VZCZCXRO1765
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1091/01 1941042
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 131042Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7870
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001091
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, AF/SPG, AND S/CRS
NSC FOR PITTMAN AND SHORTLEY
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU
TAGS: USAU ET
SUBJECT: S/E NATSIOS VISIT TO NORTH DARFUR
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In a July 9-10 visit to El Fasher, North Darfur,
Special Envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios, accompanied by CDA Alberto
Fernandez and others, met with representatives from the AU and UN,
IDP camps, civil society groups and the local branch of the Umma
Party. He learned of the challenges facing AMIS in maintaining the
ceasefire, potential challenges facing the deployment of the Hybrid,
efforts to undermine international efforts toward peace, and some of
the major concerns Darfurians hope will be addressed in future peace
talks. END SUMMARY.
2. (SBU) During a July 9 informal dinner with international
Ceasefire Commission members including Deputy Force Commander
Rurangwa (Acting Chairman), CFC 2nd Vice Chair BG Roques (EU),
CivPol Commissioner Tsiloane, AU observer Col. Waswa, and UN
observer LTC Vindheim, Natsios discussed of some of the
bureaucratic, financial and logistical challenges facing the CFC and
the ceasefire itself.
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POLITICAL VOID IN DARFUR,
DELAY IN CONSTRUCTION FOR HYBRID
--------------------------------
3. (SBU) On July 10, S/E met with Acting UNMIS Head of Office Miguel
Martin and UNDSS Willie Harrison. Martin said that population
displacement in Darfur remains a big problem and that while NGOs
would like to open new camps, the GOS refuses and instead claims
that there are no problems and that people are ready to return. He
said the top problems the camps face are lack of water, the
omnipresence of weapons, increasing alcoholism and petty crime.
4. (SBU) Regarding progress toward the Hybrid, Martin lamented that
DOS contractor PAE had still not finished the necessary
infrastructure and it would cause a delay. He said that the
100-tent UN area near PAE's LOB in El Fasher had taken months and
was still not ready. Until it is, he said the remaining light
support package (LSP) soldiers would not deploy from Khartoum.
Martin also mentioned that he believed Joint Special Representative
Adada would live in Khartoum, although they were preparing a
residence for him in El Fasher. He mentioned that the "joint" part
of Adada's title was potentially confusing, as his duty of care
could fall under the AU's or the UN's responsibility.
5. (SBU) Speaking to the political situation, Harrison said there
appeared to be a political void in Darfur. There are a lot of field
commanders, he said, but they hadn't been able to unite. JEM
appeared ready to talk peace, but also has a well-developed
propaganda machine. Harrison welcomed the CHD effort to reunify
SLA/M, but said the GOS was still very actively engineering groups
to withdraw from the DPA (i.e. either paying them off or creating
new supposed groups) and bombing non-signatory areas. The Hilif
bombing two weeks ago, for example, targeted no military but rather
destroyed livestock, displaced people and thereby reduced support to
rebel groups there.
6. (SBU) Harrison noted that many non-signatories are actually
non-factors on the ground as real military forces since they command
few soldiers or resources. He believed that, despite defections,
Minni Minawi still has the largest single "rebel" force, with about
fifty vehicles under his control.
------------------------------------
CIVIL SOCIETY STRESSES POWER SHARING
------------------------------------
7. (SBU) S/E then met with Mohamed El Sadig Adam Abdalla, the Darfur
Forum's Outreach and Information Officer and a Popular Congress
Party leader in North Darfur, as well as Omar Hamid, the Darfur
Forum Officer responsible for Native Administration Affairs and a
Umma Party member. Both said they felt that the GOS' arming of
different tribes has "destroyed the social fabric of Darfur," and
said that only by "fixing" Khartoum (politically) could Darfur be
solved. They stressed that true power sharing, in which Darfurians
had an increased role in governance was a key to the solution, and
said they had high hopes that the UN would be able to stop the GOS'
aggression. They lauded former governor and general Ibrahim Suleiman
(currently in Cairo) as an important figure that could be helpful in
the political process.
8. (SBU) The two men also lamented that the conflict has
fundamentally changed the livelihoods of many tribesmen (i.e. from
pastoral to armed partisan) that could prove impossible for them to
turn back from. At the same time, they expressed some hope that
they saw signs of Arab tribes turning away from the government, even
though they have now come to depend on government jobs for their
economic survival.
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NAFIE RESETTLING NIGER/CHAD ARABS IN DARFUR
KHARTOUM 00001091 002 OF 002
-------------------------------------------
9. (SBU) In a subsequent meeting, Zahra Abdulnaim, also an Umma
Party member and an attendee of the DPA negotiations, said that the
NCP regime in Khartoum has manipulated the ignorance and illiteracy
of Arab tribes, given them arms and ammunition, and tempted them
with more land if they manage to defeat rebel factions. Now many of
these former "Janjaweed" have been recruited under the name "Border
Guard" or "Camel Rider Police". Also, within the last 3-4 weeks,
she alleged that Presidential Advisor Nafie Ali Nafie resettled
17-27,000 members of the Arab Mahameed tribe originally from
Niger/Chad to Wadi Salih in South Darfur State. Nafie supposedly
led a team who stayed over one week in Wadi Salih to issue these
Arabs official papers and documents. The land they are supposed to
have been resettled on was originally Fur land.
-----------------------------
IDPS REITERATE SECURITY FEARS
-----------------------------
10. (SBU) In his final meeting, the S/E met IDP representatives of
the three camps surrounding El Fasher: Abdulbasit Mohamed Adam, a
Fur Umda from Al Salaam camp, Hawa Abdulla Adam Mohamed, a Fur
female from Abu Shouk, and Hassan Assad Rasheed Kanan, a Zaghawa
Umda from Zam Zam. All three agreed that security was the main
problem they faced. In many cases, government or government-backed
forces were responsible for assaults and rape against IDPs.
Meanwhile, AMIS has no authority to arrest anyone guilty of such
crimes.
11. (SBU) As for peace prospects, the leaders said ninety percent of
the IDPs in the camps support SLA/AW because he was the one at the
Abuja talks who insisted on individual compensation. They said
Minni's popularity now is not more than two percent in the camps.
For that reason, they recommend negotiations with JEM and SLA/AW and
stress that it is not essential to include all the factions' leaders
because some of them have no clout in the field. The leaders
stressed three priorities to restore peace and fix the DPA: 1)
Security; 2) Recovery and Rehabilitation; and 3) Compensation. Like
many IDPs in Darfur, they seem to have dangerously inflated
expectations from the coming of the Hybrid and from a political
process yet to be fully defined.
12. (U) S/E Natsios' staff has cleared this cable.
FERNANDEZ