DARFUR - INCREASINGLY PRECARIOUS HUMANITARIAN ENVIRONMENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 000506 SIPDIS AIDAC SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/SPG, PRM, AND ALSO PASS USAID/W USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AFR/SP NAIROBI FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA, USAID/REDSO, AND FAS GENEVA FOR NKYLOH NAIROBI FOR SFO NSC FOR PMARCHAM, MMAGAN, AND TSHORTLEY ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU USUN FOR TMALY BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI UN SU SUBJECT: DARFUR - INCREASINGLY PRECARIOUS HUMANITARIAN ENVIRONMENT KHARTOUM 00000506 001.2 OF 003 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) U.N. and non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives again appealed to donors for support in addressing the deteriorating humanitarian environment in Darfur and growing obstacles in providing assistance. Painting a particularly bleak picture, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) Manuel DaSilva recently reviewed worsening humanitarian indicators, continuing violence, including targeted attacks on aid workers, increasingly limited access to populations in need, and a lack of progress in addressing the bureaucratic stranglehold on relief efforts. Many humanitarian agencies question how long they can continue to operate in Darfur under current conditions. Relief organizations also express increasing frustration at the lack of political progress in Darfur and report increasing difficulty in fielding experienced staff to implement assistance programs. -------------- BACKGROUND -------------- ¶2. (U) In preparation for a meeting on Darfur planned for the sidelines of the Sudan Consortium, the U.N. and representatives of an NGO forum provided a stark overview of current humanitarian conditions and growing challenges facing relief agencies in Darfur. Negative trends in security and access, as well as the continued imposition of bureaucratic impediments, constitute major threats to the humanitarian community's current ability to deliver basic assistance and protection to civilians in Darfur. -------------- EARLIER SUCCESSES NOW UNDER THREAT -------------- ¶3. (U) HC DaSilva recognized the significant success of international efforts in addressing the unfolding humanitarian emergency in 2004 and 2005, when mortality rates were well beyond emergency levels. However, in the past year indicators have begun to take a turn for the worse and these gains are now under threat. The U.N. reports that global acute malnutrition rose to 13.1 per cent in 2006, nearing emergency thresholds again. More than 400,000 additional people have been displaced since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2006, including 86,000 since the beginning of 2007. -------------- ACCESS RESTRICTIONS WORSENING -------------- ¶4. (U) The U.N. reports a significant deterioration of access to populations in need over the past year. In February 2007, an estimated 900,000 people could not be reached by the international relief effort, a figure representing nearly one quarter of the total caseload. (Note: U.N. figures on inaccessible populations are a snapshot of the continually shifting environment in Darfur. Populations beyond the reach of assistance efforts are not necessarily the same from month to month. End note.) U.N. maps comparing access in 2006 to 2007 show expanding areas with no humanitarian access in all three Darfur states. While in some cases access is blocked through explicit orders from the Sudanese government, general insecurity and the inability of humanitarian workers to establish minimum guarantees of safety also prevent access to large areas of Darfur. -------------- SECURITY CONTINUES TO DETERIORATE -------------- ¶5. (U) The dramatic deterioration of security in much of Darfur over the past year has been well documented. In 2006, 120 vehicles were hijacked, and 21 have been hijacked in the first two and a half months of 2007. A total of 430 aid workers had to be relocated during the month of December 2006 due to insecurity. HC DaSilva characterized the current relief efforts as operating below a minimum threshold of acceptable security, recalling that 12 relief workers were killed in one month in July 2006. DaSilva cited three "bench marks" that highlight the current security crisis: the attack on relief workers in Gereida, South Darfur, in December 2006, the police raid and abuse of U.N. and NGO workers in Nyala, South KHARTOUM 00000506 002.2 OF 003 Darfur, in January 2007, and the expulsion of the Norwegian Refugee Council from South Darfur in late 2006. ¶6. (U) The U.N. continues to compile monthly statistics on security incidents, such as vehicle hijackings, detentions, and armed invasions of NGO compounds, in an effort to inform humanitarian operations. Information sharing on security among humanitarian actors in Khartoum and in the field is currently strong. However, recently some key U.N. and NGO security staff have been expelled from Sudan, raising concerns about attempts to disrupt coordination among humanitarian actors. ¶7. (U) The fluid security situation and the erratic nature of violence in Darfur make it increasingly difficult for NGOs to plan and implement relief activities. Insecurity is cited by humanitarian NGOs as the primary limiting factor in their work. Splintering armed opposition movements have added to the overall disorder in Darfur and recently there have been growing reports of fighting between formerly government-aligned armed elements. U.N. and NGO humanitarian actors struggle to navigate this chaotic political and security environment to address the needs of affected civilian populations. In addition, according to the U.N., 60 per cent of households in need of food aid cite insecurity as the main barrier to cultivating their land, raising livestock, and taking part in other income generating activities. The violence in Darfur is forcing people to be more dependent on aid while at the same time making it more difficult for agencies to deliver assistance, particularly in rural areas. ¶8. (U) NGOs fear that the direct targeting of humanitarian operations in Darfur has become routine. Agencies report regularly reviewing whether they can continue to operate in Darfur or if the current situation creates an unacceptable level of risk. NGOs also report that the targeting of humanitarian workers has negatively affected staff morale and undermined their ability to recruit and retain qualified personnel. NGO staff in the field have expressed distress that routine programmatic decisions such as the movement of vehicles and staff now have potentially life or death consequences. -------------- --- BUREAUCRATIC IMPEDIMENTS REMAIN A MAJOR OBSTACLE -------------- --- ¶9. (U) While the Sudanese government has officially extended the 2004 "Moratorium on Restrictions" for humanitarian workers until January 2008, NGOs report that many elements of the agreement have not been implemented. Short-term permits limited to a particular state have recently been granted to some NGO staff, in contravention of earlier Sudanese government pledges. These limited permits do not allow the flexibility required for effective humanitarian programming. Delays by the Department of Labor in processing work permits, continued customs clearance holdups, and the increasing cost of visas and permits are strangling relief operations despite continued promises by the Sudanese government to alleviate the restrictions. Agencies that have been outspoken about human rights and protection abuses in Darfur are increasingly individually targeted for harassment through these bureaucratic requirements. ¶11. (U) Sudanese government obstruction of humanitarian staff from internal flights continues. The U.N. reports that staff members in North Darfur are arbitrarily removed from U.N. humanitarian flights on a nearly daily basis. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) cites these incidences as violations of the U.N.'s Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and has asked donors to raise this issue in bilateral discussions. -------------- FRUSTRATION AMONG AID AGENCIES -------------- ¶12. (U) The level of frustration among NGOs and U.N. agencies in Darfur remains high, with NGOs reporting low morale and high levels of stress among staff. Many NGO field staff have been prevented from leaving the country due to delays in getting exit and re-entry visas. This has resulted in humanitarian workers missing funerals and other important family functions, as well as taking much-needed leave. Humanitarian actors fear that some programs are close to the breaking point and stress that relief activity for the nearly four million people in need of assistance cannot substitute for political progress in addressing the conflict in Darfur. KHARTOUM 00000506 003.2 OF 003 HUME