SLM CONFERENCE: CHADIAN/FRENCH PROPOSAL FOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001986

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV KAWC KCRS SU NI DARFUR
SUBJECT: SLM CONFERENCE: CHADIAN/FRENCH PROPOSAL FOR
POSSIBLE CONVENING IN ABECHE MAY NOT BE GOING ANYWHERE

REF: (A) Ranneberger/Yates 10/14 TelCon; (B)
Snyder/Yates Email 10/15


1. (U) On the margins of the Ninth Session of the
Joint Commission (for the Cease-fire in Darfur) held in
Ndjamena October 13-14, both SLM Chairman Abdelwahid
Nur and France's Special Representative Ambassador
Henri de Coignac had private meetings with Chadian
President Deby touching on the Darfur situation.


2. (SBU) De Coignac briefed some members of the
international community at the airport as the Abuja
participants in the JC were preparing to depart.
According to him, in brief, Deby said that no matter
how many Inter-Sudanese negotiating sessions were held
in Abuja, nothing meaningful would be achieved as long
as the SLM remains split and that the SLM Conference
being planned in the liberated zones of Darfur during
the break from Abuja would not succeed in unifying the
movement since Abdelwahid would not go (to an area
controlled by commanders presumably loyal to Minni
Minawi). The only hope, according to Deby via the
French ambassador, would be a conference outside Darfur
to which all the SLM leaders would attend. He was
willing to convene such a conference, perhaps in
Abeche, if the international community would support,
both materially and in assuring attendance by Minni and
Abdelwahid. DeCoignac said that Deby could encourage
Abdelwahid and vice-Chairman Khamis to attend but would
need help from others to assure Minni would accept
since his own communication with Minawi was not good
enough. Finally, Deby had asked de Coignac to remain
behind in Ndjamena and organize the conference with
Chadian Foreign Minister Allam-Mi. DeCoignac sought
our initial reaction.


3. (SBU) Most of those close by-EU Special
Representative for Sudan Pekka Haavisto; British
Ambassador to Sudan; Canadian High Commissioner in
Abuja; UN Rep from Khartoum Office, Christophides; Arab
League Rep-- expressed interest in hearing more from de
Coignac. There had been much corridor conversation for
weeks about trying to find a venue for the SLM
conference that would be convenient enough to permit
significant representation from within Darfur and be
sufficiently neutral so that all SLM leadership would
attend. We all undertook to confer with our
authorities and everyone emphasized the need for more
information about what the Chadians had in mind as soon
as possible. (COMMENT: de Coignac's underlining of the
need for help in communicating with Minni Minawi seemed
primarily directed at us. We responded that if Deby
was calling the conference, it should be Deby who used
his claimed relationships with all the SLM leadership
to obtain their assent. Others of us could weigh in
but there should not be separately-tendered
invitations. Re material support, there seemed to be
sufficient willingness among the international partners
to provide funding for a conference that met some
definition of inclusiveness and acceptable neutral
venue. END COMMENT)

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ABDELWAHID NOT IN SYNC WITH DEBY'S REPORTED VISION
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) Beyond reporting the gist of above paras to
Washington (REF A; NOTAL),we were waiting to hear more
details from the French as promised. In the interim,
SLM Chairman Abdelwahid asked for a meeting with US
Senior Advisor to Abuja talks Saturday evening. The
meeting which included only Yates, Abdelwahid (AW) and
his designated negotiator, Abdurrahman Musa (who
actually slept through most of it),took place in our
hotel meeting area. AW said he wanted to brief USG on
his meeting with Deby (which we had heard endured about
two hours on Friday while the JC was in session). The
first part of the Deby session according to AW was in
the presence of Chadian Ministers including Foreign
Minister Allam-Mi and some of AW's SLM team. That
portion of the Presidential audience followed more or
less predictable lines according to AW. Deby lectured
on the need for the rebel movements to work to secure
peace, he expressed concern about ceasefire violations,
the SLM split and, in AW's recounting, concern about
the SLM Conference being planned during the
intercession as potentially reinforcing divisions
rather than providing the necessary healing.


