UNJLC Bulletin Contents
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1. HIGHLIGHTS
2. GENERAL
3. SECURITY/ ACCESS
4. COMMON NFI PIPELINE
5. SURFACE TRANSPORT
6. UNMIS
7. AIR OPERATIONS
8. FUEL PRICES
9. LOGISTICS ASSESSMENTS
10. SOUTH, EAST AND TRANSITIONAL AREAS
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1. HIGHLIGHTS

Security Phase Four implemented in LRA affected area in Greater Equatoria region: As of 3 November 2005 the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) raised the security phase of parts of the Greater Equatoria region from Phase Three to Phase Four. The security phase upgrade was implemented following an increase in security incidents including the death of two Foundation Suisse de Deminage (FSD) de-miners (one international staff and the other a Sudanese team leader) on 31 October 2005. (Source: WFP)

Widespread hostilities and violence prevail across the Darfurs: Insecurity continued throughout the Darfurs during October and November impeding humanitarian access to populations in need and isolating the humanitarian community in Geneina.

CARE Funding Crisis: Funding constraints have forced CARE to cease their common cargo surface transport service and restrict operations of their NFI "Common Pipeline" (CP) transport service to an 'emergency response' phase. 

South Kordofan Yellow Fever Outbreak: On 14 November, the Ministry of Health (MoH) declared an outbreak of yellow fever in South Kordofan, in central Sudan. As at 30 November, 142 deaths of a known 556 cases had been reported. The danger that the mosquito-borne disease could spread rapidly among people who are poor, nomadic and unvaccinated, necessitated a rapid response on behalf of the UN, MoH and humanitarian community. 

2. GENERAL

UNJLC Logistics Mailing List: UNJLC Sudan has established an e-mail distribution list for sharing logistics information amongst the humanitarian community. Members shall receive and are able to post any information pertaining to logistics in Sudan. To subscribe to the UNJLC Logistics mailing list send an email from your account to sudan.logs-subscribe@unjlc.org

UNJLC Khartoum Office Relocated: In mid-November the UNJLC Khartoum office relocated from Amarat to Burri. The new address is Burri, 110 Garden City Building 290, I Floor, Khartoum, Sudan.  It is a separate building adjacent to the UNMIS building and we are co-located with OCHA and UNMIS Returns Group.

Light Vehicle Convoy to the Darfurs:  The October scheduled light vehicle convoy to the Darfurs has been delayed owing to the ongoing insecurity of access roads to West and South Darfur. UNDSS has advised that a convoy to Fasher is permissible, however, onward travel to Geneina and Nyala cannot be endorsed for UN agencies. NGOs not bound by UN regulations are currently investigating options to organize their own convoy beyond Fasher. UNJLC will assist in the coordination of a convoy to Fasher with a scheduled departure of 15 December. NGOs wishing to proceed to Geneina and Nyala may be able to do so with the NGO convoy.

Contingency Planning East: The rapid deterioration of relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia has sparked the need for urgent planning for possible humanitarian scenarios that may unfold affecting Eastern Sudan. A contingency planning team has been established to cover a possible influx of refugees into Sudan. UNJLC has advised on NFI availability and emergency distribution stocks planned for eastern Sudan next year.

3. SECURITY/ACCESS

Darfur:
Insecurity prevailed throughout the Darfurs during October and November impeding humanitarian access to populations in need and isolating the humanitarian community in Geneina. The widespread increase in hostilities, including murder, rape, abduction, assault, robbery and harassment in varying degrees upon civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarian workers, coincided with the 6th round of Inter-Sudanese Peace Talks on Darfur in Abuja, Nigeria in September. With the 7th round of Abuja talks currently underway this intense violence is unlikely to decrease in the month of December. If insecurities continue, no significant returns of IDPs to their villages of origin can be expected, and a large number of resident populations will remain in need of humanitarian assistance. In response, Jan Pronk, the UN Secretary General's Special representative to Sudan, has called for a doubling of the AU's strength to 12,000. (Source: UNOCHA, Sudan Humanitarian Overview Issue3)

West Darfur:
Humanitarian efforts operated under the pall of a worsening security situation throughout West Darfur during October-November. The heightened violence associated with increased incidents of banditry and robbery coincided with increased reports of rebel attacks on Janjaweed and GoS forces and reports of intertribal fighting around Geneina.  The Chadian army massing troops along the Sudan-Chad border in response to not only a presence of mutinous Chadian army personnel, but also to stop cross-border cattle rustling by the Janjaweed exacerbated the situation further.  These combined factors reduced humanitarian access in West Darfur to the lowest level reported this year. All roads out of Geneina are currently "no go" for UN traffic.    By late September, agencies had temporarily stopped operational movement of its staff and in mid-October UN agencies were advised to re-locate all non-essential staff out of Geneina.

