VZCZCXRO6773
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKH #1104/01 2720948
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 290948Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4487
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001104 
 
NSC FOR MGAVIN, LETIM 
DEPT PASS TO USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: SE GRATION SEPTEMBER 12 VISIT TO EL FASHER 
 
REF: A) KHARTOUM 507 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On September 12, SE Gration and delegation 
traveled to El Fasher, Darfur and visited two camps for internally 
displaced persons (IDPs).  Abu Shouk camp residents told SE Gration 
that their security and humanitarian needs were not being met. 
North Darfur Wali (Governor) Osman Kibir presented SE Gration and 
delegation with attractively printed booklets that claimed that 
crime in Darfur was at a six-year low.  At Zam Zam camp, Gration 
spoke with Relief International and World Food Program 
representatives, who said that they were adequately equipped to 
provide humanitarian services to the IDPs.  International 
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said that skirmishes and 
bombings continued, and echoed IDP concerns about security and 
government interference in their activities.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On September 12, 2009, SE Gration and delegation traveled 
to Abu Shouk and Zam Zam IDP camps, both in the vicinity of El 
Fasher. SE Gration first met with 14 key leaders from Abu Shouk, 
Kassab, and As Salam IDP camps who expressed their frustration with 
the security situation, stating with UNAMID not doing an effective 
job in their eyes, security is the biggest need of Darfuris.   These 
leaders, including three women, expressed their concerns over 
perceptions that SE Gration wants IDPs to return to their homes 
before they are ready.  Mohamed Adam, a teacher and Omda in the Abu 
Shouk camp, stated that despite these concerns, "Still, we see you 
and the United States just after God for us.  We need you to help 
us."  SE Gration next visited IDPs in Abu Shouk camp.  During two 
forums targeting various segments of the camp population, he heard 
similar concerns about security problems, gender-based violence, and 
humanitarian aid shortages.  Camp residents asserted that all 
measurable indicators of IDP welfare had deteriorated substantially 
since the expulsion of thirteen international NGOs in March 2009. 
Residents of Abu Shouk mutually raised concerns about perceptions 
that SE Gration wanted forced returns of IDPs to their home 
villages, until he clarified that no one would be forced to return 
against his or her will, or before s/he was ready.  This statement 
was received with loud applause.  SE Gration assured camp residents 
that he had not said he wanted to lift sanctions on Khartoum, or to 
remove Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.  (NOTE: A 
number of Sudanese media outlets have recently reported that SE 
Gration intends to lift sanctions on Khartoum.  END NOTE.) In his 
final stop at a women's development project run by the Darfur Peace 
and Development Organization in Abu Shouk, SE Gration observed a 
group of women weaving baskets to sell and sampled some rice 
prepared in a "solar cooker," a simple, affordable device that 
allows women to prepare traditional foods at home without taking the 
risk of collecting firewood outside the camp, which puts them at 
risk of rape. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Following the visit to Abu Shouk, SE Gration paid a 
courtesy call on North Darfur Wali Osman Kibir.  The Wali welcomed 
the delegation, and reiterated his desire to cooperate with the 
United States.  The Wali painted a comparatively rosy picture of 
North Darfur, describing enhanced security and humanitarian 
projects, and illustrated his points by passing out several copies 
of attractive colorful booklet, full of graphs and statistics that 
showed that North Darfur was enjoying a specQular drop in crime 
and violence.  The Wali assured the delegates that they would be 
allowed to travel freely during their visit, and he asked SE Gration 
to address an assembly of local National Congress Party (NCP) 
leaders taking place on the compound.  SE Gration thanked the North 
Darfur Wali and delivered a few words to the crowd of NCP leaders, 
in which he called on them to use their influence to bring an end to 
the proxy war between Chad and Sudan. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The delegation departed the Wali's compound and proceeded 
to the Zam Zam IDP camp, located twenty kilometers from Abu Shouk, a 
camp Gration last visited in April, 2009 (ref: A). At that time the 
camp was in upheaval due to the recent influx of 40,000 IDPs from 
the village of Muhajariyah and the nearly simultaneous expulsion of 
thirteen international NGOs from Darfur.  SE Gration found the 
current situation in Zam Zam improved.  Residents now have 
rudimentary shelter and water sources, as well as access to medical 
care and food rations.  SE Gration spoke to Dr. Jamila Karimova, 
head of the Relief International clinic in Zam Zam, who told him 
that four clinics currently operating in Zam Zam serve a combined 
1,000 patients per week.  Dr. Karimova said that camp residents have 
adequate access to medical care but expressed her concerns that the 
hastily assembled camp had not been planned to accommodate basic 
sanitation needs.  She also said that Relief International had been 
denied access to South Darfur.  Dr. Karimova showed SE Gration the 
brick foundations for a new permanent clinic being built by Relief 
International.  From the construction site, SE Gration and 
delegation walked to one of several new "water points" (public bore 
wells) dug in a joint project between the Government of Sudan and 
 
