USAID-FUNDED PARTNER REQUIRED TO HAND OVER USAID PROPERTY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000156 SIPDIS AIDAC SIPDIS SENSITIVE 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 BPITTMAN ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU USUN FOR FSHANKS BRUSSELS FOR PBROWN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI UN SU SUBJECT: USAID-FUNDED PARTNER REQUIRED TO HAND OVER USAID PROPERTY TO HAC AND PAY ADDITIONAL SALARIES REF: (A) KHARTOUM 106 (B) KHARTOUM 100 (C) KHARTOUM 91 KHARTOUM 00000156 001.4 OF 002 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) has been implementing a wide range of programming including civic education, protection, capacity building for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the provision of tangible peace dividends in Sudan over the past three years. The week of January 28, the Government of National Unity's (GNU) Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) required Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI),an assistance partner with USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI),to hand over four Toyota Land Cruisers. In addition, DAI staff were required to accompany HAC officials to the office of another USAID implementing partner, PADCO, to inventory former DAI items with the intent that HAC would later take possession of these items as well. PADCO has also been required to provide more detailed program documents to HAC for approval than is standard practice for OTI's implementing partners. These recent actions are part of an ongoing trend of HAC attempts to interfere with USAID programming. End Summary. -------------- HAC ADDS DEMANDS BEFORE DAI CAN LEAVE SUDAN -------------- ¶2. (SBU) According to Luis Rodriguez, the Chief of Party (CoP) of DAI, on January 27 DAI paid six months of wages to each of the employees working in its Darfur and Khartoum offices, in order for HAC to allow the CoP to leave Sudan. (REFTEL) (Note: We believe this labor dispute should have been resolved in labor court. End note.) The DAI CoP indicated that in a January 28 meeting Mutasim Abu Elgasim, the NGO Director of HAC (reputed to be a Sudanese Intelligence officer),added two more requirements: 1) that DAI hand over to HAC four vehicles from their Khartoum office which had recently been intended for PADCO, OTI's new implementing partner (per normal OTI procedures for transferring equipment); and 2) that the DAI CoP accompany him to PADCO's office to document all the inventory transferred from DAI to PADCO (presumably indicating that HAC now intends to take control of the inventory). ¶3. (SBU) DAI complied with these demands and its last staff member left Sudan on January 29. The vehicles and other equipment were USAID-funded and the handing-over these assets to the HAC will impact the budgets of other OTI partners. -------------- MEETING BETWEEN HAC, DAI, AND PADCO -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The meeting at PADCO on January 28 included the DAI CoP, Marv Koop (PADCO CoP),and Mutasim Abu Elgasim and Salah Hamid Mohamed, a "security advisor" in HAC's NGO office. According to the PADCO CoP, during the meeting, Mutasim required PADCO to write and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) specifying that PADCO would store the former DAI inventory in PADCO's office until it is taken into the custody of HAC for re-disposition. In addition, PADCO had to sign another MoU stating that the generator and air conditioner, both of which are still in the former DAI Khartoum office, would be similarly stored by the owner of the building. ¶4. (SBU) The PADCO CoP indicated that he made several attempts to list USAID in the disposition decision-making process included in the MoU. The PADCO CoP also told USAID staff that he asserted his understanding that an agreement existed between HAC Commissioner Hassabo and the USAID/Sudan Mission Director Patrick Fleuret on the disposition of DAI's inventory (it also violates a similar agreement between CDA Fernandez and Humanitarian Affairs Minister Harun Run Lual, ostensibly the HAC's boss). The PADCO CoP stated that Mutasim agreed that this political process was above his head and his task was only to ensure that HAC had custody of the assets. As a result, any reference to USAID's role in the disposition of assets process was removed from the signed MoUs. -------------- - DAI REQUIRED TO PAY SIX MONTHS SALARY TO STAFF KHARTOUM 00000156 002.4 OF 002 -------------- - ¶5. (SBU) The DAI CoP also told USAID staff that during the meeting at PADCO, an employee from one of two DAI offices in the Three Areas region of Sudan entered the office and requested that all staff in these offices also be paid six months of wages. In response, the HAC official added this request to his list of requirements that must be completed before the DAI CoP was permitted to leave the country. The DAI CoP said that Mutasim agreed to allow him to leave the country only after signing an agreement indicating that DAI would send payment for these salaries to Sudan. According to the PADCO CoP, the DAI CoP asked if DAI could transfer the funds to PADCO's bank account in Sudan to fulfill this requirement. -------------- -------------- HAC CLAIMS LACK OF COOPERATIVE/BILATERAL AGREEMENT -------------- -------------- ¶6. (SBU) According to the PADCO CoP, Mutasim inferred that there was a problem with the fact that OTI did not have a cooperative/bilateral agreement with the GNU as did, he stated, other parts of USAID. (Note: There is a bilateral agreement between the USG and the GOS that allows for a "special mission" which is USAID. There are no separate agreements for other offices. USAID's position is that the bilateral agreement would cover all USAID programs and perhaps all USG programs). ¶7. (SBU) The PADCO CoP explained that he would meet Mutasim at 09:00 hours local time, January 30, to begin the process with HAC to facilitate technical agreements, entry visas, customs agreements, and other administrative procedures required for PADCO to begin implementing USAID-funded programs in Sudan. The PADCO CoP plans to present PADCO's 2008 program, budget for grants and operations, intended areas of activities, and potential local partners. ¶8. (SBU) Comment: We are witnessing a disturbing trend that has set a serious precedent for future USAID implementing partners as well as for other donors. Embassy has already twice expressed our deep concern to the Humanitarian Affairs Minister, to little apparent avail. We will seek an agreement that such egregious seizure of assets will not occur again. Whether this is a coordinated GOS campaign against the USG and US-funded INGOs remains to be seen but the regime has traditionally thrived on just this sort of ambiguity to fabricate multiple crises for the international community. FERNANDEZ