VZCZCXRO6270
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0392/01 0761551
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161551Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0226
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0041
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0112
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS 0045
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC 0213

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 000392 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, PRM, AF SE WILLIAMSON 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SP, USAID/W DCHA SUDAN TEAM 
NAIROBI FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA, USAID/REDSO, AND FAS 
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH 
NAIROBI FOR SFO 
NSC FOR PMARCHAM, MMAGAN, AND BPITTMAN 
NEW YORK FOR FSHANKS 
BRUSSELS FOR PBROWN 
USMISSION UN ROME FOR RNEWBERG 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI UN SU
SUBJECT: DARFUR - UNOFFICIAL SETTLEMENTS NEAR SEKELE PRESENT 
HUMANITARIAN CHALLENGES 
 
REF: 07 KHARTOUM 1669 
 
KHARTOUM 00000392  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: New settlements near Sekele (near Nyala, South 
Darfur) originated in October 2007 as a result of GNU HAC efforts to 
relocate IDPs who fled Kalma camp following inter-tribal violence in 
that camp.  While the GNU HAC completed the resettlement process, 
approximately 500 additional families temporarily settled in the 
wadi (seasonal riverbed adjacent to the settlement site) hoping to 
receive government assistance.  The current estimated population of 
the wadi settlement is approximately 2,000 households, and families 
continue to arrive.  The GNU HAC has not allowed humanitarian 
agencies to provide assistance to the individuals living in the 
wadi, asserting that the "wadi people" are not conflict affected 
people and have only come to Sekele from Nyala town seeking free 
services.  Due to the current water, sanitation, and hygiene 
conditions in the wadi, humanitarian agencies are concerned that the 
upcoming rainy season will cause the wadi residents to be 
particularly susceptible to disease outbreaks.  Immediate action is 
required on the part of the GNU HAC and the UN to agree on a way 
forward in dealing with the wadi residents. End summary. 
 
---------- 
BACKGROUND 
---------- 
 
¶2. (U) As part of what is perceived by many in the international 
community to be a GNU strategy to draw people out of IDP camps, the 
GNU HAC dedicated land in South Darfur for settlement areas.  In 
October 2007, the Governor of South Darfur announced plans to divide 
Kalma IDP camp into nine smaller settlements near Nyala town, South 
Darfur.  The first area settled was located at Block 21 south of 
Nyala town.  Relief agencies use several names for the site, 
including Sekele resettlement, Sekele New, and Sekele South, to 
differentiate the new settlement location from Sekele Old Camp. 
Located 2-3 km north of the new Sekele settlement site, Sekele Old 
Camp was established in 2004 and currently houses approximately 
5,133 IDPs.  Sekele New settlement originated in October 2007 when 
the GNU HAC relocated IDPs who fled Kalma camp to the location. 
From October 26 to 28, 2007, the Government of National Unity (GNU) 
Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) resettled approximately 560 
households from Majok village in South Darfur into Sekele New 
settlement.  The internally displaced persons (IDPs) had fled to 
Majok village after fighting in Kalma IDP camp from October 16 to 18 
between different camp factions drove them out of Kalma. 
 
------------------------- 
OFFICIALLY RESETTLED IDPS 
------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) The GNU HAC has provided land and services, including 
education, health, and water, sanitation, and hygiene, to 
approximately 560 former Kalma IDP households officially settled in 
Sekele New.  In October 2007, Medecins Sans Frontieres Netherlands 
(MSF/H) and several other relief agencies began providing residents 
of Sekele New with humanitarian assistance, including a 
MSF/H-established health clinic.  MSF/H plans to withdraw from the 
site by the end of March 2008, as emergency needs following the 
Kalma relocation have subsided. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) After a site assessment of Sekele New in late October, the 
International Migration Organization (IOM) determined that the IDPs 
that the GNU HAC relocated to Sekele on February 26 to 28 did not 
move voluntarily. This can be attributed to GNU efforts to divide 
Kalma camp but also to the inter-tribal fighting that occurred in 
the camp.  It is still unclear whether the GNU HAC informed the IDPs 
who resettled in Sekele that having a resettled status disqualifies 
them from receiving humanitarian assistance, negates any rights IDPs 
have to return to original locations, and prevents the IDPs from 
receiving compensation in accordance with the Darfur Peace Agreement 
(DPA). 
 
 
KHARTOUM 00000392  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
------------------------------------- 
INFORMAL WADI SETTLEMENTS NEAR SEKELE 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) While the GNU HAC was resettling the 560 households into 
Sekele camp, a group of approximately 500 families temporarily moved 
into the wadi adjacent to the settlement site, hoping to receive 
government assistance.  On November 10 and 11, 2007, Sudanese 
government National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) 
officials destroyed the informal settlement and forced all of the 
families to leave.  On November 10, the GNU HAC and NISS denied the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other 
humanitarian agencies access to the Sekele settlement.  IOM has a 
standing Memorandum of Understanding with the GoS allowing IOM full 
access to IDPs and further acknowledges IOMs approved mandate to 
verify the voluntary and appropriate nature of population movement. 
MSF/H wrote several letters to the GNU HAC and the governor's office 
condemning the dismantling of the informal settlement.  According to 
MSF/H, the families left for approximately one week and then 
returned to the wadi near Sekele. 
 
