FPOTUS CARTER PROVIDES READOUT ON MEETING WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 000201 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/10/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM EAID PREF AU UN SU SUBJECT: FPOTUS CARTER PROVIDES READOUT ON MEETING WITH PRESIDENT BASHIR Classified By: P/E Chief E. Whitaker, Reason: Section 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Former President Jimmy Carter provided a read-out to Charge Hume following his February 10 meeting with President Bashir. Regarding the North-South situation, Carter reported that Bashir was in favor of further involvement by the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD),perhaps by Kenyan General Sumbeiywo ) as during the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) negotiations. IGAD could be helpful in defusing the sensitive process of delineating and demarcating the North-South border. Carter related that Bashir insisted that the Abyei dispute be resolved on the basis of the 1905 border, rather than the line drawn by the Abyei Boundaries Commission. President Bashir insisted that noted that the South had only recently provided the names of its participants to the Border Committee, slowing its work. Bashir added, however, that the Border Committee would oversee the laying down of North-South "reference points" at the end of the current dry season. ¶2. (C) On the Darfur conflict, former President Carter said he and President Bashir had discussed the three-phase transition toward a UN-led peacekeeping operation. Bashir insisted that the "combatant troops" and the force commander be from the African Union. He also indicated that he would accept the number of peacekeeping troops as determined by the force commander. ¶3. (C) Finally, President Carter said that President Bashir had denied that janjaweed were incorporated in the Sudanese Armed Forces, Bashir maintained that though the government had supported Arab militias in the past, it was no longer doing so. HUME