5. (SBU) After a half hour or so, AW said the other
participants withdrew. Deby then recounted his concerns
and suspicions about developments in the Chad/Darfur
trans-border region. According to AW, Deby accused
variously and collectively the Governments of Sudan and
Libya with the collaboration of Minni Minawi in working
with Janjaweed militias to destabilize the border
regions and threaten the Chadian regime. Evidence
included the recent attack by Janjaweed in which a
number of persons were killed and desertion by Chad
military elements (COMMENT: It was not clear that info
on the desertions/defections came from Deby or from AW
who had heard about groups of Chadian military
deserting. END COMMENT).


6. (SBU) What AW did not say at any time during the
conversation was that Deby had broached the idea of
hosting an SLM Conference as reported by de Coignac.
Rather he maintained again, as he has done in meetings
throughout this round of the Abuja talks since
September 15 that he is going to go "inside" Darfur and
consult with field commanders for 45 to 60 days. He
said the reports of violations enumerated at the JC
meetings underlined the necessity of re-instilling
command and control discipline to prevent the type of
unauthorized attacks by SLM elements being reported.
AW continued that he would also be consulting on the
ground with "women students, IDPs and everybody" to
organize a SLM Conference within Darfur, probably in
about four months. When asked how this meshed with
Inter-Sudanese peace talks in Abuja which Salim Salim
plans to reconvene in mid-November, AW maintained that
negotiations would continue and that when an agreement
was reached, it would be presented to his people in
Darfur (presumably at the conference he is planning).
AW claimed that he had taken steps to unify the SLM
delegates here present and that SLM could negotiate
effectively (although he did make a vague request for
technical assistance to support their efforts,
especially in the wealth sharing commission).


7. (SBU) COMMENT: At no time did AW mention Deby's
proposal to organize a SLM conference on Chadian soil.
According to UK envoy Alan Goulty who met with AW later
Saturday, he did not do so with him either. Rather AW
concentrated on his plans to "go inside" and organize
something, some time relatively far down the road. His
version of Deby's accusations that Minni Minawi, in
league with GOS and GOL, was implicated in fomenting
the border troubles does not seem at all consonant with
inviting Minawi to a SLM reconciliation conference in
Chad (unless, of course, Deby had other motives)


8. (U) COMMENT CONT: Members of the SLM continue to
plan for a conference in Darfur to be held next week.
Initiated by Secretary General Minawi, the conference
is intended to include representatives from most
tribes, women, student groups, IDPs, the diaspora (many
of whom are already on the ground) and commanders. The
co-Chairman are Ibrahim Ibrahim and Dr. Raja--neither a
Zagawa. Abdeljabar Dosa, one of the planners, briefed
us separately and with the international partners on
the proposed plan and selecting, for the first time,
its leadership by vote. The plan includes a political
committee whose members are selected by various groups.
This committee is to elect a leadership council and
executive committee. The entire gathering would vote
for President, Vice President, Secretary General and
Deputy Secretary General. We believe the conference
has some logistics support from Libya. The planners--
and Minawi--have asked Abdelwahid to attend and speak.
To date he has refused, although two of his influential
supporters arrived in Abuja October 16 to attempt to
convince him.


9. (U) COMMENT CONT: Sunday evening the SLM delegates
who had arrived in Abuja with the field commanders from
al-Fashir presented letters of invitation to the SLM
conference to us (specifically Roger Winter and Janice
Elmore),UK, Canada, Arab League, Libya, Nigeria and
others. The dates are October 25-27 in "Darfur".
Winter's invitation from the SLM, along with back up
material provided at the meeting, is being transmitted
to SPG separately.


10. (SBU) We have subsequently heard from the French
here that de Coignac has departed Ndjamena for Paris
and they have, as yet, no further info on planning.
This cable was drafted prior to receipt of State

190682. In any case there seems no possibility of
anything happening on a SLM conference in Chad prior to
November 8.

CAMPBELL