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