VZCZCXRO6936
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0967/01 1830538
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 010538Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1197
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000967
FOR SE WILLIAMSON AND AF/SPG
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR EAID SOCI KPKO SU
SUBJECT: CPA IMPLENTATION IN SOUTHERN KORDOFAN STATE PLAGUED BY
INCAPCITY AND MISTRUST
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The SPLM Deputy Governor of Southern Kordofan,
the state's Under Secretary for Rural Development, and an UNMIS
analyst all agreed that CPA implementation in that state is lagging,
with resulting problems in security, but they provided conflicting
reasons for the delay. END SUMMARY.
2. (SBU) On June 26, Emboffs met separately with SPLM Deputy
Governor of Southern Kordofan state Daniel Kode and with Jade
Duchesneau-Bernier, UNMIS Joint Mission Analysis Center (JMAC) team
leader for the Three Areas, to discuss issues CPA implementation in
Southern Kordofan, especially the Nuba Mountains region. (Note:
Under the CPA, the Governor of Southern Kordofan is named by the
GoS, while the Deputy r}[cQ2H9id note.) Bernier had
just returned from a visit to Southern Kordofan.
3. (SBU) Kodi cited a list of alleged deficiencies in implementing
the CPA in his state, including failure by the SAF to reduce its
forces in South Kordofan, lack of integration and training for the
Joint Integrated Units, lack of DDR and failure to integrate
demobilized SPLA veterans and other SPLM civil service candidates
into the state civil service, and reactivation of Popular Defense
Force militias.
4. (SBU) Kodi claimed that while the SPLA had withdrawn its forces
south of the 1-1-1956 border in accord with the CPA, the SAF has not
made corresponding reductions. He added that SPLA soldiers now are
starting to return from Lake Abeyad, south of the 1-1-1956 line, to
their native Nuba Mountains, due to lack of adequate living
facilities at Lake Abeyad for themselves and their families. (Kodi
described it as "Lake Malaria.") Bernier confirmed that JMAC has
detected what she said were two companies of SPLA who recently
returned to the Nuba Mountains from the Lake. Both Kodi and Bernier
also said that the SAF has reinforced along Southern Kordofan's
border with neighboring Abyei, following the fighting there in May.
(Note: Other UNMIS contacts have confirmed this information as well,
and report that senior SPLM officials have claimed to UNMIS that the
SPLA soldiers who returned to the Nuba Mountains are "AWOL" and
merely wish to see their families and are miserable at Lake Abeyad.
Kodi made a similar assertion in our meeting with him. End note.)
5. (SBU) Kodi said that a failure to implement DDR is contributing
to insecurity in the Nuba Mountains. Kodi also complained that 2400
SPLM\A administrators, and 3000 police have not been integrated into
the civil service, as promised. He indicated that 1500 of these
police officers were currently being paid by the GOSS. He said that
unresolved issues include job protection for existing staff,
capacity building, and regularizing ranks and qualifications between
the old and new employees. Pressed to identify the source of
resistance to the integration of former SPLM\A into the civil
service and who the Embassy might approach to try to correct the
siuation, od was unable to do so. He finally averred that the
problem stemmed from the GNU Ministry of Finance in Khartoum and
that the state government, including its NCP members, were
supportive of state administrative integration.
6. (SBU) Separately, Bernier said that she had observed resistance
to police reintegration in the NCP-led state government. She said
that the GoS Southern Kordofan chief of police had told her just
days before that he would "never" accept former SPLA into the police
force because he had concluded that they would maintain their
primary allegiance to the SPLA. Bernier noted that this was a
change from three months previous, when the same police chief had
been fairly optimistic about integrating former SPLA.
7. (SBU) Finally, Kodi complained that $20 million transferred from
the Multi-Donor Trust Fund to the state had been misused. The money
had been intended for development projects in the war-affected areas
of the Nuba Mountains, but instead had been spent by the state
government in non-war-affected regions.
8. (SBU) In a side conversation, the Rural Development U/S told
AIDOff that, while the NCP has not been helpful to the
administrative integration process, the real problem has been Kodi's
own lack of capacity. He indicated that before leaving for Germany,
the Deputy Governor arranged for two state committees to be formed:
1) A committee to finalize the recruitment and salary payment of the
newly integrated administrative personnel-headed by Dr. Ahmed Saed,
the SPLM Minister of Finance for the state; and 2) A committee to
travel to Blue Nile state to see how state administrative
integration has been able to progress in that state and make
recommendations to the Southern Kordofan government-headed by Neroun
Phillip, the SPLM co-chair of the Parliamentary Assessment and
Evaluation Commission. (Note: That these appointees are the most
KHARTOUM 00000967 002 OF 002
capable and active SPLM officials in the state government perhaps
shows that the Governor has, after months of inaction, begun to take
the issue seriously and realized his inability to carry out the
work. End note.)
9. (SBU) COMMENT: Deputy Governor Kodi exemplifies the
administrative-capacity problems that plague the SPLM. Kodi's
mental ability has been deteriorating due to health problems,
reportedly compounded by heavy drinking. During much of the
conversation, Kodi seemed confused and to have difficulty grasping
what was being asked, and he finally deferred questions to the
Director General of the state Rural Development Ministry, who
accompanied him. On the day following our meetings he flew to
Germany for medical treatment. This is a serious issue, as many
astute long-term observers of Sudan have predicted that the Nuba
Mountains will be the next region to explode after Abyei. The
simmering DDR, redeployment, integration and development issues in
Southern Kordofan must be credibly addressed soon, lest they boil
over into conflict. Emboffs will continue to address these issues
with the CPA partners and will travel to Southern Kordofan in the
coming weeks and months to pursue these issues at the state level as
well. The committees set up to address these issues will be
submitting proposals to USAID for technical and operational support
to carry out their work. South Kordofan contrasts well with Blue
Nile state - NCP behavior, as always is dubious - but effective and
empowered SPLM leadership (in Blue Nile in the bulky shape of
Governor Malik Agar) can make all the difference.
FERNANDEZ