The West Darfur humanitarian community responded well in coordinating its efforts to continue the flow of aid to beneficiaries despite the difficult environment.  WFP-UNHAS, OCHA, and UNJLC, in very close coordination with NGO's, developed a daily helicopter schedule to fly UN and NGO staff to various sites around the state and thereby avoiding road travel entirely.  In regards to commercial trucking, UNJLC established a daily security check procedure prior to the dispatch of any humanitarian cargo. In this system, UNDSS, NGO field staff, and the commercial drivers would all provide the latest road and village security updates to UNJLC / CARE prior to its approval of any mornings' dispatch. Since the implementation of this system, all commercial trucks and their cargos have arrived safely.

South Darfur:
South Darfur did not escape the overall increase in hostilities witnessed in October and November. Inter-tribal fighting and ongoing militia attacks resulted in over 10,000 newly displaced IDPs, the majority of which resulting from the burning of villages in the Gereida area. The murder of five Nigerian AMIS monitors and two civilian contractors by assailants near Manawasha, in the region of Nyala, in early October shocked the international community.


North Darfur:
The security situation in North Darfur remained volatile in October. November witnessed a slight decrease in reported incidents. In response to the ongoing violence UNJLC participated in an inter-agency rapid assessment team to conduct emergency needs assessments on all affected villages, camps and IDP gatherings.

4. COMMON NFI PIPELINE

NFI Carry-over Stocks: There remain significant quantities of 2005-procured and donated NFI stocks to be distributed in December 2005 and into the New Year to meet beneficiary needs for the winter season. UNJLC presented carry over stock management and allocation proposals to the NFI Advisory Panel for approval. The distribution priority targets are: newly displaced IDPs, IDPs in camps that have not yet received any NFIs in 2005. Pipeline breaks for jerry cans and plastic sheeting are anticipated within the first two months of 2006, thus, the NFI Advisory Panel has limited the distribution criteria and set a minimum emergency stock level to be retained across the Darfurs.

5. SURFACE TRANSPORT SERVICE

CARE Funding Crisis: Funding constraints have forced CARE to cease their common cargo surface transport service and restrict operations of their NFI "Common Pipeline" (CP) transport service to an 'emergency response' phase. 

On 15 October the common cargo transport facility, a 'free to user' common service offered to NGOs and other agencies, ceased operations. From its inception in February 2005 the service proved far more popular than anticipated, moving approximately 14,000 MT of program support cargo to and between Khartoum and the Darfur state capitals.  It is highly unlikely funding will be received to re-commence this service prior to 2006.
Within the framework of the NFI CP operation CARE is responsible for the receipt, storage, and transport of NFI cargo to the Darfur state capital hubs, and delivery of the NFIs to designated IDP camps or distribution points. During the current CARE funding crisis cargo transportation from El Obeid to the state capitals has been restricted to replenishment of emergency stocks only, and from the state capital to distribution points for emergency distributions only.  The shortage of funds has and shall continue to negatively impact upon distribution of basic shelter and NFI needs of IDPs during the winter season. 

UNJLC and CARE have submitted an emergency funding appeal of US$ 1.4 million, to cover CARE's CP operational costs for the remainder of 2005.

6. UNMIS

Air Cargo Service: UNJLC in consultation with UNMIS MOVCON have clarified procedures for the humanitarian community to access UNMIS cargo movement capacity on a space available, free to user modality. The UNMIS Cargo Movement Request can be found on the UNJLC website at the following link:   http://www.unjlc.org/ImportedObjects/24874

Air Passenger Service: Whilst currently the humanitarian community is able to access UNMIS passenger service on an adhoc basis, UNMIS' preference is for an UN agency to take on a prioritisation/filter procedural role for passengers to access UNMIS flights.

Port Sudan warehouse facility: UNMIS plan to establish an office and warehouse facility in Port Sudan by mid-February for improved efficiency in UNMIS' cargo clearance and onward movement from Port Sudan.

Joint logistics space at Entebbe:  Within a six-month timeframe a UN Regional Mission consisting of the UN Missions in: Sudan (UNMIS) Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) and Burundi (ONUB) plan to establish a joint logistics space at Entebbe Airport, just outside Kampala in Uganda to support the three missions' operations.  DPKO has tendered for a wide-bodied aircraft, most probably a Boeing 747, to be based at Entebbe for troop rotation and repatriation.

