D-DAY+2: DARFUR PEACE AGREEMENT UPDATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 001185 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR D AND AF A/S FRAZER E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2016 TAGS: PGOV MOPS KPKO PREF UN AU SU SUBJECT: D-DAY+2: DARFUR PEACE AGREEMENT UPDATE REF: A. KHARTOUM 1164 ¶B. KHARTOUM 1175 Classified By: Acting P/E Chief Michael Honigstein for reason: Section 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (U) Summary: The following outlines current activities and events relating to the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA): -- UNICEF Engages SLA on Child Soldiers -- Janajaweed Attack AU Outside of Kutum -- Darfur Outreach Continues to Yield Benefits -------------- UNICEF Engages SLA on Child Soldiers -------------- ¶2. (C) According to UNICEF Representative Bo Viktor Nyland, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) will allow UNICEF to visit military barracks to verify and register children within its ranks. The SLA continues to deny harboring child soldiers, although it admits that there are children at their bases. UNICEF, he said, plans to return to Darfur in three weeks to verify and register the children within the SLA barracks. Nyland expects the SLA to hide some of their child soldiers during the verification. Nyland could not confirm the reports of 4000 children abducted from Chadian refugees camps by Sudanese rebels, and said he could not even estimate the actual figures. ¶3. (C) Nyland had also received indications that the Janjaweed might be interested in releasing their child soldiers, but he was not sure of the reaction from the donor countries if UNICEF engaged the Janjaweed. The DPA calls for all child soldiers to be released on D-Day. -------------- Janajaweed Attack AU Outside of Kutum -------------- ¶4. (U) Janjaweed attacks in the area of Kutum continued (ref A),with attacks on the villages of Tartura, Mumura, Fadouka, and Masri Tunjur. There were no reports of casualties, but most of the livestock in the area was taken. While the houses were not burned, residents from all the villages--with the exception of Masri Tunjur, which successfully resisted the Janjaweed--have moved to Kutum and Al Fashir, further swelling the numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs). The Janjaweed also fired upon an African Union security patrol as its approached the Arab militia's base in Damrat Misri. No one was injured, but the AU patrol was forced to retreat until the quick reaction force arrived. -------------- Darfur Outreach Continues to Yield Benefits -------------- ¶5. (C) News is spreading regarding the positive meeting between Darfur leaders and the Charge on May 16 (ref A). Contacts in both Nyala and Al Fashir report that IDP camp residents had heard about the meeting and the subsequent decision to support the DPA (ref B). The contacts said that they believed this helped contribute to a general calming in some camps which had been the scene of earlier protests. HUME