USAID ASSESSMENT OF ABYEI IDPS IN AGOK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KHARTOUM 000807 DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, PRM, AF SE WILLIAMSON DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SP, USAID/W DCHA SUDAN 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 NEW YORK FOR FSHANKS BRUSSELS FOR PBROWN USMISSION UN ROME FOR RNEWBERG AIDAC SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI UN SU SUBJECT: USAID ASSESSMENT OF ABYEI IDPS IN AGOK REF: KHARTOUM 0540 KHARTOUM 00000807 001.2 OF 004 ¶1. Begin Summary: On May 24, a USAID team including officers from USAID's Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) and Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) conducted a one-day assessment of the humanitarian situation in and around Agok in southern Abyei Area. The Agok area is currently hosting an estimated 50,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Abyei who fled fighting beginning May 14. The USAID team found that the situation of the IDPs is precarious due to the rapidity with which they fled, an unpredictable security situation, and the encroaching rainy season. UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have rapidly responded to the immediate humanitarian needs, providing three-day food rations and some relief items, and working to transport sufficient quantities of food and relief items to Agok for distribution in the coming days. USAID partners -- Mercy Corps, Save the Children (SC/US),PACT, GOAL, the UN Resident Coordinator's Office (UN/RCO),and UN World Food Program (WFP) -- are all on the ground in Agok and providing emergency response assistance to the IDP population. End Summary. IDPs and Host Communities -------------- ¶2. According to the UN/RCO, an estimated 50,000 people have fled fighting in Abyei town and are gathered in 18 villages south of Abyei and the River Kiir in the Agok area. At the onset of the crisis, the UN activated its contingency plan, which had factored in both the rapid displacement of as many as 75,000 people fleeing to the south and the blockage of critical northern supply routes to the North. The UN agencies, along with the local government, have agreed on five distribution sites in the area, in order to better organize relief operations while ensuring coverage to at least 80 percent of the IDPs. On May 25, humanitarian agencies in Agok organized a headcount of the entire IDP and host community population, which will provide a more accurate estimate of numbers displaced and the assistance required. ¶3. Prior to the recent fighting, Abyei town and the surrounding area was estimated to have 100,000 people residing there. Approximately 70,000 of these are returnees who came from the north since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA),after many years of displacement, including 10,000 who arrived in March and early April, just before the census. The remaining 30,000 people were residents who never left Abyei during the war. Many returnees depended heavily on urban livelihoods. The recent returnees had not had a chance to establish livelihoods or households in Abyei before fighting displaced them to the Agok area. According to the UN/RCO, 5,000 Twic Dinka who fled violence in Southern Kordofan State and arrived in Abyei in early 2008 were the most vulnerable group in Abyei before this recent crisis. Most Twic Dinka have returned to their home areas in Twic County, bordering Abyei Area to the southwest. (Note: Reporting on the USAID team's trip to Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Warrab states, including Twic County, will follow septel. End note.) ¶4. The USAID team drove along the main roads near Agok and observed the roads crowded with families carrying items, including suitcases, bags of food, and small household items. Along the road the team observed that families have gathered their household items under trees and are attempting to set up shelters with plastic sheeting distributed by relief agencies. According to relief workers, many Abyei IDP families have found family or friends to stay with in the Agok area. Crowding in the host community tukals (huts) is clearly visible. ¶5. At Abatok, one of the original five IDP distribution sites, the team noted that lack of grinding mills had created long lines of people waiting to grind the sorghum distributed in the food ration. OFDA funds the GOAL health unit which is directly across from this IDP gathering area. The clinic is functioning on its regular KHARTOUM 00000807 002.2 OF 004 schedule, and GOAL is working to resupply medicines to its rural clinics before the rains impede access. GOAL also operates a clinic near Agok town, which the USAID team visited and noted that the clinic's caseload now includes IDPs. The GOAL area coordinator informed the team that they are monitoring the health situation and, so far, the clinics operating in IDP areas have not reported an uptick in consultations. (Note: the team expects this situation to change, as the still fluid population movements stabilize and IDPs 'settle' in an area for a longer period of time. End note.) ¶6. At the IDP site at Madingjok-Thiang, an OFDA-funded Mercy Corps school that is not fully constructed is now serving