DARFUR PEACE TALKS UPDATE: OBASANJO MEETS WITH

UNCLAS ABUJA 001178

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV KAWC KCRS SU NI DARFUR
SUBJECT: DARFUR PEACE TALKS UPDATE: OBASANJO MEETS WITH
REBEL MOVEMENTS



1. (SBU) Summary: President Olusegun Obasanjo met
with the leaders of the Darfur rebel movements on June
30 and urged them to be flexible over the remaining
points of contention on the Declaration of Principles.
He also encouraged them to continue the negotiations,
and above all, be patient. A well-briefed Obasanjo
pointed out to the movements that the international
community and the people of Darfur are waiting for a
positive outcome as a sign of good faith. Rebel
leaders were pleased that Obasanjo took the time to
meet with them. We will judge how far the goodwill
goes later on July 1 when the parties are presented
with compromise language on some of the outstanding
issues. End Summary.


2. (SBU) President Olusegun Obasanjo met with a small
group of leaders from the Sudan Liberation Movement
(SLM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on June

30. The meeting included Abduljabar Dosa, the leader
of SLM's delegation, and four other members of SLM's
negotiating team and Dr. Khalil Ibrahim, Ahmed Togud,
and several other JEM members. The meeting lasted only
twenty minutes, but Obasanjo was well-versed on the key
sticking points of the DOP, according to Togud, and
stated that the main issues of disagreement could be
overcome. Obasanjo's overall argument was that the
parties need to be patient. He encouraged them to
continue their discussions because many of the
obstacles now in the way can be negotiated in future
sessions when the core political, economic, and social
issues will be discussed. Obasanjo did not meet with
the Government of Sudan.


3. (SBU) Obasanjo told the movements that Nigerians
are very familiar with the issues at stake, such as
unity and religious freedom. Obasanjo stated that the
current language providing for "non-discrimination
based on religion" is sufficient and provides enough
protection to move the DOP forward. Obasanjo said that
this issue needs to be tackled at length in the
political discussions, not in the DOP. According to
Obasanjo, Nigeria was able to work out issues of
religious freedom, while protecting the rights of non-
Muslims, and recognizing the secular nature of
governmental affairs.


4. (SBU) Obasanjo met with the movements at the
request of Dr. Salim Salim, who briefed the President
prior to the meeting. For its part, Togud said that
JEM was pleased that Obasanjo took the time to meet
with them. SLM described the meeting with President
Obasanjo as coming at a good time, according to
Abduljabar Dosa, SLM's head of delegation, and Bahar
Arabie. Bahar felt confident that the newly-appointed
technical committee is empowered enough to work through
some of the DOP's final sticking points. (Comment: All
of the SLM members in Abuja met on June 29 and
reportedly came to agreement on a few issues, such as
delegation representation and the assignment of the
DOP's contentious issues to individual SLM members.
Deeper leadership issues remain. End Comment.)


5. (SBU) Comment: Obasanjo's words of encouragement
were welcome development. The rebel movements'
flexibility will be tested on July 1, when another
version of the DOP's with compromise language on the
remaining issues of unity, religion, land rights, and
impunity.

CAMPBELL