EL FASHER DPA IMPLEMENTATION OFFICE CHALLENGES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001613 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO AMGT AU UN US SU SUBJECT: EL FASHER DPA IMPLEMENTATION OFFICE CHALLENGES ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The El Fasher DPA Implementation Office is still two weeks away from opening. While AMIS is engaged in the logistical aspects of the facility, they have neither the staffing capabilities nor policy guidance to move the operation forward. AMIS appears willing to accept support and suggestions from the ARC/Embassy field presence, and the team has therefore offered AMIS some initial suggestions on organization and mission orientation. SLM/Minawi has seen the facility and is eager to move some of his people into it. Lack of AMIS political capacity in the field may force the team to engage with AU/AMIS in Khartoum to guide what should be an El Fasher/Darfur-oriented process. Field officers also met with UNMIS head of office Niels Scott to make introductions and discuss DPA implementation. END SUMMARY. DPA IMPLEMENTATION OFFICE BUILDING NEEDS TWO MORE WEEKS ¶2. (SBU) ARC Officers visited the future DPA Implementation Office on several occasions, including once with SLM leader Minawi. Per discussions with USAID/OTI implementing partner DAI, steps needed to complete the facility include adding razor wire to the low walls, installing floodlights, and bringing in a generator from Khartoum. Once these issues are resolved, DAI can install the furnishings it already has warehoused and AMIS will post guards. Computers and AMIS-provided Internet should shortly follow, along with an air-conditioned meeting tent for large gatherings (100 plus persons). DAI hopes to receive a final cost estimate and issue the work order to contractor PAE within the next day, and work, short of the tent, could be completed within two weeks. ARC Officers hope to use the building immediately after power is up and guards are in place. ¶3. (SBU) Minawi said he was pleased with the site and said his people needed the office space if they were to start focusing on the political process. While he did not know who would occupy the limited space, he directed ARC Officers to engage with SLM/M Secretary General Mustafa Terab on matters pertaining to DPA SIPDIS implementation. ARC Officers had met with Terab earlier, and he appeared eager to maintain a strong relationship. NO AMIS CONOPS YET DEVELOPED FOR IMPLEMENTATION OFFICE ¶4. (SBU) The highest ranking AU/AMIS civilian in El Fasher, Ambassador Hassan Gibril, has been away on compassionate leave since the ARC arrived in Sudan. He is not scheduled to return until after July 15. ARC Officers met briefly with his political staffer, Elizabeth Mgaya, during their first visit to the AMIS base. Mgaya had recently arrived and was unaware of plans for a DPA Implementation Office. She has also since left on leave. There are no other civilians within AMIS in El Fasher for the team to plug into with regards to DPA implementation, leaving AMIS military as the only available interlocutor. ¶5. (SBU) During meetings on June 25 and June 27 with Acting (Deputy) Force Commander BG Frank Kamanzi, ARC Officers were able to discuss some logistics regarding the facility, but were unable to engage BG Kamanzi in a discussion of the Implementation Office's mission or staffing. BG Kamanzi said this was a policy matter that would be decided in Khartoum and worked through Ambassador Gibril. He noted that the building was unlikely to be completed until Gibril returned anyway, and therefore we could afford to wait. (NOTE: Several sources reported that when Force Commander Ihekire, also on leave, was present, BG Kamanzi was excluded from most meetings and therefore was often not privy to his superior's thinking and plans, if any. Moreover, DAI noted that during its first three meetings with Gibril, Gibril had not yet received word or instructions from AU headquarters regarding its involvement in the DPA Implementation Office. END NOTE.) ¶6. (SBU) ARC Officers later learned that BG Kamanzi has been appointed "Chairperson" for developing an AMIS DPA implementation plan and that his deputy, LTC Washington, is the POC and DAI interlocutor for matters pertaining to the DPA Implementation Office. ARC Officers held a friendly meeting on July 4 with LTC Washington on AMIS staffing plans and other thinking vis-a-vis the DPA Implementation Office. LTC Washington freely admitted that while AMIS realized the Office required high-level political leadership, they simply do not have anyone. Nor had they given much thought to the Office's function, capabilities, or possible activities. For now, BG Kamanzi had assigned several officers to man desks copying their current limited civil affairs functions, including an IDP and NGO desk. The Office and these military officers would be managed for the time being by a Major. On other aspects of DPA implementation, Kamanzi called a meeting of his sector commanders to instruct them to develop security and verification SOPs for various DPA provisions. The commanders are to return for another meeting soon (NFI) to present their plans. ¶7. (SBU) ARC Officers briefed LTC Washington on the support they hoped to provide AMIS and the Implementation Office. He expressed willingness to work closely with the team, and take any suggestions for staffing and activities under advisement. ARC officers presented Washington with a proposed organizational plan that would KHARTOUM 00001613 002 OF 002 mirror the six commissions/committees established under the DPA and that form the basis of the (future) Transitional Darfur Regional Authority. In addition, the team suggested the Office include space for an information/public affairs unit. Finally, space should be set aside to represent current and future non-signatory ascendants to the DPA. Washington agreed and promised to present these ideas to the Commander. ARC Officers also offered LTC Washington a notional mission statement for the Office, outlining the following possible functions: -- Venue, planning, and production facilities for public outreach activities to explain and promote the DPA to the signatories, adherents, Darfur constituency, and other interested parties; -- Facilitation of dialogue and coordination among the signatories on implementation issues; -- Meeting space for signatories, ascendants and key stakeholders, including civil society groups and community leaders; -- Limited office space for the AU, signatories, and adherents; -- Monitoring, reporting, and analysis of DPA implementation activities through "desks" mirroring the structure of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA); and, -- A Darfur planning and coordination headquarters for the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation (DDDC). DPA IMPLEMENTATION IN KHARTOUM LIKELY TO GUIDE EL FASHER ¶8. (SBU) Because AU/AMIS, as well as the UN, leaves policy decisions to headquarters in Khartoum, and because SLM/M appears to initially be moving much of its political operation to the capital, guidance for the El Fasher Implementation Office will probably be guided by developments of the office in Khartoum. Therefore AU DPA Implementation lead Ambassador Sam Ibok, recently returned to Sudan from yet another consultation with AU headquarters in Addis, will continue to be the lynchpin for DPA implementation. Until the Khartoum DPA Implementation Office is leased and is opened, Ibok will lack office space and a focus point for implementation activities and donated/seconded support staff. While AU Khartoum is wealthier in terms of political/civilian staffing for implementation, thus far it is only by a magnitude of one. As a result, ARC officers will work with the Embassy to engage and support Ibok's office as quickly as possible. TOUCHING BASE WITH HEAD OF UNMIS REGIONAL OFFICE ¶9. (SBU) ARC officers and Tod Wilson also met with head of UNMIS regional office Niels Scott on July 3 to make introductions and discuss UN efforts to date to support the DPA. Scott noted that the UN is only providing "technical assistance" at the moment to AMIS in connection with the DPA, as opposed to direct political support. He noted, however, that the UN had formed a DPA Implementation Team (DPAT) that would visit El Fasher beginning July 5. Scott only vaguely described the DPAT as an entity to support AMIS in implementation and track roadmap progress. (NOTE: ARC officers are seeking a meeting with DPAT and have sent the roadmap document via email to Embassy Khartoum and Department. END NOTE.) Scott also mentioned that he was in contact with SLM leader Minni Minawi on issues related to the delivery of humanitarian goods and specifically noted both Minawi's interest in humanitarian supply routes and his appointment of Adam Ali War as the SLM/M Humanitarian Coordinator. HUME