BASHIR MEETS WITH UMMA PARTY CHIEF SADIQ AL-MAHDI

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001873 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, AF SE NATSIOS ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU SUBJECT: BASHIR MEETS WITH UMMA PARTY CHIEF SADIQ AL-MAHDI ¶1. (SBU) President Bashir met with opposition Umma party leader Sadiq al-Mahdi on November 27 to discuss "national reconciliation," according to the media. Presidential advisor and National Congress Party (NCP) Vice President Nafie Ali Nafie in press statements characterized the meeting as fruitful and emphasized the need to agree on national issues. ¶2. (SBU) In a meeting with poloffs November 29, Al-Mahdi characterized the Umma-NCP meeting as merely a preliminary contact, where the agenda was set for possible future cooperation. Al-Mahdi said that he and Bashir agreed to form a "Joint Committee" to discuss four issues: consolidating and improving the current peace agreements (CPA, DPA, ESPA); essential freedoms; elections; and Darfur. ¶3. (SBU) Al-Mahdi acknowledged that the NCP's overture to the Umma Party was probably a public relations ploy. However he said the Umma party will use it as a means of advancing its own agenda. Al-Mahdi has proposed a "National Conference" to expand participation in the political arena to other groups besides the NCP and SPLM. He downplayed any notion that the Umma party would form a coalition with the NCP, noting that the Umma party also met recently with the SPLM. Moreover, he said the Umma party has "commitments" to 38 other parties in which it is formed an opposition coalition. Mahdi said the Umma party is prepared for elections in 2009, while the two CPA signatories are not. ¶4. (SBU) Regarding the current NCP-SPLM standoff, Al-Mahdi observed that the SPLM is conflicted and has some internal issues they need to deal with. However, he suggested that the NCP needs to be more inclusive in its dealings with others, both in Sudan and with the international community. Al-Mahdi blamed the international community for assuming that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) brought peace to Sudan. He suggested that it had just stopped an "active conflict" and at the same time ignored North/North and South/South conflicts, which are being played out now. Meanwhile, the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) was "born dead" according to Al-Mahdi, and the ESPA was "between the governments of Sudan and Eritrea." He reminded poloffs that he has told many U.S. Envoys that these peace agreements need to be "revisited and reformed." Al-Mahdi also blamed Sudan's conflicts on the current "totalitarian" regime, which he said had adopted a "specific Islamist monolithic ideology" when it came to power, which excluded many of Sudan's citizens. ¶5. (SBU) Comment: Both the NCP and the SPLM have reached out recently to the Umma party, not only to voice their grievances regarding the current political crisis, but also to begin laying the groundwork for possible alliances during the 2009 elections. The Umma party is probably the most organized political party in Sudan after the NCP, which of course has access to vast amounts of capital and controls most (but not all, thanks to the CPA) levers of political power in Sudan. The Umma party also retains a significant following in many states, though far less that it had when Al-Mahdi was removed in a bloodless coup by Al-Bashir in 1989. Umma party leadership is also more diverse than the NCP leadership, with some significant leaders hailing from Western Sudan, although real power is still in the Mahdi family. FERNANDEZ