Kenya, which led directly to the CPA. 
 
¶4.  A second reason for the special importance of the 
Nuba Mountains to USAID relates to the CPA negotiations 
in 2004.  When the peace talks in Kenya stalled over the 
political protocol for the Nuba Mountains and Southern 
Blue Nile, the international community, including the 
U.S. Government (USG), urged the SPLM to compromise on 
the political aspects in these two areas so that the 
overall talks could move ahead.  The SPLM wanted a 
referendum with the option of secession for all areas 
that it controlled.  The GOS agreed to the referendum in 
Southern Sudan and Abyei, but opposed it in Southern 
Kordofan and Southern Blue Nile.  The USAID 
Administrator told the SPLM that USAID would give 
special consideration to the people of these two areas 
if the SPLM compromised.  The SPLM compromised, the 
peace talks moved to conclusion, and USAID remains 
committed to prioritizing assistance to these two 
areas. 
 
¶5.  The SC/US program in Southern Kordofan started in 
 
KHARTOUM 00001814  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
1994, under USAID/OFDA funding, and now covers most of 
the Nuba Mountains with its western Nuba sub-office in 
Dilling.  IRCQs newer and smaller program started in 
2002 with co-funding from USAID/OFDA, and operates in 
western Nuba only from its base in Lagawa.  Both 
programs are building new health centers, with SC/US 
doing a better job of linking to other resources, such 
as the Ministry of Health for salaries and the U.N. 
ChildrenQs Fund (UNICEF) for a supply of drugs.  Both 
programs are increasing the supply of clean water, 
drilling new boreholes, and repairing broken pumps at 
existing boreholes.  IRC is conducting small-scale 
community improvement projects, and SC/US is providing 
agricultural assistance through tractor hire and the 
distribution of seeds.  The USAID team observed that 
tractors hired by SC/US to plow and plant sorghum 
allowed farmers to boost their production threefold, 
from 200 to 600 kilograms for the average farmer, enough 
for household needs and to sell in markets.  The team 
was told that the land is fertile, the rainfall 
adequate, and the people hard-working.  Tractor plowing 
gives villagers a jump-start to get back on their feet 
quickly.  Many people in this war-affected region were 
displaced during the war and have recently returned from 
urban centers in Northern Sudan. 
 
¶6.  Both IRC and SC/US work in former GOS and former 
SPLM areas.  The USAID team observed that most 
communities located in former GOS areas were less 
affected by the war and were in much better condition 
than villages in the SPLM zone where the war was fought. 
In the SPLM zone, the infrastructure and services are 
poorest, and most IDPs are returning home.  The 
imbalance between the two zones is stark.  One village 
visited by the team in the GOS zone has 12 boreholes 
drilled a few years ago by UNICEF; most villages in the 
SPLM zone have no boreholes.  Neither NGO is working in 
the parts of Julud most affected by the war, although 
SC/US, under its current USAID/OFDA award, will extend 
its child vaccination program to all of Julud this year. 
In meetings, both in the field and in Khartoum, 
USAID/OFDA advised IRC and SC/US that USAID/OFDAQs main 
interest is areas of high returns.  Two activities with 
the greatest immediate impact in these impoverished 
areas are water and agricultural recovery through 
tractor hire. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Northern Kordofan: Water Reservoirs Near El Obeid 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶7.  In Northern Kordofan, the USAID team observed the 
construction of two rain reservoirs being dug by 
community labor through a program managed by CARE.  One 
reservoir, funded by USAID/OFDA and the USAID Office of 
Food for Peace (FFP), was recently finished; the other 
is still being constructed with funding from the 
European Commission.  These are massive public works 
projects involving hundreds of laborers from several 
nearby communities who spend weeks digging and carrying 
25,000 cubic meters of dirt, while concrete structures 
are built at inlets and outlets.  The laborers are paid 
food for their work, which they need due to the poor 
harvests last year.  An added benefit is that the 
project keeps wage earners in the villages where they 
can take advantage of early rains to plant their fields. 
Without this employment, most people would seek work in 
urban areas. 
 
¶8.  At the USAID/OFDA-funded reservoir, villagers stated 
that they now bring water by donkey cart from a source 5 
hours away Q meaning a 10 hour trip.  When the carts 
return with water, all the animals in the village, 
including chickens, run to it because they are so 
thirsty.  These reservoirs are a major improvement in 
these rural communities affected by recurring drought. 
Their value is reflected in the villagersQ eagerness to 
do the massive hard work that is involved in digging 
these reservoirs. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Kosti Wharf on the White Nile:  Assisting Returnees 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶9.  The final project site visited by the USAID team was 
the wharf in Kosti on the White Nile River, where IDPs 
from the North return to the South via barges.  In 
 
KHARTOUM 00001814  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
Kosti, USAID/OFDA and USAID/FFP fund ADRA to provide 
assistance to returnees waiting at the wharf to travel 
South.  ADRA has built a way station near the old wharf 
in the center of Kosti where shelter, water, latrines, 
and washing and medical facilities provide much-needed 
services to returnees.  ADRA also provides food 
assistance and essential household items to returnees, 
and coordinates with the International Organization for 
Migration (IOM) to count returnees both at the wharf and 
at bus stations in and around Kosti.  According to ADRA, 
the number of returnees passing through the Kosti 
wharf/bus stations decreased from 2,100 in May 2006 to 
1,152 in June 2006. 
 
¶10.  Traveling south by barge is dangerous because of 
the extremely poor conditions on the barges.  These 
barges are cargo barges that lack adequate floor space, 
water, latrines or washing facilities, shelter, and 
passenger safety equipment.  Returnees recount stories 
of children sometimes falling into the river and 
drowning.  People are willing to make this difficult 
journey, and even rush to get on board when a barge 
convoy departs, because this is the cheapest transport 
option.  Flying by air is unaffordable, and people can 
take all their possessions on the barges.  There is no 
reliable road transportation through to Juba.  In Kosti, 
returnees sometimes wait months for barges making the 
journey to Juba.  On the barges, ADRA provides minimal 
protection services to children, and Fellowship for 
African Relief provides some water and minimal medical 
services, both funded by UNICEF. 
 
¶11.  The U.N. is not willing to get directly involved in 
this passenger movement because it is so far below 
international standards.  The U.N. is prioritizing 
assistance to other theaters of IDP returns:  Juba to 
Bor on the Nile and Darfur to Bahr el Ghazal by road. 
IOM has renovated two passenger barges that are now in 
use on the Juba to Bor route.  Travel by barge, managed 
by the parastatal River Transport Corporation, is likely 
to improve soon.  The Government of Germany has funded 
the renovation of 16 pushers (tug boats), and the first 
two of these boats should be ready in weeks.  The 
Government of the Netherlands is funding the 
construction of 50 new barges to be based in Kosti, and 
10 should be ready before the end of the year. 
 
STEINFELD