VZCZCXRO1033
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKH #0851/01 2001421
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191421Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4109
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0090
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0327
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0141
RUEHSUN/USUN ROME IT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 000851 
 
DEPT FOR SE GRATION, S/USSES, AF A/S CARSON, AF/C 
NSC FOR MGAVIN 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
BRUSSELS FOR PBROWN 
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH 
UN ROME FOR HSPANOS 
NEW YORK FOR DMERCADO 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: DARFUR -  LIMITED STAFFING UNDECUTS UNDSS EFFECTIVENESS TO 
SUPPORT SAVING LIVES TOGETHER INITIATIVE 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (U) This is an action request, please see paragraph 12. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Nearly three years after the U.S. Government funded Saving 
Lives Together Initiative began in Darfur, the UN Department of 
Safety and Security (UNDSS) program continues to be insufficiently 
staffed to achieve its intended objectives--to enhance sharing of 
security-related information and facilitate safe humanitarian access 
to Darfuri beneficiaries.  Although current and previous staff 
members have made heroic efforts to maintain the system and provide 
coordinated security guidance to international non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs), human resource delays have limited UNDSS 
support for the operation and prevented NGOs from receiving the full 
benefits of the initiative.  NGO staff members working in Darfur 
remain at risk, as evidenced by the recent kidnapping of two 
international NGO staff in Kutum, North Darfur.  Urgent attention is 
needed to accelerate the deployment of experienced and dedicated NGO 
liaison officers in order to adequately address the security 
challenges facing the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Darfur. 
 End summary. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Saving Lives Together Initiative 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) In response to escalating targeting of humanitarian workers 
and assets, USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance 
(USAID/OFDA) in 2006 provided more than USD 1 million to UNDSS to 
begin the Saving Lives Together Initiative, designed to provide 
UNDSS security coordination and liaison officers dedicated to the 
interests of NGO security in Darfur.  The project aimed to enhance 
NGO coordination with established security networks, facilitate 
communications systems among various stakeholders to apprise 
agencies of incidents in real time, improve data collection and 
analysis for exchange of relevant security and safety information, 
and initiate joint advocacy regarding safety and security-related 
issues of common concern.  The project funded the establishment of 
12 positions dedicated to the project, including four international 
staff as NGO liaison officers, four national staff security 
assistants, and four support staff.  The four international NGO 
liaison officers would provide coordinated security advice to 
partner NGOs, ensure that relevant security information is 
disseminated to all humanitarian agencies in the area of operation, 
conduct regular security briefings, coordinate security training 
content, and review security weaknesses and suggest improvements. 
 
¶4. (U) The initiative was designed to directly serve 10 to 15 
international NGOs, with indirect support through information 
sharing for the entire humanitarian community.  UNDSS required 
participating NGOs to sign letters of understanding (LOUs) 
committing them to nominate security focal points, share 
information, and maintain appropriate confidentiality. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
UN Human Resources Delays Leave Posts Vacant 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Since 2006, the Saving Lives Together Initiative has never 
been fully staffed.  To date, the initiative has had at most two out 
of four international staff members serving as NGO liaison officers, 
and the current NGO liaison officer has been in Darfur for one year 
as the only international staff member on the project.  This liaison 
officer is currently working to maintain the entire project from his 
post in El Fasher, North Darfur.  Without international staff 
present in the other duty areas--South Darfur, western West Darfur, 
and eastern West Darfur--this liaison officer must shoulder 
responsibility for facilitating as much security support as possible 
for NGOs in these areas of operation, as well as coordinating the 
project with UNDSS/Khartoum. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In addition, the project often lacks adequate staffing of 
national staff security assistants.  The program has only recently 
 
