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