MEETING WITH KHALIL IBRAHIM IN ABECHE

UNCLAS NDJAMENA 001432 SIPDIS SENSITIVE, SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PREF CD SU SUBJECT: MEETING WITH KHALIL IBRAHIM IN ABECHE REF: A) N'DJAMENA 1402; B) N'DJAMENA 1423 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. During a two-hour meeting in Abeche, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader Khalil Ibrahim expressed JEM's desire to be included in any forthcoming negotiations on an international presence in Chad. He was evasive about JEM involvement in recent fighting between Chadian government forces (ANT) and Chadian rebels but did not dispute rumors of a significant JEM presence observed in Guereda. He advised "letting the dust settle" in Chad in the wake of the most recent wave of internal conflict (ref B) before expecting any political reconciliation. Khalil promised to provide Poloff with a draft of the JEM's proposal for alternative peace plans which the group planned to submit to the Security Council, to be sent septel. END SUMMARY. -------------- JEM NOT TO BE IGNORED ON BORDER ISSUES -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Poloff met with JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim in Abeche on December 14, following up on his conversation with the Ambassador December 5 (reftel A). One of Khalil's main gripes was that JEM was not being consulted on decisions taken by the international community (specifically the United Nations) vis--vis Darfur and eastern Chad, including the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1706 (2006) and the recent visit by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations Technical Assessment Mission. "We're part of the problem and part of the solution, "declared Khalil, "yet the United Nations is not taking the initiative to include us in its deliberations." He voiced the JEM's support for an international border presence but with the caveat that a durable peace come first. ¶3. (SBU) To remedy this perceived exclusion, JEM plans to transmit within the next 72 hours to the Security Council its proposal for alternative peace plans beyond the Darfur Peace Agreement (which Khalil categorically rejected as the product of "diplomatic terrorism" in Abuja) and to submit a request for a "hearing session" with the Security Council to air the group's grievances on both the Darfur Peace Agreement and UNSCR 1706. ¶4. (SBU) Khalil argued that the international community, in particular the UN Security Council, was doing more harm than good by "dictating" to the people of Darfur untenable terms for addressing the crisis there and by issuing "premature documents" such as UNSCR 1706 that failed to take into account the realities of the situation on the ground. For example, Khalil contended that UNSCR 1706 made no mention of the Janjaweed, whose movement Khalil predicted would sweep to West Africa [NOTE: Operative Paragraph 12 (a) of UNSCR 1706 refers to "armed groups." END NOTE]. Instead, Khalil focused his attention on Operative Paragraph 14 of UNSCR 1706, which threatens sanctions against non-signatories to the DPA, calling this a direct affront to the JEM. -------------- STILL VAGUE ON JEM SUPPORT FOR GOC -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Khalil was just as evasive in the December 14 conversation with Poloff on the subject of the Chadian rebellion as he had been in the December conversation with Ambassador (ref A). He said that the internal political situation in Chad needed at least one month for the "dust to settle" after recent events in Guereda and Hadjar Marfaine (ref B). He predicted that at the end of this period, "if the Government of Chad (GOC) feels it needs peace talks, then it will start peace talks" with the rebellion. Khalil remained optimistic that the GOC would accept a political reconciliation with the rebellion, admitting that President Deby had run out of negotiating time with the SCUD before the latest round of violence had erupted. ¶6. (SBU) Khalil was similarly evasive on the topic of JEM support to the ANT. When asked about the observed presence of up to 60 JEM vehicles in and around Guereda earlier this month, he said that these were "legitimate movements" in an exceedingly porous border area. Khalil reaffirmed that Guereda and the surrounding areas to the north remained JEM-controlled territory. Wall