UNJLC and UNMIS UNJLC and the UNMIS' logistic departments: Joint Logistics Operation Centre (J-LOC); MOVCON; and Aviation have begun monthly meetings to encourage cooperation and coordination of humanitarian logistics with the mission's logistic operations. The next meeting is scheduled for 4 January.

Aviation Base: UNMIS Aviation had intended to relocate the mission's air base to Kadugli, however, the rapid deterioration of the Kadugli airstrip has resulted in the UNMIS air fleet remaining in El Obeid. Currently UNMIS is restricting their flights to Kadugli to aircraft with no greater capacity than 5 MT to slow the deterioration rate of the airstrip.

Barge Operations:  UNMIS has completed a four-day transhipment barge operation from Kosti to Malakal, with another planned in early December to support movement of cargo and personnel from the anticipated Indian forces ship.  The 2006-07 UNMIS budget includes the purchase of six barges and leasing of a pusher barge. UNJLC and UNMIS shall investigate space available cargo possibilities for the humanitarian community to tap into.

UNMIS Deployment: The deployment of Sector Composite Groups was delayed in 2005 by the onset of the rainy season. In order to establish an UNMIS operational presence during these delays an initial multi-functional force of one company was deployed.

UNMIS equipment is classified into two categories: contingent owned equipment, (COE), which are military assets painted white for UN operations from troop contributing countries (TCC); and UN owned equipment (UNOE).  It is only UNOE that the humanitarian community may be able to access on space available terms. Currently there are only three UNOE trucks in country, however, within six weeks a larger fleet is anticipated.  UNMIS is intending to import a trans-axle truck to service Port Sudan, Kadugli, Kasala, Kosti, El Obeid, Bentiu and Abyie.  It is intended as a temporary arrangement until the arrival of the Egyptian Force heavy transport unit's COE.  

7. AIR OPS

Helicopter assets in the Darfurs: All three Darfur states are now serviced with either UNMIS and/or UNHAS helicopter assets. Geneina was the last of the capitals to acquire a dedicated heli-ops service, currently essential to humanitarian operations in the region as surface transport is restricted owing to increased attacks on both agency and commercial convoys.

UNHAS Cargo Fleet Re-located to El Obeid: During October-November, UNHAS scaled down and r-located it's cargo fleet from Khartoum to El Obeid. The reduction in air capacity is somewhat offset by: an increased WFP surface transport fleet and the stockpiling of WFP buffer stocks across the Darfur states (currently 80,000 MT) both factors diminishing the demand for air transportation of WFP food cargo; and the onset of the dry season and subsequent expansion of road access to seasonally isolated regions. An Antonov 12 aircraft will be utilized for the UNJLC prioritized NFI cargo flights.

Air ops snapshots:  See below, UNJLC Snapshots serving the South.

8. FUEL PRICES

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UNMIS Unified Fuel Tender:  The UN Country Team has agreed that interested UN agencies should apply to join the UNMIS unified fuel tender. UNJLC shall facilitate the consolidation of agencies' requests. 

9. LOGISTICS ASSESSMENTS

Abridged NFI Needs Assessment:  See above, NFI 2006 Darfur Proposal Review and NFI Survey.

Security updates for West Darfur Surface Transport: The West Darfur humanitarian community responded well in coordinating its efforts to continue the flow of aid to beneficiaries despite logistic constraints resulting from heightened insecurity. In regards to commercial trucking, UNJLC has established a daily security check procedure prior to the dispatch of any humanitarian cargo. In this system, UNDSS, NGO field staff, and the commercial drivers would all provide the latest road and village security updates to UNJLC / CARE prior to its approval of any mornings' dispatch. Since the implementation of this system, all commercial trucks and their cargos have arrived safely.

North Darfur Rapid Assessments: An inter-sectoral rapid assessment mechanism was adopted in North Darfur to cope with the increased number of newly displaced IDPs owing to heightened incidents of violence reported since September.  A template has been designed for rapid collection of basic needs assessment data.  UNJLC continues to participate in the cross-sectoral, inter-agency emergency needs assessments on all affected villages, camps and IDP gatherings.  Resulting from rapid assessments conducted in October-November UNJLC noted NFI needs for 1000HH of newly displaced IDPs in the Mallit area (distributions to take place in December) and 350 HH of newly displaced beneficiaries in the Um Mahareik area have received NFI distributions. An assessment in Dar Zaghawa area is to be conducted in early December. 

