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• NORTH SUDAN - Darfur
• Key Developments
• NFI Distribution
• Road Accessibility
• Food Aid Sector Meeting
• Rail Transport
• Food Airdrops
• Fuel Supply
• Cooking Fuel
• SOUTH SUDAN

NORTH SUDAN - Darfur

Key Developments

On 26 July, the Joint Implementing Mechanism (JIM) Mission arrived in South Darfur to review the implementation of the Joint Communique between GoS and UN Secretary-General (signed on 3 July). The mission will visit West Darfur on 28 July. The findings of the mission will be crucial for the future of the humanitarian relief operation in the Darfur.

First NFI delivery to an SLA controlled area took place 27^th July, at Umsidr, North Darfur. This release will cover the equivalent of 400 households. In the absence of national and/or international organization in the area, OCHA and other stakeholders decided to distribute the NFIs through village elders and council members. OCHA/UNJLC will undertake post-distribution monitoring. Similar small scale deliveries are expected to follow in the coming weeks.

NFI Distribution

Distributions of NFI in the new camps in the Kulbus and Silea area have almost been completed. This operation required logistic flexibility, as some camps were cut-off due to heavy rains (satellite camp Helalit) and alternative routes had to be identified to reach the destination. 

Geneina Shelter/NFI working group intends to link NFI distribution with food aid as much as possible in order to minimize travel and to avoid overstretching of distribution capacity of implementing partners.

NFI distribution of the priority items plastic sheeting, blankets, jerry cans and soap to IDPs in Riyad camp (Geneina urban) is set between 1 â?? 5^th of August.  An interagency team conducted beneficiary count at dawn in Ryad. The final headcount was 8,140 down from an estimate of 30,000 late June. Accurate registration, particularly in an urban environment is becoming a major challenge.

OCHA and UNJLC in close consultation with other stakeholders are in the process of projecting the remaining NFI needs for Darfur. The gap is still significant for all commodities 

Road Accessibility

Insecurity remains a concern on the main corridors to Nyala via Ed Daein and to El Fasher. The looted cargo from two trucks at Labado (close to Nyala) attacked last week has not been recovered while attacks on commercial trucks almost occur on a daily basis between Kabkabiyah and El Fasher on the road to Geneina.

The Nyala - El Fasher road was closed on the 24^th July and remains closed for UN movement until UN Security has completed a security assessment.

Rains have had a considerable effect on the smooth outflow of NFIs to Darfur. The road linking Kabkabiyah and Sharaf Omra has been inaccessible for the past weeks even with 4x4 vehicles.

Tina, Kornoi and Um Bareo in North Darfur were declared no go areas after fighting was reported beginning last week. UN Security assessed the situation and permitted an inter-agency assessment team to access the area.

Food Aid Sector Meeting

The first Food Aid Sector meeting took place 26^th July in the HAC office chaired by the WFP Country Director. The CD informed the meeting that the July distribution target of 1.0 mio beneficiaries (likely to be close to 800,000) will not be met because of:

• Registration, verification and monitoring capacity of Implementing Partners and WFP is insufficient to keep up with increased needs.
• Logistics capacity to bring in sufficient stocks into Darfur. Shortage of off road trucking capacity, inaccessibility due to rains and insecurity is slowing down the operations
• Not yet stable food pipeline

WFP has put in place measures to address the above issues:

• More staff is being recruited and seconded by partner organizations
• 120 6x6 trucks of which 22 arrived in Port Sudan 27^th July are on its way to Sudan plus 200 long haul trucks will be leased to augment the trucking capacity
• Airdrops are expected to start 2^nd August to remote and inaccessible camps in West Darfur
• The cereals pipeline is dry by mid September and requires approximately 83,000 mt until the end of the year. Given the lead time for the arrival of in kind contributions, donors are approached to pledge cash for in-country procurement by WFP of the national staple food (sorghum), available in East Sudan
• Other Agencies (MSF, ICRC etc) confirmed that they will import significant stocks. WFP will coordinate these arrivals to supplement the WFP pipeline

Current in-country stocks are 50,000 mt of which 23,000 mt in stock in Gedaref, Port Sudan and El Obeid; 18,000 mt en-route and 9,000 mt in stock in Darfur

WFP estimates the number of beneficiaries up to end of September at 1.2 mio and projects an increase to 2.0 mio until the end of the year. The distinction and hence registration of IDPs versus local residents is becoming more and more problematic with rapidly worsening vulnerability levels among many Darfurians affected by the conflict. Prices of basic commodities have doubled in some cases and becoming prohibitive to many. 

WFP will lead a needs assessment with GoS and other partners by mid August and will look into HH food security, nutrition, agriculture recovery. This will not replace the FAO/WFP Food and Crop assessment. It is envisaged that the assessment will advice on a.o. the targeting strategy, registration procedure, beneficiary projections and short and medium food aid requirements.

Rail Transport

WFP contracted a private company to transport monthly 6,000 mt of cargo starting in August by rail from El Obeid to Nyala. The company owns 3 locomotives and leased 75 wagons from the Sudanese Railway Corporation. The rail stretch Babanusa â?? Nyala is the limiting factor only allowing for block trains of a max of 20 wagons (30 mt payload each). The contract stipulates a financial incentive for the contractor in the event the 6,000 mt benchmark is exceeded.

Food Airdrops

Airdrops are planned to West Darfur locations starting 2^nd August â??04 for Habilah (414 mt), Foro Burunga (494 mt), Arara (159 mt) and Beida (236 mt). Cereals, salt, pulses and CSB will be prepared for airdropping by re-bagging and placing them on pallets. Airdrop preparations teams will be send to the camps two days in advance to prepare the sites and the community.

Fuel Supply

UNJLC has contracted a consultant who will analyse the Sudanese fuel sector. The consultancy team will face a major challenge to make a thorough analysis of demand and supply of particularly Jet A1 and diesel and storage/handling/transport facilities also taking into account the deployment of peacekeeping forces in South Sudan (DPKO). The consultancy will start early August and a first draft report is expected second half of August.  

Cooking Fuel

Pilots testing different stoves have started in the Darfur States. IDTG and GAA supported by the FAO are involved to share all local expertise and experience available to the pilot teams. ITDG has extensive experience with the production of fuel efficient clay stoves and is considering to set up a production line in El Fasher. The main objective of the pilots is to test the acceptability of different stoves with the beneficiaries and obtain consensus on the way forward on this extremely important issue effecting the daily well being of many IDPs.

SOUTH SUDAN

• Nicholas Romero, a consultant from TPG, a WFP/UNJLC standby partner, arrived in Nairobi on 26^th July. Mr Romero is in country for a week to carry out a feasibility study for a two-month assessment of the transport markets in Kenya, Uganda, and Southern Sudan in relation to projected humanitarian activities in Southern Sudan. Meetings have been held with the logistics officers of key humanitarian players in order to determine potential transport needs, and a mission to Lokichoggio is underway. Information on both market composition and estimated elasticity will be collected before the consultant returns to Rome to write up recommendations.
• A first draft of the UNJLC logistics-planning map has been finalised. Created by UNJLC and FAO, the map provides a Sudan-wide overview of humanitarian offices and warehousing, while providing details on seasonal and all year road and river access. Operational and non-operational rail links are shown, as well as current and planned rehabilitation projects. Additional non-spatial information is indicated in text boxes including indicative transport rates and commercial transport capacities. The draft will be shown to OLS members for comment before a second draft, including the results of the recent North/South IDP return route assessment, will be produced. The map aims to be a common repository for logistical information both in the South and the North thereby providing a clear planning tool for Sudan as a whole.