EASTERN FRONT DELAYS PARTICIPATION IN TRIPOLI TALKS

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 000278 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/SPG E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/06/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SU SUBJECT: EASTERN FRONT DELAYS PARTICIPATION IN TRIPOLI TALKS REF: 05 KHARTOUM 00941 Classified By: POL: L. Wahid, Reason: Section 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) On February 5, we spoke with Dr. Amna Dirar, Vice President of the Eastern Front, who said the Eastern Front had decided to delay participation in the scheduled negotiations with the Sudanese Government in Tripoli because certain pre-conditions had not been met. Dirar said these were to add Eritrea as a co-mediator with Libya, to invite international observers, and to send a GNU negotiating team, rather than one dominated by the National Congress Party. ¶2. (C) Dirar said that the Libyans were &up to their usual tricks,8 and referred to a Libyan plan to release 16 GOS soldiers to the Sudanese government during the negotiations (reftel). The 16 were detained during an Eastern Front attack on Tokar in June 2005; the Eastern Front had transferred the detained soldiers to the Libyans earlier, and the Libyans were using their release as a well timed deliverable for the Sudanese government. She also noted that Libyan representatives in Sudan refused to speak with her; she instead received information about the details of the negotiations from the Eastern Front, which is based in Asmara. ¶3. (U) Tripoli minimize considered. HUME