10. South, East and Transitional Areas

Security Phase Four implemented in Lord Resistance Army (LRA) affected area in Greater Equatoria region: As of 3 November the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) raised the security phase of parts of the Greater Equatoria region from Phase Three to Phase Four. The security phase upgrade was implemented following an increase in reported security incidents including the ambush and ensuing death of two Foundation Suisse de Deminage (FSD) de-miners (one international staff and the other a Sudanese team leader) on 31 October 2005 in Bahr El Jebel State of Equatoria region. Emergency operations only are to be conducted in the affected area and any movement of UN personnel between urban locations is to be conducted with an escort. 

The LRA insurgency, which now encompasses parts of Southern Sudan, northern Uganda and northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, compounded with inter-tribal fighting continues to threaten the welfare and livelihoods of thousands. The increased insecurity and consequential Security Phase IV operational regulations will hamper the efficiency of emergency operations for all humanitarian actors within the area, preventing agencies from accessing and forming a clear picture of numbers of people in need of aid and from delivering much needed assistance to them. See Annex A for map of Phase IV affected areas. (Source: DCSA Sudan Southern Sector)

SRRC pass for international staff travelling to Southern Sudan is mandatory: Agencies are reminded to ensure all international staff are issued an SRRC travel pass prior to arriving in South Sudan.

Mr Salva Kiir Mayardit forms the government of South Sudan in Juba:  On 23 October, Mr Salva Kiir Mayardit, the first vice President of Sudan and the President of South Sudan, appointed a twenty-member cabinet and seven advisors for the Government of South Sudan (GoSS). Mr Salva Kiir Mayardit's newly formed Government of South Sudan is based in Juba. (Source: WFP)

UNJLC Snapshots servicing the South: The massive influx of humanitarian and commercial actors into South Sudan has continued during this reporting period. The Deputy Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator (DR/HC) for South Sudan relocated its base from Rumbek to Juba in late September. Services and infrastructure are struggling to sustain the rapid growth of agencies and companies based in Juba. 

UNJLC Juba has published a series of snapshots to support the increased presence of all players in the south, including: a Juba Accommodation Overview; Banks in South Sudan; Land Acquisition Procedures; Customs Procedures; Commercial Air Service to South Sudan; UN Air Operations; Barges and River Transport; and a South Sudan Yellow Pages.  All snapshots can be found at www.unjlc.org

City of Juba 'Urgent Needs Assessment': Gibb Engineering of South Africa produced a comprehensive City of Juba 'Urgent Needs Assessment' in September. Contact details of the engineering firm are: gibb@gibbafrica.com  www.kweziv3.com   +254 20 32045000, 250577

UNOPS South Sudan Fuel Initiative: NOPS is preparing a 200,000 litre bunker and distribution point of diesel fuel in Rumbek to service UN and NGO agencies and International Financial Institutions (IFIs). UNOPS are also preparing to build, equip and operate maintenance and repair centers for UN, NGO and IFI's vehicle fleets in Juba and Rumbek.

UNJLC South Sudan Interactive Map: UNJLC is monitoring the WFP road and dyke rehabilitation program in South Sudan. Their progress will be incorporated into the road rehabilitation and mine-clearance data on an interactive map being produced by UNJLC. A prototype of the interactive mapping project is anticipated to be posted on the UNJLC website (www.unjlc.org) by end-December. 

South Kordofan Yellow Fever Outbreak: On 14 November, the Ministry of Health (MoH) declared an outbreak of yellow fever in Southern Kordofan, in central Sudan. As at 30 November, 142 deaths of a known 556 cases had been reported. The danger that the mosquito-borne disease can spread rapidly among people who are poor, nomadic and unvaccinated, necessitated a rapid response on behalf of the UN, MoH and humanitarian community. 

The Yellow Fever Outbreak Task Force consisting of MoH, WHO, UNICEF, UNMIS, MSF France, MEDAIR and the Sudanese Red Crescent commenced a three-week mass vaccination campaign on 27 November. UNICEF, WHO and the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision made available 1.9 million doses of vaccine, with MSF France expected to provide an additional 800,000 doses.  Totaling 17 MT the vaccine and campaign support material arrived at Khartoum airport on 26 November. The MoH managed the immediate surface transport, receipt and storage into the six affected localities of Dilling, Abu Gebeha, Kadugli, Ayie, Talodi and Rashad.  (Source: WHO)