as a shelter for IDPs. The USAID team met with several IDP families and surveyed the households' assets. Many families here were preparing sorghum from the food distribution and had cooking pots and other small household items. Many IDP families observed at this site, and along the road, had managed to carry baby goats with them as they fled. Several groups of children at this site were making clay/mud statues, including figures of commanders, tanks, trucks, and helicopters. Most of the IDPs observed by the team are women and children. ¶7. The UN/RCO reported that Abyei IDP families have reported 80 children missing. At least 10 children have been reunited with their families through the efforts of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and SC/US. ¶8. Malnutrition is suspected to be high among the IDPs. According to the UN/RCO, 20 percent global acute malnutrition (GAM) is not unusual for the Abyei area at this time of year, as people's food stocks run low and the rains bring water-related illness, such as malaria and cholera. Agencies expect the GAM is higher, perhaps significantly, among the IDPs. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) plans to conduct a nutrition survey in the coming week to identify trends in malnutrition among the displaced population. MSF is also establishing a therapeutic feeding center in Agok to treat severely malnourished cases. Food Aid -------------- ¶9. Earlier in the week, WFP, along with its NGO partners, distributed three-day emergency rations to the IDPs and host community, as a stop-gap measure until IDPs settle in an area and can be counted. Upon completion of the headcount on May 25, WFP will organize a 15-day distribution of a full-ration (ie 2100 kilocalories/person/day) to both the IDPs and host community, which was already deemed to be in need of increased food assistance this year due to last year's severe flooding. WFP is mobilizing staff and transport assets from around the region, including as far as from Juba and Wau, to assist in this operation. 1000 MT of commodities intended for Bentiu in Unity State is being diverted to Agok, though delivery there has not been received as yet. With transport routes from the north either closed or insecure, effectively cutting off resupply from WFP's main hub in El Obeid, and the rains beginning to cut off areas in the south, WFP will need to manage the complex logistics extremely effectively. Already WFP is mobilizing to send additional commodities up to this area from its Mombasa pipeline, which has not been necessary for the past two years due to more effective and cost-efficient transport options from the north. ¶10. It remains to be seen what the longer-term food assistance response will look like, given the uncertainty of the situation at this point. Without a clear picture of the duration of the displacement, it is difficult to predict the amount and type of food assistance needed. What is clear, however, is that people's livelihoods have been disrupted, most probably for a significant period of time; a large percentage of the IDPs can not easily adapt to farming, having lived in urban areas much or most of their lives; and that the host community is already in a fragile food security situation themselves. (Note: In addition, it appears there will KHARTOUM 00000807 003.2 OF 004 likely be movement of IDPs further away from Abyei and Agok, as this population is extremely nervous about the prospect of continued fighting as well as the threat lingering in their minds of the return of the Antonov. WFP is considering bolstering its storage capacity in areas like Turalei and Wunrok in Twic County for this reason. End note). Humanitarian Response -------------- ¶11. The USAID team met with the UN coordination team on site in Agok. The team reported that most sectors are covered and sufficient relief items are en route or able to be dispatched as needed. The May 25 headcount will enable the UN to establish a realistic planning figure for food and NFIs. The agencies are currently planning a three-stage response and are focusing on meeting the immediate emergency needs of the Abyei IDPs. --IMMEDIATE RESPONSE: In the next two weeks, agencies aim to provide a 15-day food ration to both IDPs and host families, and NFI kits to IDPs. At the time of the USAID team's visit, the UN coordination team reported that it was not possible to plan for a longer range response because it remained uncertain if the IDPs would continue moving south, particularly if Sudanese military airplanes circle again over IDP sites and terrorize the population. (Note: UN and NGO staff on the ground in Agok reported witnessing an Antonov drop ordnance near the River Kiir on May 19. Representatives from the UN, NGOs, and the local authorities told the USAID team that the IDPs were extremely scared by the circling of the Antonov. End Note.) Further military aircraft activity could drive the IDPs further south. Agencies expressed concern that relief structures, such as the white WFP rubbhall stores, could become targets and put the population at risk of aerial attack. --MEDIUM-TERM RESPONSE: As additional information on the security situation and IDP intentions is gained, the organizations will address food