SLM ADOPTS LEGALISTIC APPROACH TO LIBYA TALKS,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001646 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, AF S/E NATSIOS, AND AF/SPG ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV KPKO UN AU SU SUBJECT: SLM ADOPTS LEGALISTIC APPROACH TO LIBYA TALKS, REJECTS ATTENDANCE WITHIN GNU REF: KHARTOUM 01488 KHARTOUM 00001646 001.2 OF 002 -------------- "Political Suicide" -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Despite UN and African Union efforts to invite the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM)/Minawi to the upcoming Darfur peace negotiations in Libya as a member of the Government of National Unity (GNU),the SLM characterizes this formulation as "political suicide," three senior SLM leaders told Poloff on October 20. Following the National Congress Party (NCP)'s designation of Presidential Assistant Nafie Ali Nafie as the head of the GNU delegation to the talks, direct association with Nafie would undermine the movement's credibility in Darfur and prevent them from advocating their positions during the negotiations. The SLM is only prepared to attend the talks in its capacity as a signatory to the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). The GNU is a fiction, they said, given the current crisis between the NCP and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM),and a GNU delegation will in reality be "100 percent" NCP. -------------- An "Enhanced" DPA -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Echoing the position of SLM Chairman Minni Minawi (reftel),SLM leaders maintain that the current process should result in an "enhanced" DPA rather than a new agreement. While flexible on many components of the DPA--including giving up the position of Senior Assistant to the President--the SLM leaders stated that the focus of the negotiations should be on establishing effective security arrangements and further delineating the power and wealth-sharing provisions of the agreement to address the concerns of the non-signatories. These more specific power and wealth-sharing elements should then be codified, they argue, within the national legal framework. According to the SLM, DPA implementation stalled because President Bashir delayed the integration of its provisions into the Interim National Constitution, despite ratification by the National Assembly and the Council of Ministers. ¶3. (SBU) The SLM leaders explained that an enhanced DPA could provide legal powers to the Senior Assistant and the chairmen of the commissions of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA) so that they can address the marginalization of the people of Darfur. Wealth-sharing could be addressed by fixing specific amounts of compensation, creating a credible mechanism for distributing the funds, and unifying the development budgets of the three Darfur states. The SLM leaders contended that a peace process with this approach would accommodate the concerns of the DPA non-signatories without alienating the SLM. (Note: Following the UN/AU-organized meeting of several rebel movements in Arusha in early August, UN/AU officials cited the movements' acceptance of "80 to 90 percent" of the DPA as one of the principal successes of the event. End note.) -------------- A Doctrinaire Approach -------------- ¶4. (SBU) An example of the SLM's doctrinaire approach to the upcoming negotiations is their technical objections to the draft cessation of hostilities agreement that the UN/AU presented to senior SLM officials on October 18, which the UN/AU intends as the first order of business in Libya. The title--"Declaration on a Cessation of Hostilities"--and the absence of any reference to the DPA or the N'djamena Humanitarian Cease-fire Agreement ignored the existence of previous cease-fire mechanisms that were still binding on all of the parties, according to the SLM leaders. They suggested that "commitment" replace "declaration" in order to account for these prior documents. The SLM representatives further objected to the use of "renewed" in reference to the upcoming negotiations, as it inaccurately implies that the negotiations were "between the same parties" as the Abuja process. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The SLM considers any changes to the DPA without KHARTOUM 00001646 002.2 OF 002 their consent to be a violation of a legally binding agreement and resents the UN/AU's lack of consultation with them as the peace process unfolds. By the UN/AU's own admission, their October 18 meeting with the SLM was the first time that the movement's participation in the talks and its position on the issues were discussed in detail. The SLM finds the absence of UN/AU consultation particularly insulting given Minawi's public support for the UN/AU process and private efforts to convince non-signatories, such as Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) faction leaders Bahar Abu Gharda and Abdullah Banda, to attend the talks. End comment. ¶6. (U) Tripoli minimize considered. POWERS