WEST DARFUR - ZALINGEI UPDATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 000619

SIPDIS

AIDAC
SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/SPG, PRM, AND ALSO PASS USAID/W
USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AF/EA, DCHA
NAIROBI FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA, USAID/REDSO, AND FAS
USMISSION UN ROME
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH
NAIROBI FOR SFO
NSC FOR JMELINE, TSHORTLEY
USUN FOR TMALY
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI KAWC SU
SUBJECT: WEST DARFUR - ZALINGEI UPDATE

REF: KHARTOUM 0320

--------------
Summary and Comment
--------------


1. In mid-February, a USAID Darfur Field Office (DFO)
protection officer visited Zalingei in West Darfur.
Zalingei town has generally been calm throughout the
Darfur crisis, although the Zalingei "corridor," which
includes Garsila and Mukjar (septel),was the site of
brutal janjaweed attacks in 2004. Conflict between Arab
tribes north of Zalingei since December 2005 is a
troubling development that has resulted in the
establishment of an Arab internally displaced persons
(IDP) camp in Zalingei town. In addition, in February
2006, staff from two Scandinavian non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) withdrew from the area due to
fallout over the Danish cartoon controversy. (Note: The
agencies have since returned. End note.) NGOs in
Zalingei noted that local authorities continue to place
restrictions on protection programs, and that there is no
sign that relations will improve between the humanitarian
community and the government. Limited USAID funding at
this writing will force some NGOs to lay off staff and
reduce programs, sending an unintended message that the
international community is losing interest in the plight
of conflict-affected Darfurians.


2. Tensions between the Arab and non-Arab IDP groups are
high, and relations between the displaced population and
the government are strained over the question of African
Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) rehatting and the
investigative work of the International Criminal Court
(ICC). The situation may become more confrontational in
Zalingei. End summary and comment.

--------------
Humanitarian Overview of Zalingei
--------------


3. USAID visited Zalingei town in mid-February to obtain
an update on the humanitarian and protection situation.
Zalingei town has been largely quiet throughout the
Darfur war, although human rights groups extensively
documented janjaweed killings of members of African
tribes and concentration camp-like settings in 2004 at
sites along the Zalingei corridor, which includes Garsila
and Mukjar. A USAID team recently visited this area and
will report septel.


4. According to U.N. Humanitarian Profile Number 22, as
of January 1, more than 120,000 affected persons lived in
Zalingei locality. That figure included approximately
64,000 IDPs in Zalingei town. However, mid-February
figures from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the NGO CARE
International reveal a current total IDP population of at
least 82,0000 split among several camps: Hassa Hissa
camp, population 38,000; Hamidiya camp, population
27,000; Khamsa Degaig camp, population 13,000; and Taiba
camp, population estimated to be approximately 4,000.


5. Taiba was spontaneously formed in December 2005 and
currently has a population of approximately 4,000 Arab
IDPs. The government has authorized a USAID partner NGO
to create some camp facilities, such as child-friendly
spaces. Another USAID partner is serving as the camp
coordinator, although it does not wish to retain that
role permanently. In spite of these activities, the
government does not consider Taiba to be a "camp" and
refuses to officially recognize it as such. The
government anticipates the early return of Taiba's IDPs;
however, the humanitarian community does not see
indications of this possibility. According to the U.N.
Mission in Sudan (UNMIS),government-led local
reconciliation efforts were unsuccessful in Nyangadulo,
the site of the inter-Arab clashes that led to the
displacement of the IDPs in Taiba camp.


6. Tensions exist between Taiba camp, which contains
Arab Bani Halba and Hotoia IDPs, and the other Zalingei

KHARTOUM 00000619 002 OF 003


camps, which mostly contain non-Arab Fur, Masalit, and
Zaghawa IDPs. According to NGO partners, the IDPs from
the three pre-existing camps of Zalingei resent NGOs for
providing comparable services to the Arab IDPs. In
addition, during the USAID DFO protection officer's
visit, a campaign had begun, with anti-government
messages such as "Yes to prosecution of Bashir," and "Yes
to international intervention in Darfur," scrawled on the
walls of NGO and U.N. compounds. Tensions in Zalingei
could worsen over political issues, including the AMIS
rehatting to a U.N. force, and the work of the ICC.