security, education, sanitation, protection, nutrition, and water needs through longer-term solutions. The USAID team noted that provision of seeds and agricultural tools will be essential to assist the population in the medium term, if it becomes clear that IDPs will remain in their current locations, which are suitable for farming and gardening. Investing in public latrines and water points will be needed to prevent the deterioration in the health of the population. --LONG-TERM RESPONSE: USAID has received several reports that indicate Abyei town is nearly destroyed. Many USAID partner compounds have either been destroyed, occupied, or looted. In addition, many USAID-funded projects in Abyei are assumed to be damaged or destroyed, including water points, community infrastructure projects, and health facilities. If and when IDPs can return to Abyei, NGOs and UN agencies will have to rebuild compounds and restart programming from scratch. Looking forward to this possibility, the UN/RCO is advocating for a proper town planning of Abyei to take place before reconstruction begins. Constraints -------------- ¶12. The UN coordination team in Agok reported that the current major constraint to the humanitarian operation is trucking capacity to transport relief items from Juba and Wau to Agok and within the Agok area to distribution sites. In addition, the UN team reported a limited supply of fuel in Agok. Supply routes from the north have been closed by insecurity along the border areas, and at present, the UN is planning to supply the Agok operation from Juba. WFP reports it is talking with transporters that are already working on pre-positioning food throughout Southern Sudan to see if it might be possible for them to increase their deliveries. Another option would be for these contracted private transporters to take over the KHARTOUM 00000807 004.2 OF 004 deliveries that WFP-owned trucks are now doing, in order to free them up for the Abyei response. WFP noted that transporters from the north, including the drivers of the IOM trucks that delivered NFI items to Agok recently, are extremely hesitant to be working in this area right now, and that some of them have actually been threatened, though no reports of physical harm have been received. USAID Assistance -------------- ¶13. Mercy Corps, GOAL, PACT, and SC/US are all involved in the relief effort for Abyei IDPs. All of these NGOs are current USAID/OFDA partners that had ongoing programs in Abyei and Agok. GOAL continues to operate the health facilities south of the River Kiir and has assigned health care staff to assist with the emergency medical efforts in Agok and Turalei in Twic County. PACT is drilling 17 new boreholes in the area with USAID/OFDA funding and reported that all are on schedule to be finished in the coming weeks. Four of the new boreholes have been relocated to serve the needs of the IDPs. SC/US is partnering with WFP on the food distribution and is also providing NFI items, and implementing child protection activities. Mercy Corps and a local NGO had the only compounds in Agok. Both compounds are currently serving as operational and residential bases from which the UN and other relief organizations manage their response. Mercy Corps trucks, vehicles, fuel, and staff (many of which are displaced local staff from Abyei themselves) are supporting the logistics of the Abyei IDP response. WFP, USAID/FFP's main partner in Southern Sudan, is leading the transport and distribution of food aid. Comment -------------- ¶14. The full impact of the Abyei crisis will not be known until the risk of further conflict dissipates or escalates. This is already the worst humanitarian situation in Southern Sudan since the CPA was signed. Humanitarian agencies are carefully planning flexible response modalities, in case another round of fighting here or in other tense border areas causes another wave of displacement. Relief agencies have responded quickly and effectively to this crisis. However, stocks of relief supplies, as well as emergency response funding, have been depleted in the south, leaving agencies unable to respond rapidly to another major emergency. ¶15. One seasoned aid worker, who was in Southern Sudan during the war and who knows the Three Areas well, said that if conflict starts again in Abyei, it could lead to a wider conflict in northern Sudan. Peace is fragile in the Nuba Mountains, southern Blue Nile State, and eastern Sudan where the CPA did not address the underlying causes of the 1983-2005 civil war. Aid workers described to the USAID team the scenarios they were preparing to respond to including short-term, long-term, and a return to war. A local official told the USAID team that they were managing the emergency response while hoping for a political solution, but stated that, "if politics don't work, maybe military will." The US Embassy will continue to push for a political solution to the crisis and work to de-escalate political tensions between the two parties involved. The US Embassy will also push for UNMIS to assist in establishing a humanitarian supply cooridor from El Obeid and Kadugli to Benitu to ensure that needed relief items can reach Agok quickly. The US commends the rapid response of the UN and NGOs. POWERS