Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KHARTOUM1418
2006-06-15 11:03:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Khartoum
Cable title:  

LITTLE PROGRESS WITH REMAINING OTHER ARMED

Tags:  PGOV MOPS PHUM PINS SU 
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VZCZCXRO9974
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1418 1661103
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151103Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3243
IFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001418 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV MOPS PHUM PINS SU
SUBJECT: LITTLE PROGRESS WITH REMAINING OTHER ARMED
GROUPS IN SOUTH SUDAN


UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001418

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV MOPS PHUM PINS SU
SUBJECT: LITTLE PROGRESS WITH REMAINING OTHER ARMED
GROUPS IN SOUTH SUDAN



1. (SBU) Summary: GoSS Minister of Parliamentary
Affairs Gabriel Changeson reported that there has been
little progress in dealing with the remaining other armed
groups (OAGs) in Southern Sudan, with no definitive
breakthrough to date. Two of three warlords have visited
Juba, and Vice President Machar spoke with a third in
Khartoum. Southerners in the Khartoum Government of
National Unity (GoNU) reportedly have sought to stop
further rapprochement between the GoSS/SPLM and the OAGs.
End summary.

--------------
GoSS Coaxing OAGS to Join the Fold
--------------


2. (SBU) Gabriel Changeson, a Nuer with close ties to
former SSDF and current Deputy SPLA Commander Paolino
Matiep, told CG that the GoSS continues to try to
convince remaining OAGs to comply with the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA). There has been some progress;
Changeson said that he had met with Colonel Gordon Kong
of Pangjak in Juba, as did Machar. Kong was chosen
fairly by the people of Pangjak as their commissioner,
Changeson said. Also, Changeson told Major General
Gabriel Tong Chan that while it is not GoSS policy that
all militias must affiliate with the SPLM, it was
important that Tong sever his ties with the Sudanese
Armed Forces (SAF) and Khartoum. Tong has not yet
revealed his intentions.


3. (SBU) Changeson was dismissive of Gordon Kong, who he
said was afraid to leave Khartoum and return to his
former base in Nasir. Machar also met with Kong in
Khartoum during the first week of June, but had not
succeeded in convincing Machar's former ally to make his
peace with the GoSS. Changeson said that this would be a
desirable outcome, but Kong's lack of popular support did
not make this imperative.

-------------- --------------
Changeson Warns Murle Not to be Integrated into SAF
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) Changeson said that Ishmael Konyi and his Pibor
(Murle) militia posed a greater threat. Konyi had
visited Juba, but had not agreed to sever his ties to the
North and had recently said he would affiliate with the
SAF rather than the SPLA. Changeson said that this was
acceptable, but Konyi had refused to honor the CPA
provision that required his militia to withdraw from the
South with the SAF as it withdrew. Changeson said that
he had warned Konyi that Khartoum would never integrate
his Murle forces into the SAF - he was useful only as a
disruptive proxy force operating in the South, with
Khartoum able to deny that it was responsible.

-------------- --
GNU Officials Working to Nix SSDF-SPLA Link-Ups
-------------- --


5. (SBU) Changeson said that two Southerners in the GoNU
had done their utmost to prevent the remaining OAGs from
coming to terms with the GoSS. Dr. Riek Gai, the
Political Advisor for President Bashir, and Brigadier
Gatluak Deng, Minister of Animal Resources and Fisheries,
remained the most significant impediments to resolving
the OAG problem.

HUME