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. -------------- Commission: DDR Work Underway -------------- ¶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. -------------- -- Once Again, an Historical Explanation of Darfur -------------- -- ¶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. -------------- - Accounts of Arab Atrocities are "Fabrications" -------------- - ¶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. -------------- -------------- Dips: Where are the Non-Arabs, and the Govt's DDR Plan? -------------- -------------- 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. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶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