DARFUR: "A CERTAIN KIND OF CHAOS"

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 002762

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF A/S FRAZER AND AF S/E NATSIOS
NSC FOR PITTMAN AND SHORTLEY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL PINR MOPS AU EAID PREF SOCI
KPKO, SU, CD, UN
SUBJECT: DARFUR: "A CERTAIN KIND OF CHAOS"


Classified By: P/E Chief E. Whitaker, Reason: Sections 1.4(b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: In a series of meetings with tribal leaders,
humanitarian workers, and United Nations staff during a
recent visit to North and West Darfur, CDA Hume heard
accounts of the disintegration of the territory's society,
the rise in the Sudanese government's harassment and
restriction of non-governmental organizations (NGOs),and the
deterioration of the security situation. In contrast to
these bleak assessments, regional Sudanese officials claimed
an improvement in stability and the success of the Darfur
Peace Agreement (DPA). End summary.

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BLEAK ASSESSMENT FROM THE FRONTLINE
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2. (C) During CDA Hume's November 25-27 trip to Kutum, North
Darfur, and El Geneina, West Darfur, a diverse group of
tribal leaders, humanitarian workers, and UN officials
detailed the disintegration of the region's social fabric,
the unwillingness of the Sudanese government to address the
security situation and alleviate the suffering of internally
displaced persons (IDPs),and the tightening restrictions on
NGO activity. In addition to the rise in inter-tribal
violence, Arab leaders have lost control over many of their
young men who, when armed, have turned to banditry--not only
against other tribes and humanitarian workers but against
their own leadership. In the face of the Sudanese
government's unwillingness to prevent chaos, the African
Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) appears incapable of stemming
the violence. According to one sheikh (tribal leader) in
Kutum, AMIS ceases its patrols each day between 1600 and 1700
hours. Another of Kutum's tribal chiefs described a recent
instance when an armed man approached an AMIS check-point and
demanded AMIS weapons, which the troops promptly turned over.
A third sheikh said that rather than intervening to stop the
rape of a young woman outside one of the nearby camps, AMIS
forces took a photograph. Tribal leaders in El Geneina gave
similar accounts and lamented their loss in status and
influence as a result of the crisis. They attributed the
rise in banditry to economic deprivation and recommended that
vocational training programs be established to provide the
young men with skills. (Note: El Geneina's economy
continues to be based on the sale of goats to Khartoum and of
camels to Cairo. End note.)


3. (C) In the North, the main actors continue to be the rebel
movements and Arab militias. The AMIS sector commander in
Kutum reported an increase in the number of armed rebels
within the IDP camps. He described one instance when several
rebels crowded among a group of women entering a camp and
then sprung out to attack AMIS forces. In the West, Chadian
rebels and Arab militias are the main players. The UN
Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) personnel in El
Geneina claimed that 5,000 Chadian rebels--75-percent of whom
are Sudanese--are operating out of West Darfur and are
controlled by the National Security and Intelligence Service
(NISS). A UNDSS representative said that the Sudanese
government had empowered Janjaweed leader Shukutala Ahmed
Shukutala to clear the northern corridor of West Darfur of
African tribes and that the district commissioner of Beida
had recently issued orders to all 45 omdas (village leaders)
to contribute 400 volunteers to a military effort to
overthrow the Chadian government. UNDSS noted the recent
reintegration of Arab militias into the Sudanese Armed Forces
(SAF) and the issuance of military identification numbers,
entitling the new troops to a salary. The UN Mission in
Sudan's (UNMIS) representative said that only "one percent"
of the DPA had been implemented in West Darfur, due to high
rejectionist sentiment within the population. She added that
support for SLM leader Abdel Wahid al-Nur remained strong,
particularly within the IDP camps.

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DETERIORATING HUMANITARIAN ACCESS
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4. (C) The deterioration of law and order has left
humanitarian workers vulnerable, and humanitarian aid in and
around Kutum and El Geneina is limited by security,
governmental, and logistical constraints. A representative
of the World Food Program (WFP) in Kutum said that some
populations had not been accessible to the international
community for six months due to insecurity and that
carjackings and violence were increasing in the town itself.
Six NGOs working in Kutum were unanimous in asserting that
the Sudanese government was not providing security within the

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city, particularly at night, and that residents could not
travel more than three kilometers outside the town. On
November 24, a vehicle owned by the NGO Terre des Hommes was
hijacked in the center of El Geneina during the day--the
fourth vehicle ambush in the area in the last month. The
police in El Geneina lack the capacity to pursue the
assailants either because they have no fuel for their
vehicles or the vehicles break down. According to the
director of the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) in El Geneina, most of the
senior police have abandoned their posts, leaving a handful
of junior officers, with a single gun, at the stations.
There are only three prosecutors for all of West Darfur.


5. (C) On November 25, the staff of the NGO Tear Fund were
pulled back to El Geneina from Beida due to cross-border
violence and a rise in Chadian rebel activity. The UN and
the NGO community also instituted a 1600 hours curfew in the
town. A Save the Children-Spain employee in El Geneina
called on the international community and the NGOs to develop
an evacuation plan. "I don't care if I'm the last to leave,"
she said, "but we need a strategy. This is becoming a
Mogadishu issue."


6. (C) NGO staff in Kutum said that the Sudanese military and
intelligence services often demanded information from the
NGOs about IDPs. According to NGO workers in El Geneina, the
Sudanese government's labor office has ceased to issue work
permits, limiting their ability to hire staff. Many
government-issued travel permits, required for visits to
Darfur, are set to expire on January 31, 2006, and the NGOs
worry they will not be renewed. The Sudanese government has
denied several other travel permits for NGO staff. The UN
relies on a single helicopter to deliver aid in West Darfur,
where 90 percent of the roads are considered "no-go" by
UNDSS. A second helicopter is waiting in El Fasher, but the
Sudanese government has demanded that it first leave the
country and then be re-imported before it can be deployed to
the West. One member of the UN country team in El Geneina
indicated that they had lost the majority of their outreach
capacity in the last two months. "This is basically the end
of the road, unless something changes," he said.


7. (C) The UN presented a letter to the governor of West
Darfur, Jaffar Abdel Hakam, on November 26 threatening to
withdraw if the government did not do more to stabilize the
security situation, which was "crippling" humanitarian
activity. "We thought maybe the threat to leave would make a
difference," said one UN official. Instead, Abdel Hakam
blamed the UN and the NGOs for the loss of their vehicles and
accused them of "handing them over to bandits."

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FIDDLING WHILE DARFUR BURNS
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8. (C) In meetings with CDA Hume, Sudanese government
officials in both North and West Darfur emphasized the
improvement in security and success of the DPA. The Kutum
Commissioner noted the need for sustainable development but
said that the security situation was getting better each day.
Abdel Hakam, the governor of West Darfur, said there were
security problems in only one district of West Darfur, which
he blamed on the National Redemption Front (NRF). He also
lauded West Darfur for being "pre-eminent" in terms of camp
administration and said that humanitarian aid was operating
unhindered in the region. Admitting what he called "a
certain kind of chaos," Abdel Hakam nonetheless asserted that
the DPA was popular and that thousands had celebrated the
announcement of Abdulgassem Imam's recent accession to the
agreement.
HUME