VZCZCXRO1827
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0195/01 0381335
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071335Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9914
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000195 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SE WILLAMSON AND AF/SPG 
DEPARTMENT PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID SOCI KHIV SU
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT BASHIR'S NICER BROTHER: RUFAIDA MEDICAL 
FOUNDATION ASSISTS VICTIMS OF THE REGIME'S OWN BRUTAL 
POLICIES 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Led by President Omar Al-Bashir,s brother 
and sister-in-law, the Rufaida Health Foundation (RHF) 
promotes health services and disaster relief throughout 
Sudan, notably to populations marginalized or victimized by 
the policies of the Khartoum government.  The Foundation also 
works to promote HIV/AIDS and drug abuse awareness and 
treatment.  RHFs efforts highlight the contradictions of 
Sudan,s political elite.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) On February 6, CDA Fernandez visited the small but 
active Rufaida Health Foundation and met with RHF Secretary 
General Dr. Abdullah Al-Bashir and his wife Dr. Nur El Huda 
Shafie, RHF,s Executive Manager.  Dr. Al-Bashir, who is an 
Irish-trained surgeon in the Sudan Armed Forces Medical 
Corps, is the younger brother of Sudanese President Omar 
Al-Bashir.  Dr. Al-Bashir noted that he must balance his work 
load at the Foundation with his military duties.  The 
Al-Bashirs described the twin objectives of their Foundation 
as medical disaster relief and promoting health services 
throughout Sudan, including in Darfur and other marginalized 
areas. 
 
Disaster Relief ) Darfur and Beyond 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) The Al-Bashir,s outlined the RHF,s activities in 
Darfur.  Partnered with the European Union, the Foundation 
provides both physical and psychological-health services to 
the local population, including IDPs.  The Foundation's 
services include psychological counseling and treatment to 
victims of violence, notably traumatized women and children. 
Education and therapy seek to promote a &culture of peace8 
among the population by encouraging recipients to think about 
ways they can work together to resolve problems. The NGO was 
previously active in Nyala's teeming Kalma IDP camp and now 
has an operation in neighboring Otash IDP camp. Dr. Nur 
described working in Kalma "sitting with weeping women 
telling you their stories, and you cry too." 
 
¶4.  (U) In addition to its Darfur activities, RHF provides 
emergency medical assistance in natural and man-made disaster 
areas elsewhere in Sudan, and in areas lacking basic medical 
care via mobile clinics in partnership with UNICEF.  The 
Foundation has worked in South Sudan, for example, providing 
post-conflict services in Bentiu, similar to what is 
providing now in Darfur.  CDA commented that, from his 
experience, this type of mental health outreach is unusual in 
the Arab world.  Dr. Nur agreed that mental health services 
currently are largely limited to hospitals and need to be 
more broadly available. 
 
HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse Programs 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) The Al-Bashirs also described the Foundation's 
efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and drug abuse.  With the support 
of UNAIDS, RHF works to encourage safe behavior among the 
population (focusing on high-risk groups, including the 
prison population and truck drivers) and to make HIV/AIDS 
services available.  RHF also provides drug education and 
prevention services.  Dr. Shafie noted that narcotics are a 
growing problem in Sudan, due to its location on a transit 
route for drug smuggling, which contributes to the spread of 
HIV.  The Foundation provides drug-education in the schools, 
training students who provide the instruction, believing that 
such peer-to-peer programs will have more credibility. 
 
Opportunities for Partnership 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) The CDA expressed his admiration for the work that 
RHF is doing and said he would encourage American NGO and 
government institutions to get in contact to explore possible 
opportunities for cooperation.  He noted that USAID already 
has a large health program in Sudan, mostly in the South but 
it is consulting internally on how best to restructure its 
programs in the rest of the country, especially in Darfur. 
There is a need, of course, for improved physical and mental 
health services throughout Sudan.   He added that the United 
States has been providing extensive emergency humanitarian 
aid in Darfur, but wants to begin to transition to 
development assistance, as it as done in the South.  Health 
programs will be a key part of development in Darfur but only 
a real improvement in the security situation will enable the 
international community to shift to early recovery programs. 
 
 
KHARTOUM 00000195  002 OF 002 
 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The work of the Rufaida Health Foundation reflects 
some of the complexity and irony of Sudan,s internal 
turmoil.  While the GoS has marginalized wide swaths of the 
country and its population - and has unleashed terrible 
suffering in Darfur and earlier in the South - President Al 
Bashir,s own brother heads an NGO that is performing relief 
work in these same geographic areas, notably to victims of 
government-inspired violence.  The Foundation also is 
reaching out to areas that are neglected by Khartoum.  We 
resisted the temptation to ask this busy, well-intentioned 
couple an obvious question: wouldn't their labors be 
lightened if the Government headed by their brother wasn't so 
bent on traumatizing so many of its own citizens? 
FERNANDEZ