AEC: SPLM Accuses NCP of Insincerity and Attacks

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 002702 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EPET SU SUBJECT: AEC: SPLM Accuses NCP of Insincerity and Attacks REF: Kharotum 2667 ¶1. SUMMARY: During the 14th Assessment and Evaluation Commission (AEC) Plenary held on November 14, The SPLM accused the NCP of insincerity in implementing the CPA and asserted that Sudan armed Forces (SAF) were complicit in the current instability around Juba. The Commission also reviewed November 11 AEC presentation by Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) Minister for Legal Affairs Michael Makuai. Makuai had said that the establishment of GoSS institutions was progressing well, but hindered by the national Ministry of Justice's (MoJ) refusal to certify the ten state constitutions. Makuai said he plans to use a procedural loophole to certify the constitutions himself. Makuai also expressed concern abut the SAF's role in attacks around Juba (reftel),environmental degradation in the oil fields, lack of action in Abyei, and the fact that North-south boundary commission is hampered by a lack of funds. End Summary. -------------- Chairman's Report and Norway Speaks -------------- ¶2. Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim opened the meeting by emphasizing that his country is a partner with both the NCP and SPLM, that Darfur issues cannot be separated from peace in the south, and that he feels the AEC is critical in achieving CPA implementation. Solheim also complained about the slowness of the World Bank and said his country may pull out of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund if changes do not come quickly. ¶3. In his report, Tom Vraalsen, AEC Chairman, described a meeting with Vice President Ali Osman Taha in which the VP complained that the AEC trip to Juba exceeded its scope by listening to complaints over national CPA implementation and not focusing on southern issues. In a separate meeting, Vraalsen said that he discussed with First Vice-President Salva Kiir possibilities for IGAD to take a more active role on breaking deadlocks in CPA implementation. -------------- Security: SAF Accused of Wrongdoing in Juba -------------- ¶4. During the meeting, State Minister for Agriculture (SPLM) Anne Ito said that while investigations are proceeding slowly and deliberately, there is evidence the SAF has been behind the recent attacks in and around Juba (reftel). Saeed Al Khatib, the NCP representative, warned that the AEC should wait until all the facts are in and suggested the matter be taken up at the next security working group (SWG) meeting. He said that because this issue was not discussed at the last SWG meeting, it is outside the scope of the plenary; the working groups should set the agenda for the plenary and not the other way around he explained. The UK Ambassador, who chairs the SWG, disagreed. He believes the plenary must give direction to the working groups. -------------- Makuai: A Litany of Complaints -------------- ¶5. The Italian Ambassador, chair of the Power Sharing Working Group (PSWG) gave a report on the presentation by Michael Makuai. Makuai had been invited to the PSWG to discuss implementation of the CPA in the South. The minister had said that the establishment of institutions was going well: the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA),all state legislatures, and the judiciary were all fully appointed and functioning. These institutions, however, all suffered from capacity problems due to a lack of qualified professional staff. ¶6. The writing of the state constitutions had also been going well, Makuai said, until they were submitted to the MoJ for certification of compliance with the Interim National Constitution (INC). The MoJ asked to strike the language on state boundaries, state names, state capitals, and references to the 2011 referendum for southern independence, saying these were national competencies. Makuai disagreed, saying that the states had a right to include all of the above so long as it did not contradict the INC. He also said that because the MoJ did not respond within the two weeks allotted in the INC, with an average response of over there weeks, the state constitutions should automatically take affect, and he would certify them himself. The NCP strongly disagreed, citing article 58(b) of the CPA which specifically assigns certifying state constitutions to the national government. ¶7. Makuai had also expressed complaints and fears covering a broad range of CPA issues, including Abyei, civil service reform, a North/South Boundary Commission starved for cash, and reports of environmental destruction around the Bentiu oil fields. Makuai said the NCP was obviously not a serious partner in the CPA. The NCP representative at the PSWG meeting, al Kahtib, asserted the NCP was serious and said that the slowdown of the boundary commission was the result of SPLM slowness and not money, in fact the commission had been given over USD 1.2 million, plus equipment in kind. (NOTE: KHARTOUM 00002702 002 OF 002 in a subsequent private meeting, al Khatib confided to Embassy officials that the real obstacle was the incompetence of the NCP technocrat chairing the commission. End Note) ¶8. Following the PSWG report, the NCP representatives expressed regret that once again the opportunity to learn about southern CPA implementation was lost. They asserted that Makuai should have stuck to the scope of his original invitation and not discussed national matters, which were the purview of his northern SPLM counterparts. HUME