DARFUR: UPDATE ON NYALA ASSAULT

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 000098

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/SPG, PRM, AND ALSO PASS USAID/W
USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AFR/SP
NAIROBI FOR SFO
NSC FOR PMARCHAM, MMAGAN, AND TSHORTLEY
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
USUN FOR TMALY
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EAID PREF PREL SOCI SU AU UN
SUBJECT: DARFUR: UPDATE ON NYALA ASSAULT

REF: KHARTOUM 00091

Classified By: CDA Cameron Hume, Reason: Sections 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) A January 22 press release from the United Nations
Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and an UNMIS News Bulletin the same
day attributed the January 20 physical assault on UN staff in
Nyala to local police (reftel). According to the same
statements, the raid on the compound of an international
non-governmental organization (INGO) and arrests of UN staff,
which preceded the "physical assault and abuse," were
organized by "local police enforcement and security
officials." A January 22 UN Department of Safety and
Security (UNDSS) Situation Report said that "a combined force
of Regular police and National Security stormed into an INGO
compound...The staffs complained of physical assaults by the
police and most of them had visible injuries/bruises."


2. (C) The deputy head of the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) in Nyala told USAID officer
that the local police were responsible for arresting the UN
staffers and attributed the subsequent physical assaults to
the Nyala-based representative of the Humanitarian Affairs
Commission (HAC). He alleged that this representative may
work for the National Intelligence and Security Service
(NISS). The deputy security advisor for UNMIS in Khartoum
declined to provide details on the incident, writing in an
e-mail that "at this stage it is kept internal until we know
more."
HUME