KHARTOUM: ESCALATING VIOLENCE BETWEEN POLICE AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 002713

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2016
TAGS: PGOV MCAP CASC SU
SUBJECT: KHARTOUM: ESCALATING VIOLENCE BETWEEN POLICE AND
SPLA

REF: KHARTOUM 02682

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


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Five police officers and one SPLA soldier
died after fighting between the two groups erupted on
November 16 in Jebel Aulia, an internally displaced persons
(IDP) camp 40 km south of Khartoum. While officials on both
sides have been quick to characterize it as an isolated and
personal incident, it follows a November 13 police killing of
an SPLA soldier in Khartoum that was also called isolated and
personal, as well as increasing accusations that
Northern-backed forces are behind recent attacks in South
Kordofan and the South (reftel). End Summary.

--------------
Police: Disarming Gone Wrong
--------------


2. (U) Police claim that the fighting in Jebel Aulia started
after police officers attempted to disarm a group of SPLA
soldiers in the local market. SPLA officials have countered
that the men were assigned to a Joint Integrated Unit (JIU)
and were allowed to be armed. They say the soldiers were
victims of police harassment. Following the shoot-out, all
police were ordered back to their barracks and the situation
has remained calm.


3. (U) President Bashir issued a statement following the
incident supporting the police and asserting that the
government cannot allow everyone to bear arms. Critics are
quick to point out that he has made no attempt to disarm the
many government-backed Northern militias in Khartoum, which
are illegal under the CPA. There are also unconfirmed rumors
that the police units involved were actually under the
command of Military Intelligence. These rumors were fueled
by the fact that the Minister of Defense, and not the
Minister of the Interior, attended the funeral.

--------------
SPLA Solider Killed Over Fare
--------------


4. (U) Three days earlier, police shot and killed an SPLA
soldier in the Khartoum neighborhood of Arkowit. The
officers were investigating a complaint by an auto-rickshaw
driver that the soldier shorted him on a fare. The police
showed up in force at the house where the SPLA soldier was
stationed as a guard and shot the soldier, claiming he drew
his gun. First Vice President Salva Kiir spoke at the
soldier,s funeral and promised to handle the investigation
personally. This was the fourth killing of an SPLA soldier
by Northern police in 2006.


5. (U) Following the incident, the Southern Sudan-oriented
newspaper, The Citizen, published an editorial calling for
revenge killings against the police. Some Southerners in
Khartoum also believe the attack was a message to the owner
of the house that the SPLA soldier was guarding, Colonel
Yasir Ja,far. Ja,far, an SPLA officer and member of the
National Assembly, is a Northerner and former Sudan Armed
Forces (SAF) officer.


6. (U) SPLA General and member of the Joint Defense Board
Technical Committee Alias Waya told the press the incident
was linked to a November 9 attack on an SPLA base in Meram,
South Kordofan. The SPLA says three of its soldiers were
killed when SSDF militia attacked its base; one SSDF general
was reportedly also killed. The SPLA, which views the SSDF
as a SAF-proxy force, also claims that an Arab (Baggara)
militia supported the attack.

--------------
Conclusion and Comment
--------------


7. (U) There have long been tensions between the police and
southern IDPs around Khartoum. The police frequently enter
IDP houses looking for illegal, home-brewed beer.
Southerners claim this is usually just a pretext, and the
police rob them, search for and seize weapons, and commit
human rights abuses during the raids. Many IDPs were near
rioting earlier in the year after they claimed police were
burning their huts following the searches. The Jebel Aulia
IDP camp was created to get IDPs further from Khartoum to
prevent a spread of violence.


8. (C) The SPLM Deputy Secretary General for the North,
Yassir Arman, recently told Charge d,Affaires Hume that the
primary reason for President Bashir,s November 18 visit to
Juba was to discuss the rising number of attacks blamed on

KHARTOUM 00002713 002 OF 002


SAF or SAF-supported forces. Bashir has reportedly accepted
that SAF elements may have been involved, but maintained he
did not give orders for them to initiate attacks. Arman said
Bashir flew to Juba to discuss with FVP Kiir how to end these
attacks, and how to head-off the public trial of SAF
assailants, which Kiir has publicly promised (reftel).
HUME