KHARTOUM 00000851  002 OF 003 
 
 
hired a nearly full cadre of national staff; however, these staff 
members cannot replace the international liaison officers, as they 
lack access to most sensitive information and must be consistently 
supervised.  In addition, NGOs have expressed discomfort regarding 
sharing information with national staff, and often do not see the 
security assistants as a resource for receiving information as well. 
 When the international NGO liaison officer is not present in an 
area of operation, NGOs only receive one unclassified report 
containing security information, as this report is the only report 
the national UNDSS staff may access. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Recruitment of qualified, dedicated staff is admittedly a 
challenge for a complex, insecure environment such as Darfur. 
However, as the sole donor for the project, the U.S. Embassy is 
concerned that UNDSS headquarters will be unable to fully staff the 
Darfur Saving Lives Together initiative due to competition with 
other posts for field security coordination officers (FSCOs), 
despite the clear need for continued circulation of security 
information and analysis in Darfur and repeated calls for additional 
support from NGOs.  In addition to the overall delays in hiring new 
staff, UNDSS headquarters recently suggested moving the only NGO 
liaison on the ground in Darfur to another "priority" post, which 
would have left the program without any international staff. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) In addition to UNDSS fully staffing the four duty stations 
in El Fasher, Nyala, Zalingei, and El Geneina, NGOs and UNDSS staff 
on the ground have requested that the Saving Lives Together program 
deploy a regional project manager based in Darfur to oversee 
resources, provide overall analysis and guidance regarding security 
conditions, and coordinate with UNDSS in Khartoum.  The regional 
project manager could also backfill posts when the NGO liaisons go 
on leave.  However, the hiring and deployment of a senior regional 
project manager is contingent upon full staffing of the other four 
posts. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) In early 2009, both the international NGO Steering 
Committee and UN-African Union Joint Special Representative Rodolphe 
Adada delivered letters to UN leadership in Khartoum and New York 
expressing concern regarding the ongoing delays in project 
implementation and requesting urgent action to fully staff the 
initiative.  In his January 20 letter to the Under-Secretary-General 
for UNDSS, Adada noted the critical importance of posting 
experienced INGO liaison officers in each duty station and requested 
Inter-Agency Security Management endorsement for an extension of the 
project.  In its February 1 letter, the NGO Steering Committee 
acknowledged delays of nearly a year by certain NGOs in signing the 
LOUs mandated by the program, but emphasized that NGOs had fulfilled 
the necessary commitments, including nomination of security focal 
points and enforcement of appropriate confidentiality.  The NGO 
Steering Committee particularly lauded the progress made by the 
current NGO liaison officer, but noted that slow implementation and 
continued vacancies were preventing NGOs from realizing the full 
benefits of the initiative. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) In FY 2007 and FY 2009, USAID/OFDA provided a total of 
USD 2.7 million in additional funding to support staff recruitment 
and maintain the NGO liaison program.  However, in a July 2 meeting, 
the UNDSS NGO liaison officer informed USAID staff that human 
resourcing delays continue to hamper full staffing of the program. 
One new NGO liaison officer is scheduled to join the program and 
deploy to El Geneina upon visa approval; however, several national 
staff security assistants are due to leave El Geneina in the coming 
months.  NGO staff have expressed concern that UNDSS will lack a 
stable presence in the El Geneina area until the new staff member 
arrives and learns the position.  In addition, the NGO liaison 
officer noted that understaffing has limited the capacity of the 
project to provide security trends and analysis for its 
stakeholders, reducing the initiative's utility. 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Embassy has continued to fund the NGO liaison 
initiative, despite the staffing delays, due to the high priority 
USAID/OFDA places on NGO staff security and the request by NGOs for 
such an initiative.  When funding life-saving programs in insecure 
locations such as Darfur, USAID/OFDA takes into consideration the 
risks that agencies face in implementing these essential activities. 
 
KHARTOUM 00000851  003 OF 003 
 
 
 By funding the UNDSS Saving Lives Together initiative, the Mission 
 is supporting the dissemination of key security information and 
safety practices to NGOs, a service that would be otherwise 
unavailable.  The Embassy remains committed to NGO staff security in 
Darfur and to an increasingly robust Saving Lives Together program. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The UNDSS Saving Lives Together Initiative has the 
potential to facilitate a safer and more secure humanitarian 
operation in Darfur, providing key guidance to NGO staff and 
developing a much clearer understanding of security trends and risks 
in particular locations.  However, after receiving three years of 
USG funding, this program should be fully operational, not in a 
constant state of understaffing.  Ongoing delays to full 
implementation of the initiative are unacceptable, particularly 
given the importance of the safety and security role that this 
project plays for humanitarian workers in Darfur.  As such, the 
Embassy urges USUN to engage actively with UNDSS to ensure that the 
Saving Lives Together Initiative receives increased attention and 
staffing in the coming months. One recommendation is for the UN to 
allocate adequate resources to UNDSS and allow for sufficient 
numbers of FSCOs in the field to respond to rapidly changing global 
demands for these specialists. In addition, the Mission will 
continue to press UNDSS to rapidly identify and hire qualified staff 
for the project and advocate for political support for this critical 
initiative and by extension, for humanitarians working to serve the 
people of Darfur. 
 
WHITEHEAD