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USAID/OTI Sudan Field Report
August 2005
Program Description
The overall goal of the USAID/OTI Sudan program is to strengthen Sudanese confidence and capacity to address the causes and consequences of political marginalization, violence and instability. The Office of Transition Initiatives is pursuing this goal within the framework of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The five main objectives of the OTI Sudan program are to: promote the emergence of responsive and effective civil authorities; provide opportunities for peaceful dialogue within and among communities; promote the emergence of an active civil society; increase the availability of quality, independent information; and protect vulnerable populations from grave human rights violations and related abuses.
OTI's implementing partners are PACT, the Educational Development Center, Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), and Internews Network. PACT manages the Southern Sudan Transition Initiative, which is a small-grants program promoting and supporting good governance, local-level peace initiatives, the development of civil society, and an informative and balanced media. The Education Development Center has established the Sudan Radio Service, which is a shortwave radio station that transmits six hours of programming daily on current events, civic education, health, and culture in nine local Sudanese languages. DAI is implementing a small-grants program that will focus on critical transition needs in the aftermath of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan. OTI funds Internews Network to develop media programming targeted at displaced Darfuris.
Country Situation
Crash takes life of longtime southern Sudan leader - Tragically, on July 30, only three weeks after he was inaugurated as Sudan's first vice president, John Garang, longtime SPLM leader, died in a helicopter crash near Sudan's border with Uganda. The helicopter crashed in a mountainous region of southern Sudan while on route from Uganda, following an abortive landing attempt in bad weather. World leaders, including Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and South Africa's President Thambo Mbeki, joined dignitaries from around the world and thousands of Sudanese at Garang's Aug. 6 funeral in Juba. Thousands more had the opportunity to pay their respects as the vice president's body was transported to the towns of Kurmuk, Rumbek, Yei and Bor, before being taken to Juba for burial.
Salva Kiir sworn in as Sudan's first vice president - The military commander of the SPLM, Salva Kiir Mayardit, was sworn in as Sudan's first vice president on Aug. 11 in the capital of Khartoum. Kiir was selected to head the SPLM in the aftermath of John Garang's death. The new Sudanese vice president pledged his commitment to the implementation of the January peace accords and his desire to work toward peace throughout Sudan. Kiir's immediate tasks include the selection of SPLM representatives in the Government of National Unity and the formation of a new Government of Southern Sudan.
Inter-communal riots rock Khartoum - More than 100 people were killed in riots that broke out in the cities of Khartoum and Juba after John Garang's death became known. The unrest began when rumors suggesting that the government had a role in Garang's death circulated throughout Khartoum's southern Sudanese neighborhoods. In the southern garrison town of Juba, southerners looted and set afire businesses owned by northern traders. Several thousand Arab residents of Juba fled to Khartoum for safety. The rioting died down after heavily armed police and soldiers began patrolling both cities and imposed curfews.
USAID/OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
With the death of John Garang, southern Sudan went through one of its most difficult transitions in years. A charismatic leader and a towering figure in Sudanese politics for over two decades, Garang had been one of the driving forces behind the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in January 2005. There were serious concerns that the loss of Garang would lead to increased instability that could derail the peace process. The rapid selection of Salva Kiir to replace him was critical to assuring the southern Sudanese population that the SPLM was united and still very much in charge. With the exception of Juba and Khartoum, much of the rest of the country remained calm.
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| Roger Winter, special representative of the deputy secretary of state for Sudan, with Rebecca Ockwaci, executive producer of the OTI-funded Sudan Radio Service. |
Immediately following Garang's death, the Office of Transition Initiatives' Sudan program moved quickly to provide the support necessary to ensure a stable transition. OTI sent critically needed supplies, such as generator fuel and water, to New Site, where the SPLM leadership held emergency meetings to select Garang's successor. Additional provisions were sent to Juba, where, with thousands of mourners expected at the funeral, shortages of food and water could have potentially led to unrest.
The tragedy of Rwanda illustrates how, in the aftermath of the sudden death of a leader, rumors can contribute to wide-scale death and destruction. While nothing on the scale of the atrocities carried out in Rwanda was expected, there was nevertheless considerable anxiety in southern Sudan and a lack of information throughout the region. Within days of Garang's death, OTI developed a multi-media campaign to inform communities of the events in New Site, to convey statements by the SPLM leadership, and to send messages from the international community signaling continued support for southern Sudan. OTI contracted with a video journalist to travel with Sudan Radio Service reporters to New Site and other locations to document the funeral procession and interview key SPLM figures. The result was a powerful 15-minute video and Sudan Radio Service-produced audio tapes that delivered clear messages of peace and continuity alongside appeals for calm. The video was shown in a mobile cinema that traveled to Rumbek, Aweil town and Kauda. In Aweil town, members of the city's Arab community were invited to the showing.
Despite a disruption in flight schedules and stricter security measures imposed after Garang's death, OTI's implementing partners, Development Alternatives Inc. and PACT, were able to develop 28 grants in August in the areas of information dissemination, local-level peace dialogues, local governance infrastructure support, and civic education. In Rumbek, for example, a grant to the county authorities will allow for the construction of 15 two-sided community notice boards throughout the town to provide citizens with the latest information.
The imminent arrival of U.N. peacekeeping troops in the south has generated concerns about the mission's mandate and the troops' relationship with local communities. An OTI grant will facilitate a workshop to open dialogue between the advanced peacekeeping mission and residents of Maridi. Similar meetings have proven successful in Juba and Malakal.
In coordination with the SPLM's Local Governance Secretariat, OTI plans to rehabilitate the Tonj County office block and provide the authorities with radio communications equipment, as part of a pilot project to assess the costs of putting together a "local county office in a box" kit. To address the causes of conflict in Darfur, OTI funded a Darfurian nongovernmental organization to facilitate a dialogue between nomads and sedentary farming communities, and a joint monitoring mechanism for herd migration, in areas near Nyala in South Darfur. An OTI grant is also providing psycho-social support and awareness for women in internally displaced persons' camps in Draig and Otash, both through workshops on displaced-persons' human rights, and HIV/AIDS, and through psycho-social counseling to women struggling to overcome the traumatic effects of sexual violence.
B. Grants Activity Summary
| Promote emergence of responsive, effective and inclusive civil authorities. |
2 |
$66,007 |
33 |
$1,187,941 |
| Provide opportunities for peaceful dialogue within and among communities. |
17 |
$244,575 |
66 |
$1,265,037 |
| Promote the emergence of an empowered and an active civil society. |
5 |
$38,903 |
70 |
$1,070,539 |
| Increase availability of quality, independent information. |
4 |
27,460 |
12 |
$2,963,720 |
| Protect vulnerable populations from abuse. |
|
|
2 |
$614,000 |
| TOTAL |
28 |
$376,945 |
183 |
$7,101,237 |
C. Indicators of Success
At an August reception, the OTI-supported Sudan Radio Service (SRS) celebrated two years of providing critical information to audiences in southern Sudan and beyond. The SRS programming and staff have increased both quantitatively and qualitatively in the last two years. With support from USAID's education program, SRS has expanded its evening broadcast with a new daily program called "The Way Forward," focused on issues and events coming in the wake of John Garang's death. This expanded programming will run from Aug. 9 through Sept. 9.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
In September, OTI/Sudan will:
- Prepare for an October team-building session.
- Set up clear grant implementation plans with the coming of the dry season.
- Explore areas of collaboration between OTI North and South programs, given the country's changing political dynamics.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C: Victoria Rames, Sudan Program Manager, vrames@usaid.gov, 202-712-4899
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