SLM AWAITS SAUDI RESPONSE TO AID REQUEST

S E C R E T KHARTOUM 001303 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, AF S/E NATSIOS, AND NEA A/S WELCH NSC FOR PITTMAN AND SHORTLEY ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/19/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID SU SA SUBJECT: SLM AWAITS SAUDI RESPONSE TO AID REQUEST REF: KHARTOUM 01133 Classified By: CDA Roberto Powers, Reason: Sections 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S) Senior Assistant to the President and Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) leader Minni Minawi is awaiting a response from the Saudi Arabian government to his request for financial assistance to maintain the loyalty of his forces, integrate SLM fighters into the civilian population, and treat the injured. Following his July 21-24 visit to Jeddah--which had included a 40-minute private meeting with King Abdullah--Minawi reiterated his request in a letter to the King submitted to the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum in early August. In a subsequent conversation with Minawi and his chief of staff, Mohammed Bashir, the Saudi Ambassador blamed "bureaucracy" for the delay in a response from his government. ¶2. (S) Meeting with Poloff on August 19, Bashir requested USG assistance in gauging Saudi intentions. Two days after Minawi's meeting with King Abdullah, Sudanese Defense Minister Abdulrahim Mohammed Hussein made an un-announced visit to Jeddah. Bashir characterized this trip as an attempt to outmaneuver the SLM and speculated that Hussein had told the Saudi government that the SLM would use any financial assistance to purchase weapons rather than consolidate the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). "The National Congress Party uses our lack of resources to control us," said Bashir, who worried that Hussein's visit may have weakened King Abdullah's intention to assist the SLM. "I don't think this is a matter of bureaucracy. It's not like the U.S., with its rules and regulations. The King can order money to be given if he wants to." ¶3. (S) Minawi had described King Abdullah's initial response to the assistance request as "positive" and had reported to Poloff on July 20 that King Abdullah had instructed Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal to shepherd the request through the Royal Diwan (reftel). Bashir said that the Foreign Minister was the SLM's principal point of contact in the Saudi Government. Prior to Minawi's meeting with King Abdullah, Al Faisal had also given positive signals on the SLM's request. ¶4. (S) Comment: Minawi and the SLM continue to attribute the successful visit to Jeddah to USG efforts to preview the trip with the Saudi Government. As the United Nations/African Union-led political process for Darfur unfolds, signs are beginning to point to an enhanced role for Riyadh in defusing the conflict based on King Abdullah's previous action to broker a bilateral agreement between Chad and Sudan. Support for the one signatory of the DPA at this stage would underscore Saudi Arabia's interest in peace. End comment. POWERS