KHARTOUM 00001104  002 OF 002 
 
 
non-governmental organizations.  SE Gration noted that on his last 
visit, the wells had not been there. 
 
¶5. (SBU) At the final stop in Zam Zam camp, SE Gration visited a 
food distribution site run by the World Food Program (WFP).  Leo 
VanderVelden, head of North Darfur's WFP office, told SE Gration 
that WFP currently feeds 1.5 million IDPs in Darfur, and that the 
distribution site in Zam Zam supplies food rations to approximately 
100,000 camp residents.  Residents receive twelve kilograms of food 
per month, mostly dry, unmilled grain.  VanderVelden told SE Gration 
that rations are rarely stolen from the distribution center, since 
they are protected by a community watch organization.  He said, 
however, that residents often sell a portion of their rations in the 
market to buy other necessities.  He also said that residents hire 
millers residing within the camp to grind the grain rations for an 
in-kind fee of one third of the ration milled. WFP will start a 
voucher program in October that will compensate the millers but 
allow residents to keep all of their grain.  SE Gration asked why 
WFP doesn't distribute pre-milled grain.  VanderVelden answered that 
the millers themselves were IDPs and the WFP does not want to deny 
them their livelihood.  Leaving the camp, the delegation convoy 
passed several small gardens in which camp residents were growing 
millet, albeit in very sparse quantities. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Back in El Fasher, SE Gration visited an assembly of 
several dozen camp administrators from the UN and various 
International NGOs.  The camp administrators stated that the 
Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) continue to bomb rebel strongholds in 
Darfur, and that rebels continue to skirmish between factions.  Ute 
Kirsch, from Malteser International, told SE Gration that local 
security forces insisted that NGOs obtain permits to travel 
throughout Darfur, despite the fact that they were only officially 
required to "notify" the government of their travel plans.  Several 
speakers at the assembly expressed concerns that the Sudanese 
government had failed to provide adequate security to aid workers, 
encouraging four cases of kidnapping and a rash of carjackings to 
occur.  SE Gration warned the camp administrators that the coming 
elections and North-South issues might divert the attentions of 
advocacy groups away from Darfur.  He added that we need to find a 
resolution to the conflict Darfur, including resolving the security 
situation, within the next three months if there is to be any chance 
of Darfur participating in the national elections.  SE Gration 
expressed his hope to see more sustainable development and job 
creation for the camp residents, so that IDPs could begin to live 
independently of UN assistance.  He informed the camp administrators 
that he believed the Sudanese government is ready and willing to 
cooperate with the United States and NGO community to stabilize the 
situation in Darfur.  However, he acknowledged that a great deal of 
time has elapsed since the beginning of the Darfur crisis, and said 
that with each passing day it becomes harder for IDPs to return to 
their old way of life. 
 
¶7. (U) This cable was cleared by the Office of the Special Envoy. 
 
 
WHITEHEAD