¶6.  (U) Many other individuals from the Burum, Tulus, and Ed Al 
Fursan areas of South Darfur have spontaneously arrived at the 
settlement site.  MSF/H reported multiple reasons behind the 
movement to the wadi, including GNU HAC's refusal to register new 
IDPs in nearby Al Salam camp or other camps, food insecurity in 
villages of origin, recent clashes in Buram, and rumors of free land 
distribution for IDPs.  On February 13, trucks carrying 
approximately 100 individuals, primarily women and children, were 
turned away from Al Salam camp.  On February 14, local officials at 
the Sekele New relocation site turned away a vehicle suspected to be 
the same truck that sought entry to Al Salam.  The following day a 
truck offloaded an undetermined number of people into the wadi 
adjacent to the Sekele settlement.  In February 2008, the estimated 
population of wadi residents near Sekele settlement was 2,000 
households.  From February 25 to March 2, MSF/H reported the arrival 
of 70 new households. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The GNU HAC has repeatedly refused to recognize the 
wadi-dwellers as IDPs and asserts that the individuals are just poor 
people from Nyala town and have come to Sekele to collect free 
services.  The GNU HAC has not allowed humanitarian agencies to 
provide assistance to populations living in the wadi.  MSF/H has 
trucked in water and provided mats for emergency shelter in the 
unofficial settlement, however.  The wadi-dwellers are able to 
access the MSF/H clinic in Sekele, which currently services both the 
resettled IDPs in the Sekele settlement and surrounding community 
residents.  Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) provided relief commodities 
for the wadi residents, but the humanitarian community is not 
currently providing food assistance.  MSF/H reports that most of the 
people living in the wadi travel to Nyala town each day to find work 
in order to buy food.  According to MSF/H, the nutritional status of 
the wadi residents is stable, but increasing cases of diarrhea have 
occurred among the wadi-dwellers in January and February 2008, as no 
clean water and sanitation facilities are available. 
 
--------------- 
FUTURE CONCERNS 
--------------- 
¶8. (U) The upcoming rainy season will cause the wadi people near 
Sekele settlement to be particularly susceptible to disease 
outbreaks, due to the current water, sanitation, and hygiene 
conditions in the wadi.  MSF/H reports open defecation in the wadi 
area and noted concerns that a possible disease outbreak in the wadi 
could spread to Nyala town. 
 
¶9. (SBU) While the emergency needs of the officially resettled IDPs 
in Sekele New have lessened since Sekele New's establishment in 
October 2007, the needs of the wadi residents surrounding Sekele 
settlement remain.  If MSF/H ceases relief operations in Sekele by 
the end of March as planned, the situation of the wadi settlement 
 
KHARTOUM 00000392  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
could become increasingly precarious.  Questions regarding the 
voluntary nature of the GNU HAC's official settlement of Sekele and 
the future status of the resettled IDPs also present potential 
humanitarian consequences. 
 
¶10. (SBU) MSF/H has approached the U.N. Office for the Coordination 
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) 
to elicit U.N. engagement and assistance for the wadi people.  Since 
late November 2007, U.N. partners have discussed the humanitarian 
situation of the wadi people with GNU HAC officials multiple times, 
but the GNU HAC continues to insist that NGO partners conduct 
further assessments of the population, delaying a decision on the 
wadi dwellers' official status.  The NGO assessments conducted to 
date reveal humanitarian needs, such as appropriate shelter and 
water, sanitation, and hygiene services.  In early November, the 
International Rescue Committee (IRC) proposed to respond to the 
water, sanitation, and hygiene needs of the wadi settlers, but the 
GNU HAC denied IRC permission to conduct an assessment of the wadi 
and refused to allow IRC staff to interview Sekele IDP leaders, 
insisting that the wadi-dwellers are squatters from Nyala town and 
therefore ineligible for humanitarian assistance.  The GNU HAC 
contends that the potential of relief assistance continues to draw 
the "wadi people" to Sekele and that the population will leave if 
the provision of humanitarian aid ceases.   The upcoming rainy 
season will force the population living in the wadi to relocate and 
disperse into the surrounding areas, where the group's humanitarian 
needs will be less visible. 
 
¶11. (U) The situation in Al Salam IDP camp, also near Nyala town, is 
similar to that of the Sekele settlement.  The GNU HAC closed Al 
Salam camp on February 13 and began turning away all newly arrived 
IDPs.  Al Salam was the only remaining camp open to new arrivals 
before the February 13 closure.  IDPs who arrived between February 
10 and 13 remain unregistered, and IDP leaders in Al Salam camp 
estimate that 1,700 unregistered households are living in Al Salam 
camp.  Tensions remain high in Al Salam, with GNU HAC officials 
forbidding relief workers from assisting all unregistered new 
arrivals.  Since February 13, some of the IDPs turned away from Al 
Salam Camp have settled in the Sekele wadi. 
 
----------- 
CONCLUSIONS 
----------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) The GNU HAC prefers that relief agencies provide 
assistance to beneficiaries in the villages of origin or at returnee 
sites, but has yet to provide a solution for IDPs who have already 
migrated to informal settlements like Sekele.  USAID FieldOffs will 
continue to work with the humanitarian community and the HAC in 
South Darfur to find a viable solution to the situation in Sekele 
before the rainy season presents further health and sanitation risks 
to the wadi people and surrounding areas. USAID FieldOffs will seek 
to obtain approval from the HAC to allow NGOs to provide assistance 
to the wadi people and/or approval to move the wadi people to an 
already existing camp in Nyala in order that they might receive food 
and non-food assistance. 
 
FERNANDEZ