Resident Coordinator's Office

Joint Weekly Report
Sudan
4 - 8 March 2007

Southern Kordofan

Recovery and Development
On 4 March President Bashir visited Misseriya areas where the SPLA is gaining influence. He promised 10 million dollars for socio-economic improvements and high-lighted his dislike for the Abyei Protocols, opposed by the Misseriya.

On 7-10 March, the 3rd traditional leaders conference took place in Dilling, supported by the Swiss Foreign Affairs Office for Human Security and US Institute of Peace.  The main objective of the conference was to bring together 180 traditional leaders “to institutionalize the issues of traditional concerns” and discuss issues of rule of law, discrimination, and social order and the role of traditional leaders and practices in these areas.

International Women’s day was celebrated in Kadugli with musical performances in the town theatre. The event was organized by UN Agencies and NGOs and attended by Government representatives and the public in general.

Humanitarian
The Chief of RRR visited Kadulgi on 5 March and met with UN representatives to discuss issues of returns. At the meeting IOM and WFP highlighted the difficulty of transporting at the village and payam level and of correspondence of returnee drops off and food delivery centres.

Sixty-nine cases of measles have been reported in Abyei. UNICEF and WHO conducted a visit to the area to talk to health partners, train on disease detection and assess the readiness of MSF to lead a vaccination campaign. The campaign began on 7 March targeting 6 months to 15 year old children. It will go on for ten days and will be supervised by the Ministry of Health.

The first meningitis cases were reported in Abyei during the last week of December 2006. Although not considered an outbreak yet it is a worrying situation because all the cases reported come from the same area. A vaccination campaign has not been recommended yet because one was conducted in March 2006. Monitoring will continue as well as training in disease surveillance.

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