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SUBJECT: NCP Tells Staffdel that South to Blame for CPA Shortfalls
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In an August 25 meeting with U.S. House of
Representatives Foreign Relations Committee Staffdel Doran, Dr.
Idris Muhammad 'Abd-al-Qadr, State Minister of the Presidency, and
Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar Hassan, Office of the Presidency, acknowledged
delays in implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
Both, however, blamed the bulk of those delays on the SPLM. The NCP
representatives pointed to SPLM failures to appoint representatives
to committees, to take a consistent position on the census, to
demobilize SPLA troops in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, and to curb
corruption. END SUMMARY
CPA Delays Continue
-------------------
2. (SBU) Dr. Muhammad Hassan, staff assistant to Dr. Idris, and an
established NCP technical expert on the terms of the CPA, welcomed
Staffdel Doran. On behalf of State Minister Idris, Hassan
delivered a detailed PowerPoint presentation on the terms and
implementation of the CPA. In this briefing, Hassan blamed the SPLM
for the Unity Government's frequent failures to meet CPA benchmarks.
3. (SBU) Dr. Hassan called the pre-interim period a "mad scramble"
to "set up a government, arrive at a consensus on how things should
be run, and appoint people to positions." According to Dr. Hassan,
the NCP achieved ninety-percent compliance with the CPA during this
time period, and that the failure to achieve full implementation was
the result of the SPLM's repeated delays in nominating people for
government positions. Appointments for both the Human Rights
Commission and the National Land Commission still have not been
made, he noted, because the SPLM still has not submitted nominees.
However, Hassan acknowledged that at least part of the delay was due
to funding problems in Khartoum. Hassan did not provide details on
the lack of funding, but claimed that these issues would soon be
resolved.
4. (SBU) Border demarcation is a technical, not a political issue,
according to Hassan. The NCP is still waiting for the South to send
representatives for all its states. Hassan noted that one
Southerner resigned his post on the demarcation committee, and was
not replaced for six months, holding up the entire demarcation
process during that period. Dr. Hassan also accused the South of
quibbling over non-substantive issues.
Census Debate Remains a Touchy Subject for North
--------------------------------------------- ---
5. (SBU) Dr. Hassan defended the integrity of the 2008 census. He
said that one high-ranking Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS), whom
he did not name, sent him a letter stating that the Southern
government would accept the census. This same minister later raised
several issues disputing the census results. Hassan went on to
claim that Salva Kiir and all other Southern leaders had endorsed
the census results soon after they were released, but later changed
their stories.
6. (SBU) Dr. Hassan added that an International Monetary Fund
officer from South Africa, whom he also did not name, "issued a
clean bill of health" for the census. According to Hassan, certain
objections raised by the South, including questions regarding
male-female ratios, tribal migration issues etc., had been presented
to a technical working group, investigated, and resolved, before the
working group signed off on the census results.
Government of Sudan Wary of U.N. Election Assistance
--------------------------------------------- -------
7. (SBU) Dr. Hassan briefly described how seats in the National
Assembly would be decided. A group of 450 seats are available, with
sixty-percent to be elected from geographical constituencies, and
the remaining forty-percent to be elected via proportional
representation. Proportional representation will be applied at both
the national and local assembly levels.
8. (SBU) Citing the 1956 and 1986 elections to support his claim
that the Government is able to run its own elections without outside
help, Hassan remarked that the U.N. had offered to transport
completed voter registration forms via U.N. planes, an offer he said
the government was reluctant to accept because the process left open
the possibility that the forms could be subject to tampering if
outside GOS control.
Census, Wealth-Sharing, DDR Complaints
--------------------------------------
9. (SBU) Dr. Hassan dismissed SPLM arguments that Southern
KHARTOUM 00001063 002 OF 002
representation should be increased from twenty-one percent to thirty
percent. Any such increase, according to Hassan, would come at the
expense of the Northern population, which would have to give up
seats in order to accommodate the south.
10. (SBU) Hassan also claimed that the NCP has complied completely
with the wealth-sharing requirements of the CPA, and blamed rampant
corruption within the GOSS as an explanation for continued
wealth-sharing disputes. According to Hassan, the eight billion
dollars sent from the North to the South has gone to line the
pockets of Southern politicians, rather than to build
infrastructure. "Forty-percent of the GOSS budget goes to the SPLA;
the rest goes to corruption," he told the group.
11. (SBU) Despite the fact that only three North-South violations of
the ceasefire have occurred since 2002, the NCP complains that the
SPLA is still only one-quarter redeployed out of South Kordofan and
Blue Nile States. The Sudanese Armed Forces, by comparison, is 100
percent redeployed out of these areas, he claimed. The Charge
pointed out that one reason that SPLA soldiers are present in the
area is that they live there. The problem, he said, is that they
are still armed and still wearing their uniforms.
12. (SBU) Comment: The NCP worked hard to make its case to the
Foreign Relations Committee staff. Dr. Hassan spoke from and handed
out copies of his elaborate power point presentation. END COMMENT.
13. (U) Staffdel Doran did not have the opportunity to clear this
cable before departing post.
WHITEHEAD