VZCZCXRO8424
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0506/01 0880643
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 290643Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6670
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 000506 
 
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 PMARCHAM, MMAGAN, AND TSHORTLEY 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
USUN FOR TMALY 
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI UN SU
SUBJECT:  DARFUR - INCREASINGLY PRECARIOUS HUMANITARIAN ENVIRONMENT 
 
 
KHARTOUM 00000506  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (U) U.N. and non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives 
again appealed to donors for support in addressing the deteriorating 
humanitarian environment in Darfur and growing obstacles in 
providing assistance.  Painting a particularly bleak picture, U.N. 
Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) Manuel DaSilva recently reviewed 
worsening humanitarian indicators, continuing violence, including 
targeted attacks on aid workers, increasingly limited access to 
populations in need, and a lack of progress in addressing the 
bureaucratic stranglehold on relief efforts.  Many humanitarian 
agencies question how long they can continue to operate in Darfur 
under current conditions.  Relief organizations also express 
increasing frustration at the lack of political progress in Darfur 
and report increasing difficulty in fielding experienced staff to 
implement assistance programs. 
 
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BACKGROUND 
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¶2.  (U) In preparation for a meeting on Darfur planned for the 
sidelines of the Sudan Consortium, the U.N. and representatives of 
an NGO forum provided a stark overview of current humanitarian 
conditions and growing challenges facing relief agencies in Darfur. 
Negative trends in security and access, as well as the continued 
imposition of bureaucratic impediments, constitute major threats to 
the humanitarian community's current ability to deliver basic 
assistance and protection to civilians in Darfur. 
 
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EARLIER SUCCESSES NOW UNDER THREAT 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) HC DaSilva recognized the significant success of 
international efforts in addressing the unfolding humanitarian 
emergency in 2004 and 2005, when mortality rates were well beyond 
emergency levels.  However, in the past year indicators have begun 
to take a turn for the worse and these gains are now under threat. 
The U.N. reports that global acute malnutrition rose to 13.1 per 
cent in 2006, nearing emergency thresholds again.  More than 400,000 
additional people have been displaced since the signing of the 
Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2006, including 86,000 since the 
beginning of 2007. 
 
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ACCESS RESTRICTIONS WORSENING 
----------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) The U.N. reports a significant deterioration of access to 
populations in need over the past year.  In February 2007, an 
estimated 900,000 people could not be reached by the international 
relief effort, a figure representing nearly one quarter of the total 
caseload.  (Note:  U.N. figures on inaccessible populations are a 
snapshot of the continually shifting environment in Darfur. 
Populations beyond the reach of assistance efforts are not 
necessarily the same from month to month.  End note.)  U.N. maps 
comparing access in 2006 to 2007 show expanding areas with no 
humanitarian access in all three Darfur states.  While in some cases 
access is blocked through explicit orders from the Sudanese 
government, general insecurity and the inability of humanitarian 
workers to establish minimum guarantees of safety also prevent 
access to large areas of Darfur. 
 
--------------------------------- 
SECURITY CONTINUES TO DETERIORATE 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) The dramatic deterioration of security in much of Darfur 
over the past year has been well documented.  In 2006, 120 vehicles 
were hijacked, and 21 have been hijacked in the first two and a half 
months of 2007.  A total of 430 aid workers had to be relocated 
during the month of December 2006 due to insecurity.  HC DaSilva 
characterized the current relief efforts as operating below a 
minimum threshold of acceptable security, recalling that 12 relief 
workers were killed in one month in July 2006.  DaSilva cited three 
"bench marks" that highlight the current security crisis:  the 
attack on relief workers in Gereida, South Darfur, in December 2006, 
the police raid and abuse of U.N. and NGO workers in Nyala, South 
 
KHARTOUM 00000506  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
Darfur, in January 2007, and the expulsion of the Norwegian Refugee 
Council from South Darfur in late 2006. 
 
¶6.  (U) The U.N. continues to compile monthly statistics on security 
incidents, such as vehicle hijackings, detentions, and armed 
invasions of NGO compounds, in an effort to inform humanitarian 
operations.  Information sharing on security among humanitarian 
actors in Khartoum and in the field is currently strong.  However, 
recently some key U.N. and NGO security staff have been expelled 
from Sudan, raising concerns about attempts to disrupt coordination 
among humanitarian actors. 
 
¶7.  (U) The fluid security situation and the erratic nature of 
violence in Darfur make it increasingly difficult for NGOs to plan 
and implement relief activities.  Insecurity is cited by 
humanitarian NGOs as the primary limiting factor in their work. 
Splintering armed opposition movements have added to the overall 
disorder in Darfur and recently there have been growing reports of 
fighting between formerly government-aligned armed elements.  U.N. 
and NGO humanitarian actors struggle to navigate this chaotic 
political and security environment to address the needs of affected 
civilian populations.  In addition, according to the U.N., 60 per 
cent of households in need of food aid cite insecurity as the main 
barrier to cultivating their land, raising livestock, and taking 
part in other income generating activities.  The violence in Darfur 
is forcing people to be more dependent on aid while at the same time 
making it more difficult for agencies to deliver assistance, 
particularly in rural areas. 
 
¶8.  (U) NGOs fear that the direct targeting of humanitarian 
operations in Darfur has become routine.  Agencies report regularly 
reviewing whether they can continue to operate in Darfur or if the 
current situation creates an unacceptable level of risk.  NGOs also 
report that the targeting of humanitarian workers has negatively 
affected staff morale and undermined their ability to recruit and 
retain qualified personnel.  NGO staff in the field have expressed 
distress that routine programmatic decisions such as the movement of 
vehicles and staff now have potentially life or death consequences. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
BUREAUCRATIC IMPEDIMENTS REMAIN A MAJOR OBSTACLE 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶9.  (U) While the Sudanese government has officially extended the 
2004 "Moratorium on Restrictions" for humanitarian workers until 
January 2008, NGOs report that many elements of the agreement have 
not been implemented.  Short-term permits limited to a particular 
state have recently been granted to some NGO staff, in contravention 
of earlier Sudanese government pledges.  These limited permits do 
not allow the flexibility required for effective humanitarian 
programming.  Delays by the Department of Labor in processing work 
permits, continued customs clearance holdups, and the increasing 
cost of visas and permits are strangling relief operations despite 
continued promises by the Sudanese government to alleviate the 
restrictions.  Agencies that have been outspoken about human rights 
and protection abuses in Darfur are increasingly individually 
targeted for harassment through these bureaucratic requirements. 
 
¶11.  (U) Sudanese government obstruction of humanitarian staff from 
internal flights continues.  The U.N. reports that staff members in 
North Darfur are arbitrarily removed from U.N. humanitarian flights 
on a nearly daily basis.  The U.N. Office for the Coordination of 
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) cites these incidences as violations of 
the U.N.'s Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and has asked donors to 
raise this issue in bilateral discussions. 
 
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FRUSTRATION AMONG AID AGENCIES 
------------------------------ 
 
¶12.  (U) The level of frustration among NGOs and U.N. agencies in 
Darfur remains high, with NGOs reporting low morale and high levels 
of stress among staff.  Many NGO field staff have been prevented 
from leaving the country due to delays in getting exit and re-entry 
visas.  This has resulted in humanitarian workers missing funerals 
and other important family functions, as well as taking much-needed 
leave.  Humanitarian actors fear that some programs are close to the 
breaking point and stress that relief activity for the nearly four 
million people in need of assistance cannot substitute for political 
progress in addressing the conflict in Darfur. 
 
KHARTOUM 00000506  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
HUME