MFA DDR UPDATE: UNREPENTANT ARAB TRIBAL REPS DENY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001756

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/21/2016
TAGS: PREL KPKO MARR AU UN SU
SUBJECT: MFA DDR UPDATE: UNREPENTANT ARAB TRIBAL REPS DENY
ATROCITIES, AGREE TO PARTICIPATE FOR PEACE

REF: KHARTOUM 01489

Classified By: Pol/Econ Chief E. Whitaker, Reason: Section 1.4 (b) and
(d)


1. (C) Summary: On July 18, Embassy officers and DLO
attended a briefing at the MFA for the international
community by representatives of the Arab Shura Council of
North Darfur organized by the Commission for Northern Darfur
Disarmament. Instead of an informative presentation on the
status of the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration
(DDR) program in Darfur, the international community was
treated to an elaborate diatribe, complete with denials of
responsibility for rape, ethnic cleansing and genocide. The
briefing further deteriorated into a harangue against the
international community, complete with charges that few, if
any of the foreign representatives had visited Darfur, and
that those that had had visited only IDP camps and spoken
with dishonest NGOs who employed no one from their tribes.
End summary.

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Commission: DDR Work Underway
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2. (SBU) Embassy officers and Defense Liaison Officer
attended a July event called by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs to provide an update on the status of DDR in Darfur.
An unidentified MFA representative opened the meeting; he
first stated that while disarmament begins at the conclusion
of a peace treaty, there is not yet a full peace treaty in
effect in Darfur. Nonetheless, the North Darfur Disarmament
Commission has begun its work by touring the three states of
Darfur, speaking with all parties, and consulting as best to
initiate a disarmament program. The Commission has signed an
MOU with Darfurnet, a coalition of NGOs working on
instituting peace-building initiatives among the various
parties. He also cautioned that he was aware there would be
&administrative adjustments8 to the disarmament program
over time as events dictate. He thanked the international
community for its capacity-building assistance.

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Once Again, an Historical Explanation of Darfur
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3. (SBU) Mahmoud Musa Osman, Chairman of the Arab Shura
Council of North Darfur, gave a long, detailed history of the
region and its social mosaic. He and two other
representatives stated that they organized themselves to deal
with natural calamity, not in opposition to any other groups.
They strongly objected to the use of the term "janjaweed"
and regarded themselves as targets. Their weapons are for
self-defense only, and have not been given to them by anyone.
If weapons are to be turned in, Arab tribes should not be
singled out. However, they are prepared to hand some weapons
over in return for peace and development assistance. The IDP
camps, in particular, should be helped to form their own
villages. Do not give us a fish, one representative said,
but rather a net, in order for the people of Darfur to help
themselves. If isolated, they would continue their struggle,
even to the point of invading Khartoum, as they did in 1885.
Peace is a strategic need for the Arab tribes of Darfur,
dependent as they are on migration from place to place and,
while harboring reservations about the Darfur Peace Agreement
(DPA),they are willing to support it nonetheless for the
sake of Darfur's rehabilitation and development. Claiming to
constitute seventy percent of the population of Darfur, the
international community must engage Darfur's 32 Arab tribes
if there is to be a viable peace. Indeed, the Arab tribes
are more marginalized than the rebels. Several times they
called on the international community to provide assistance
to Darfur.

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Accounts of Arab Atrocities are "Fabrications"
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4. (SBU) The briefing further deteriorated into a harangue
against the international community, complete with charges
that few, if any of the foreign representatives had visited
Darfur, and that those that had had visited only IDP camps
and spoken with dishonest NGOs who employed no one from their
tribes. He added that accounts of ethnic cleansing, rape,
and genocide were "all fabrications," and that the non-Arab
people of Darfur were not the "target" of Arabs. Bizarrely,
he added that the Arab peoples could do so if they wished.

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Dips: Where are the Non-Arabs, and the Govt's DDR Plan?
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KHARTOUM 00001756 002 OF 002




5. (SBU) In the Q & A session that followed ) involving
representatives of ten countries - the Nigerian ambassador
observed that the international community had not yet had the
opportunity to hear from the non-Arab tribes. The
Commissioner noted that other tribes were being taken into
account, and would be addressed separately. The Dutch
representative noted that donors were ready to support Darfur
with development assistance, but that security was a
necessary pre-condition. The disarmament process must be
transparent so that all parties have faith in the process.
Pol/Econ Counselor asked regarding events following the June
23 disarmament event in Kass (reftel),including the
disposition of the arms collected; he also requested copies
of the Government's DDR plan, which the Government stated it
had provided to the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) 10
days earlier. The MFA representative stated that the June 23
ceremony was not a formal part of the Commission's
reconciliation and consultative program. Further, he said
that collecting arms is not the best way to begin a DDR
campaign; the Commission's approach would instead by "soft
and systematic." The MFA did not respond to the request for
the DDR plan. The Libyan ambassador said that all Darfurians
were African, with some adopting more Arab culture than
others. He blamed the 1948 division by outsiders as a part
of current conflict, which he said was more economic than
political in nature.

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Comment
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6. (C) This event failed to deliver on its promise of
providing an update on the Government's plan to implement DDR
in Darfur. It rather served to reflect continued
intransigence on the part of Arab tribes to either admit to
participating in predations against non-Arab peoples of
Darfur or to comprehend the need to address necessary
conditions for peace and stability in Darfur. End comment.
STEINFELD