7. According to OCHA, 15 NGOs and 12 U.N. agencies
operate in Zalingei locality. The humanitarian presence
in Zalingei has grown since early January, when the U.N.
relocated humanitarian personnel from El Geneina and
northwest West Darfur to comply with Phase IV security
restrictions in those areas. Staff from the U.N.
Population Fund (UNFPA) and the U.N. Children's Fund
(UNICEF) have been re-assigned from Zalingei to El
Geneina, and staff from UNMIS and the Office of the U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) previously
assigned to El Geneina are temporarily operating out of
Zalingei.


8. Humanitarian agencies have largely met the
humanitarian needs of the affected population in
Zalingei. Humanitarian Profile Number 22 showed coverage
gaps of less than 10 percent in the food, shelter,
sanitation, primary health, and nutrition sectors in and
around Zalingei town. However, a coverage gap of 30
percent existed for the provision of clean water.


9. In early February 2006, the NGOs Norwegian Church Aid
(NCA) and Danish Refugee Council (DRC) evacuated Zalingei
as a result of direct threats during the fallout over the
publication of the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohamed
(reftel). NCA provides nutrition services, and DRC is
UNHCR's main partner implementing protection programs.
Although these agencies have resumed working in Zalingei,
the lasting effects of the incidents are still unknown.
(Comment: The consensus among international actors in
Zalingei is that authorities have sought to restrict the
activities of the international community for some time,
and that the furor over the Prophet Mohamed cartoons
provided an opportunity to manufacture security incidents
that would force the NGOs to leave. End comment.)

--------------
Protection Programs
--------------


10. UNHCR is the lead agency on protection, and USAID
partners and humanitarian agencies report that
coordination among humanitarian actors has been good.
However, local Humanitarian Affairs Commission (HAC)
representatives have pressured USAID partners working in
the area not to engage in protection programming, and
equate protection with spying on the government or
politicizing issues to turn IDPs against the government.
Partners therefore carry out programs under other names,
such as livelihoods, water and sanitation, healthcare
(not women's health),and coordination.


11. In spite of the government's stance towards
protection, the HAC approved the opening of a joint
International Rescue Committee (IRC) and U.N. Development
Program (UNDP) Rule of Law center in Zalingei. The
humanitarian community hopes that through this program
some protection issues can be quietly addressed.


12. Agencies implementing protection programs in
Zalingei reported that some of the least successful
income-generation activities, such as henna production,
were the most popular among IDP women. One USAID partner
postulates that these activities actually had a far
greater psychosocial benefit than economic benefit, and
that the psychosocial benefits caused women to
participate in the program. The partner reported that
personal interaction with other women in a safe, friendly
environment appeared to assist women who had been raped.
As a result, survivors regained a degree of self-esteem

KHARTOUM 00000619 003 OF 003


and benefited from an intimacy and contact with others.
The USAID partner reported that they are working to
improve the income-generation portion of women's programs
while maintaining the psychosocial benefits women derive
from participation. Marketing and market assessments
incorporated into the programs are being strengthened
with the goal of increasing women's abilities to choose
safer alternatives to food and fuel collection.


13. Comment: The Zalingei corridor was one of the last
areas that the NGO community served. For a long time
Medecins sans Frontieres-Holland was the only NGO
operating in the area, but has since handed over most
activities to international NGOs. The USAID Office of
U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) funds most
NGOs operating in the corridor and in Zalingei town. The
limited funding currently available for Darfur will force
NGOs in this area to reduce activities and lay off staff,
and will send an unintended message that the
international community is losing interest in the
humanitarian plight of Darfurians.


WHITAKER