Cablegate: Aec: Splm Accuses Ncp of Insincerity and Attacks

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RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #2702/01 3231646
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 191646Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5285
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 002702

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EPET SU
SUBJECT: AEC: SPLM Accuses NCP of Insincerity and Attacks

REF: Kharotum 2667

1. SUMMARY: During the 14th Assessment and Evaluation Commission
(AEC) Plenary held on November 14, The SPLM accused the NCP of
insincerity in implementing the CPA and asserted that Sudan armed
Forces (SAF) were complicit in the current instability around Juba.
The Commission also reviewed November 11 AEC presentation by
Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) Minister for Legal Affairs
Michael Makuai. Makuai had said that the establishment of GoSS
institutions was progressing well, but hindered by the national
Ministry of Justice's (MoJ) refusal to certify the ten state
constitutions. Makuai said he plans to use a procedural loophole to
certify the constitutions himself. Makuai also expressed concern
abut the SAF's role in attacks around Juba (reftel), environmental
degradation in the oil fields, lack of action in Abyei, and the fact
that North-south boundary commission is hampered by a lack of funds.
End Summary.

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Chairman's Report and Norway Speaks
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2. Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim
opened the meeting by emphasizing that his country is a partner with
both the NCP and SPLM, that Darfur issues cannot be separated from
peace in the south, and that he feels the AEC is critical in
achieving CPA implementation. Solheim also complained about the
slowness of the World Bank and said his country may pull out of the
Multi-Donor Trust Fund if changes do not come quickly.

3. In his report, Tom Vraalsen, AEC Chairman, described a meeting
with Vice President Ali Osman Taha in which the VP complained that
the AEC trip to Juba exceeded its scope by listening to complaints
over national CPA implementation and not focusing on southern
issues. In a separate meeting, Vraalsen said that he discussed with
First Vice-President Salva Kiir possibilities for IGAD to take a
more active role on breaking deadlocks in CPA implementation.

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Security: SAF Accused of Wrongdoing in Juba
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4. During the meeting, State Minister for Agriculture (SPLM) Anne
Ito said that while investigations are proceeding slowly and
deliberately, there is evidence the SAF has been behind the recent
attacks in and around Juba (reftel). Saeed Al Khatib, the NCP
representative, warned that the AEC should wait until all the facts
are in and suggested the matter be taken up at the next security
working group (SWG) meeting. He said that because this issue was
not discussed at the last SWG meeting, it is outside the scope of
the plenary; the working groups should set the agenda for the
plenary and not the other way around he explained. The UK
Ambassador, who chairs the SWG, disagreed. He believes the plenary
must give direction to the working groups.

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Makuai: A Litany of Complaints
------------------------------

5. The Italian Ambassador, chair of the Power Sharing Working Group
(PSWG) gave a report on the presentation by Michael Makuai. Makuai
had been invited to the PSWG to discuss implementation of the CPA in
the South. The minister had said that the establishment of
institutions was going well: the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly
(SSLA), all state legislatures, and the judiciary were all fully
appointed and functioning. These institutions, however, all
suffered from capacity problems due to a lack of qualified
professional staff.

6. The writing of the state constitutions had also been going well,
Makuai said, until they were submitted to the MoJ for certification
of compliance with the Interim National Constitution (INC). The MoJ
asked to strike the language on state boundaries, state names, state
capitals, and references to the 2011 referendum for southern
independence, saying these were national competencies. Makuai
disagreed, saying that the states had a right to include all of the
above so long as it did not contradict the INC. He also said that
because the MoJ did not respond within the two weeks allotted in the
INC, with an average response of over there weeks, the state
constitutions should automatically take affect, and he would certify
them himself. The NCP strongly disagreed, citing article 58(b) of
the CPA which specifically assigns certifying state constitutions to
the national government.

7. Makuai had also expressed complaints and fears covering a broad
range of CPA issues, including Abyei, civil service reform, a
North/South Boundary Commission starved for cash, and reports of
environmental destruction around the Bentiu oil fields. Makuai said
the NCP was obviously not a serious partner in the CPA. The NCP
representative at the PSWG meeting, al Kahtib, asserted the NCP was
serious and said that the slowdown of the boundary commission was
the result of SPLM slowness and not money, in fact the commission
had been given over USD 1.2 million, plus equipment in kind. (NOTE:

KHARTOUM 00002702 002 OF 002

in a subsequent private meeting, al Khatib confided to Embassy
officials that the real obstacle was the incompetence of the NCP
technocrat chairing the commission. End Note)

8. Following the PSWG report, the NCP representatives expressed
regret that once again the opportunity to learn about southern CPA
implementation was lost. They asserted that Makuai should have
stuck to the scope of his original invitation and not discussed
national matters, which were the purview of his northern SPLM
counterparts.

HUME

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