WAU: ALL QUIET IN THE HINTERLANDS, BUT IN NEED OF MORE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001693 DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG, DRL NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU SUBJECT: WAU: ALL QUIET IN THE HINTERLANDS, BUT IN NEED OF MORE ATTENTION AND DEVELOPMENT ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The capital of Western Bahr al-Ghazal state in South Sudan, Wau is both secure and eager for international assistance. Operating in an ad hoc manner, local police have managed to control tribal conflict and keep down petty crime, but local government incompetence has hindered work by UN police advisors to increase the professionalism of police officers. Wau's Catholic bishop reported that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) has guaranteed religious freedom in the area, and the post-CPA peace has provided the region with an influx of well-trained, if somewhat pessimistic, young professionals. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) In speaking with poloff November 17-19, numerous local officials, UNMIS and NGOs confirmed that Wau and Western Bahr al-Ghazal states in general boast secure roads, good cooperation among government security organs, and a low level of tribal conflict. To date, Wau has avoided the high incidence of crime and traffic fatalities that plague Juba, and conflicts from neighboring flashpoints, namely Abyei and Warrab, have yet to spill over to Wau. Soldiers and militias from the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army (SPLA) do not oppose the activities of the South Sudan Police Services (SSPS),and there is little armed activity or cattle rustling found in the surrounding areas. UNMIS's Sector II headquarters' apparent lackadaisical security reinforces this general perception, as the compound itself lacks armed gun turrets at its corners, and relies only on a makeshift fence of local materials and barbed wire for perimeter protection. ¶3. (SBU) SSPS Major Lino Angui, chief of Wau's downtown police station and single city jail, explained to poloff that, in contrast to other Sudanese cities, rival Sudanese security organs tend to cooperate in Wau, and his office actually relies on them for assistance. Both the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services and the SPLA regularly bring suspects to the city jail, calling on the SSPS to then open an investigation. With no official vehicles, and most of his staff coming to work by bicycle, Angui said he is limited in his capacity to police the town and performs mostly reactive services. However, as a claim to his law enforcement prowess, Angui cited the recent conservative backlash in Juba over pants-wearing and "hip-hop"-style youth mannerisms, saying that his office had personally solved the same problem in Wau without having to issue edicts. Claiming that young men in Wau, under the influence of American rap music, had attempted to abscond with underage girls into the forest, Angui counseled the boys about the dangers of alcohol and pre-marital sex before releasing them to their parents. Angui said he believes that his pro-active policing reduced the chance of future bloodshed in the conservative town, adding, "We must stop them before they take a Dinka girl into the forest, because then the Dinkas will start fighting." ¶3. (SBU) Mike Taylor, a UNMIS Civilian Police Advisor working for UNPOL in Sector II for the last year, said that the local government has acted as a stabilizing mechanism, even contributing to stability in the rural areas of the Bahr al-Ghazal region. "Within Sector II, we have a lot of knowledgeable and forward-thinking people who want to progress," and these factors, combined with a low level of tribal conflict between the dominant Dinka, Luol and Balanda tribes, have turned Wau into a fairly placid African savannah town. Taylor summed up the situation plainly: "Even when the rest of the country goes to hell, I don't see it going to helle here." ¶4. (SBU) Taylor called Wau "fertile soil" for international efforts to train SSPS officers and recruits, but was disappointed that UNMIS lacked a clear strategy for increasing the overall professionalism of the SSPS. "These are by far the most eager police recruits I've ever seen," said the former Virginia deputy sheriff who previously worked with UNPOL in Baghdad and Kosovo. "UNMIS, however, is incredibly under-resourced in terms of police training and equipment. We train 225 students but have no handcuffs, no training guns, no batons. We teach them how to avoid using a gun, and at the end of training the only tool we then give them is a gun." Taylor said that to round out the SSPS's proto-military training for all recruits, his office managed to initiate a nascent police academy for 225 new officers in a tent on the grounds of police headquarters in Wau, in addition to training for 300-plus recruits in the open air in the nearby town of Kujok. But when the police ran out of money to feed the recruits, four weeks into a 16-week program, UNPOL had to suspend the program and send the recruits home until funds arrive following the new year. ¶5. (SBU) Head of UNICEF's efforts in Wau, Resident Program Officer Carmen Garrigos told poloff that her staff maintains a very positive relationship with the local government and enjoys a high level of humanitarian security. UNICEF considers its biggest challenge in Wau as ensuring that the Government of South Sudan (GOSS) develops KHARTOUM 00001693 002 OF 002 the region's health and education infrastructure, investing as much there as they do in greater Equatoria. Regarding the "lost generation" of youth who spent their formative years in the bush, Garrigos said, "The lost generation is lost, but now no partner is doing enough to build vocational training centers for them," she said, adding, "There are not enough funds for alternative learning and adult education." Lucia Soleti, UNICEF's child protection officer in Wau, cited as an example that in the greater Bahr al-Ghazal region, fewer than ten percent of all births are registered with the government. "Resources are not completely trickling down to Wau - the efforts to intervene are strong, and the interest is strong, but the capacity of the GOSS is weak." ¶6. (SBU) Bishop Rudolf Deng, bishop of the Catholic diocese of Wau, spoke with poloff to express optimism that the CPA has guaranteed religious freedom in western South Sudan, even while the area has yet to fully recover from the ravages of 50 years of war. "It is very difficult to reconstitute the size and the shape of our diocese following the civil war," he said, as the diocese, once 24 church parishes strong, is now currently composed of 8 parishes. "But now we can hold assemblies, and I don't have to look over my shoulder. For the first time in 50 years we can enjoy religious freedom." As head of the Catholic Bishops' Committee of South Sudan, Deng said he and his fellow bishops are most concerned that parties within South Sudan, including the SPLM, are not working for the proper implementation of peace accords. In response to this, the bishops issued a letter to be read this Sunday at all masses in South Sudan, urging all parties not to distract themselves from the ultimate goal of lasting peace accords. ¶7. (SBU) Poloff spoke with two former child soldiers and refugees who recently returned to Wau after attending high school and university in Uganda. Romano Opiyo and Martin Nyuyio, employees at the Ministry of Information and the South Sudan Disarmament, Demobilization and Resettlement Committee, respectively, began by expressing their thanks to the U.S. for the CPA. "We never imagined we would see peace in our home," said Opiyo, who at 27 has lived in Sudan for the last two years after fleeing at age 12. Both young professionals said they returned home to contribute to the development of Wau, and had even started their own registered NGO with several friends. But neither was optimistic that the authorities would succeed in tackling the problems of unemployment, poverty and underdevelopment. "They can't help because they don't know what to do," Nyuyio said. ¶8. (SBU) Comment: Wau is a model in South Sudan for how important goals of the CPA - good governance, religious freedom, humanitarian security - can successfully be accomplished by state governments. However even here there is still much that remains to be done to consolidate the CPA and build capacity. But this is true not just in Wau, but all across Southern Sudan, one of the least developed places on earth, where due to decades of war capacity is weak and the potential for conflict remains strong. Continuing plans to decentralize power and funding from the central government in Juba to the states should continue, which allows for places like Wau to better manage their own affairs. The problem will be in states with weaker and more corrupt state governments, where mismanagement could well lead to increased tribal and ethnic tensions. The lessons learned in Wau, however, show how it can and should be done, and can serve as a model for other states. FERNANDEZ