SUDAN - STATUS OF THE BORDER COMMITTEE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001900 SIPDIS AIDAC SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR AF/SPG, PRM, AND ALSO PASS USAID/W USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AFR/SP NAIROBI FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA, USAID/REDSO, AND FAS GENEVA FOR NKYLOH NAIROBI FOR SFO NSC FOR JBRAUSE, NSC/AFRICA FOR TSHORTLEY USUN FOR TMALY BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI KAWC SU SUBJECT: SUDAN - STATUS OF THE BORDER COMMITTEE KHARTOUM 00001900 001.2 OF 002 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) Implementation Modalities call for the establishment of a Technical ad hoc Border Committee to demarcate the January 1, 1956 North-South Sudan border. This committee, which was established in November 2005, has met three times to deal with primarily administrative issues, but has so far failed to address any issues of substance. On July 31, in Juba, USAID/Sudan staff met with Simon Kun, a Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) representative to this committee, to discuss the committee's activities and the possibility of setting up a U.S. government (USG) program of technical assistance for the SPLM committee members. In addition to facing stalling tactics by the National Congress Party (NCP),the SPLM membership does not have access to colonial-era maps, the necessary attention of SPLM leadership, or the technical capacity to move the committee's agenda forward. End summary. -------------- Structure and Meetings of Border Committee -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Since its establishment in November 2005, the Border Committee has met once to deal with financial issues, a second time to address procedural issues such as quorum and consensus, and a third time to discuss forming three subcommittees to deal with each of the two aforementioned subjects as well as technical issues of border demarcation. The committee has only met when an NCP member has called the meeting; requests by the SPLM members to meet have been ignored. The committee is comprised of 11 NCP members and 7 SPLM members; it thus requires 6 NCP and 4 SPLM members to constitute a quorum. In all three meetings to date, only two or three NCP members have been present to meet with the delegation of seven SPLM members. The Presidency of the Government of National Unity (GNU) provided airfare for the SPLM members on all three occasions, but did not provide lodging or transport in Khartoum. Kun claims that the maps from the Sudan Survey Department that were brought to one of the committee meetings by the NCP had been visibly altered. A British researcher, Doug Johnson, has sent some maps and other border-related research by email to Kun, but Kun believes the SPLM members need access to the original maps. ¶3. (SBU) The original SPLM co-chairman of the committee, Michael Moquai, stepped down early in 2006 because he did not want to report to the NCP chairman, who is of lower military rank than Moquai. Moquai has not been replaced on the committee, and he declined to meet with USAID staff in Juba. USAID staff showed a list of the Border Committee membership to Deng Alor (Minister of Cabinet Affairs to the GNU),Yassir Arman (Chair of the SPLM Caucus in the National Assembly),and Pagan Amum (Secretary General of the SPLM); however, they were all unable to identify the committee's SPLM members, with the exception of Kun. (Comment: Presumably, Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) President Salva Kiir signed off on the appointments of the SPLM representatives to the Border Committee; however, the fact that core members of the movement only recognized one of the SPLM members on the list suggests that the GOSS did not appoint SPLM members with significant clout in the movement. This calls into question whether the SPLM realizes the critical linkage between the activities of the Border Committee and several other major CPA implementation issues, and whether those representing the movement on the committee will be able to hold the attention of SPLM leadership during the course of the committee's work. End comment.) ¶4. (SBU) It is clear that SPLM leadership is not seized with the Border Committee, despite its importance relative to oil revenue division, the census, and the national elections anticipated in 2008-2009. Kun recently discussed the Border Committee with GOSS President Salva Kiir, who agreed that the committee is critically linked to other CPA implementation issues, but expressed concern about the lack of SPLM technical capacity. After returning from the committee's third meeting in Khartoum, the SPLM members requested a meeting with President Kiir. President Kiir's schedule did not permit a meeting, so an SPLM member de-briefed GOSS Vice President Riek Machar instead. No clear reporting structure exists to keep SPLM leadership abreast of the Border Committee's activities. Kun, also a member of the Southern Legislative Assembly, intends to brief the GoSS legislature in September. KHARTOUM 00001900 002.2 OF 002 -------------- SPLM Delegation to the Border Committee -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The SPLM delegation to the Border Committee is comprised of experts, including two engineers, one geographer, and one individual with survey training. However, it is clear that they do not match the technical skills of the NCP membership. Given the NCP's suspicion following the Abyei Boundaries Commission's (ABC) decision that the USG is unduly influencing the outcome of border-related disputes in Sudan, it is important to provide any technical assistance to the Border Committee as quietly as possible. USAID staff discussed with Kun the possibility of arranging a trip for some or all of the SPLM committee members to London (colonial archives),Durham University Library, and the Library of Congress in Washington, which would provide the SPLM an opportunity to view original colonial-era maps. It is likely that the SPLM members would need technical advice on-site at these locations in order to properly interpret the maps. ¶6. (SBU) USAID staff also discussed with Kun the possibility of bringing a technical advisor to southern Sudan to conduct a workshop with the SPLM committee members, providing copies of the necessary maps and briefing them on the issue. USAID staff provided several copied maps from the Library of Congress to Kun at this meeting, which he plans to show to the other SPLM committee members. Kun agreed to send USAID an updated list of the SPLM committee members and their locations in the South. USAID staff agreed to discuss with USAID headquarters what resources are available to accommodate the SPLM's technical needs in regard to the Border Committee. HUME