VZCZCXRO6314
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1585 3020829
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 280829Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2177
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001585 
 
DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG 
NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: ABYEI ADMINISTRATION OFF TO A SLOW START DUE TO FINANCIAL 
OBSTACLES 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Knee-deep in protocols and barely-functional 
joint military and police units, the beleaguered town of Abyei has 
yet to see any of the US$48 million promised to it annually.  The 
Abyei Interim Administrator expects his staff to arrive eager to 
volunteer their services (without pay) on October 30; military and 
police units await full funding as well. With a senior UN official 
calling the bureaucratic headache "a real, real problem," no signs 
indicate that the fiscal hold-up - reportedly due to a proper lack 
of financial controls for the Interim Administration - will be 
resolved anytime soon. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On October 27 UN Head of Office for Abyei Christine 
Johnson reported that none of the institutions established under the 
Abyei Roadmap Agreement (Abyei Administration, Joint Integrated Unit 
(JIU), and Joint Integrated Police Unit (JIPU)) are fully 
functioning because of lack of funds.  The Abyei Administration 
finally approved by the Presidency on October 6 still has not taken 
up residence in Abyei (it should have happened in August).  Although 
the JIU has been fully staffed since shortly after the roadmap was 
signed in May, it still lacks equipment and only has two operating 
vehicles to work with.  (Note:  Patrolling the rural areas outside 
of Abyei town where violence in most likely to erupt is a critical 
function of the JIU.  End note.)  Johnson described the absence of 
the Administration as becoming "a real, real problem."  She said 
that traditional Dinka Ngoc leaders are starting to lose confidence 
in their own Administration before it actually gets started. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Johnson said that she understood that none of the local 
oil revenue that is to fund the Abyei Administration under the CPA 
and the Roadmap has been disbursed and that the Administration lacks 
funds for even basic operating expenses.  The UN has prepared 
interim office space for the Administration to use for three to four 
months until permanent offices can be readied.  USAID is in the 
process of bidding for construction of permanent offices, which will 
take around three months to construct, making them available 
sometime in February 2009. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The same day Abyei Administrator Arop Mayok told USAIDoff 
that three days earlier Arop had sent letters out to all 
Administration staff to report to Abyei.  Arop expects that by 
October 30, almost all of the staff will have arrived in Abyei. 
Acording to Arop, Administration staff will work as unpaid 
volunteers until the oil revenues or money from GOSS is disbursed. 
He does not suspect, at the moment, that the GNU or GOSS are 
intentionally holding up the disbursement, but believes that the 
administrative procedures for releasing the funds are taking longer 
than expected. (Although he does not have an idea of where the issue 
is in these processes at the moment.) Some of the administrative 
personnel will be deployed from Abyei to follow-up on the 
disbursements once they arrive in Abyei. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Also on October 27, Norway's Petroleum Envoy in Khartoum, 
Anders Hannevik, confirmed that the oil revenue money has been 
allocated for the Administration's use, but that the funds have not 
been disbursed yet.  Hannevik believes that the hold-up is due to a 
lack of adequate financial controls on the administration's spending 
and the danger that money could be misappropriated.  He said he 
himself had flagged this problem with the GNU Finance Ministry. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Under the CPA, eight percent of the revenues generated by 
oil from the Abyei region are to be dedicated to the Abyei peoples 
and government.  Further, under the Roadmap Agreement, the GNU will 
contribute 50 percent and the GOSS will contribute 25 percent of 
their share of oil revenues from the area under arbitration to a 
"Unity Fund" to be established by the Presidency for development of 
areas along the North-South Border.  According to an analysis 
performed by World Bank staff, the annual amount available for Abyei 
should total around US$48 million. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) COMMENT:  The GNU needs constant pushing to work with 
Mayok in setting in place immediately the necessary financial 
controls for the Abyei Interim Administration, so that it may begin 
receiving and disbursing money.  Should the Abyei Administration, 
the JIUs and the JIPUs fail to deliver on the promises hammered out 
following the disastrous fighting in May, residents will return (and 
have already begun to return) to a town not only destroyed but with 
no signs of recovery.  In this environment, tension between the 
Dinka and Misseriya is likely to mount heading into next year's dry 
season as the Misseriya again move south with their cattle.  Post 
will continue to raise this issue with senior GNU officials in the 
coming days and weeks. 
 
FERNANDEZ