SALVA KIIR ON DARFUR/ABUJA/UN: NEGOTIATING

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 000740 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR D, AF, IO E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/23/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL AU PINR SU SUBJECT: SALVA KIIR ON DARFUR/ABUJA/UN: NEGOTIATING POSITION STILL NCP ONLY; "JIHAD" IF UN COMES IN BEFORE PEACE Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Andrew Steinfeld for reasons 1 .5 (B) (D) ¶1. (C) Summary: First VP Salva Kiir told Charge March 23 that there was still no GNU negotiating position in Abuja, and that chief negotiator Maqzoub was taking a very hard line. The Council of Ministers, however, was continuing to debate a unified NCP/SPLM position. Kiir also reiterated that the Sudan (read: NCP) would only accept UN rehat after a peace agreement is reached, and the force would look like the one in the south. He said that the NCP had called for a "jihad" against any international force that would come in absent a peace agreement, or to enforce peace. He and the SPLM disagreed with this position and would welcome a UN force. End Summary. ¶2. (C) In response to First VP Kiir's request to meet with USAID Almquist, she and Charge had an extended meeting with Kiir in Khartoum on March 23 (non-Darfur issues will be reported septel). On Darfur, Kiir reported that the negotiating position currently being put forward in Abuja was still one supported by the NCP only. The Council of Ministers had had "heated" debates about Darfur, but there was still no joint position, though Kiir hoped more progress would be made this Sunday. For now, chief negotiator Maqzoub was taking very tough positions; differences between the NCP and SPLM were about which compromises to strike with the movements. Answering the Charge, he said that the Yassir Arman/ Mutriff Sadiq attempts at reaching a joint position had not yielded that result. ¶3. (C) Asked about UN rehatting, Kiir described the government position (read: NCP) as VP Taha has done both publicly and privately. A UN force would be permitted to replace AMIS after a peace accord was reached in Abuja and would be permitted to operate like UNMIS in the south. He said that the NCP had called for "jihad" against an international force that would otherwise enter Darfur for peace enforcement, and that there would be fighting on the ground against such a force. (He speculated that such a force would not be able to reach Darfur through Khartoum.) He added that he and the SPLM would welcome a UN force, if the Sudanese could not reach peace on their own in Darfur, but clearly implied that the SPLM had made no inroads in moderating the NCP's hostility to international forces. In fact, Kiir asked rhetorically how one part of the government could declare war (jihad) without consulting the other. STEINFELD