Darfur CFC: Stolen Vehicles Returned

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000303

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE, SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KPKO SOCI AU UN US SU

SUBJECT: Darfur CFC: Stolen Vehicles Returned
and a Search for Second Chamber Funding


1. Summary: The key issue in the Ceasefire Commission (CFC) the week
of February 19 was funding for faction representatives' Mission
Support Allowance (MSA),which is several months in arrears. Force
Commander Luke Aprezi asked the representatives to consider six
options for realigning the CFC, including reducing the amount of MSA
per representative and various methods of reducing the numbers of
representatives in the sectors. He would like to get the total down
to 150 from its current 198, including the 30-40 which would be
added for the Second Chamber. The Force Commander again pressed all
parties on the vehicle theft issue. Senior Assistant to the
President and Sudanese Liberation Movement(SLM) leader Minni Minawi,
located a stolen PAE vehicle, and returned it on February 21. The
FC directed that a joint GOS-AMIS team be established to review the
GOS plan for Janjaweed disarmament. End Summary.

VEHICLE HIJACKINGS DOWN
--------------


2. The FC said that since the Joint Commission there had not been
any further vehicles hijacked but urged the factions to continue to
press the issue in the field. He said he wants to ensure that AMIS
is not part of the problem by supplying vehicles to the rebel
factions. He mentioned the attempted hijacking of the Deputy Force
Commander's vehicle by three armed men several days earlier, and
told the SLM/Minawi representative that it is disturbing that these
attacks are happening in an area under his faction's control.
Aprezi said he was pleased that over the past several weeks three
vehicles had been returned by Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)
and SLA Non-Signatory Faction (NSF) factions and praised these
factions for tracking these vehicles down. On February 22 during a
brief "ceremony" during his visit to El Fasher, Minawi returned a
PAE vehicle that had been hijacked by unknown assailants several
weeks earlier. (Note: Though the vehicle was hijacked near an area
nominally controlled by SLM/Minawi, the identity of the perpetrators
is unconfirmed. The incident is illustrative of Minawi's decreased
ability to defuse events on the ground as the capacity of his forces
declines. End note.)

NOT GIVING UP ON THE SECOND CHAMBER
--------------


3. Undaunted by the lack of Government of Sudan agreement on the
Second Chamber, the FC continued to press the case. He said that
there are three things impeding the full implementation of the
Second Chamber: 1) Government of Sudan agreement; 2) JEM's
insistence on following the N'Djamena Ceasefire Agreement and not
the Darfur Peace Agreement; and 3) funding.


4. The FC said that faction representatives in four sectors have
gone on strike over the arrears in their MSA, which have not been
paid since October. He said that AMIS' systems for disbursement has
broken down and dissatification has increased among the donors over
funding the cease fire process in Sudan when their nationals being
attacked and in some cases sexually assaulted. He said that the
government of Niger is under strong pressure to withdraw its
civilan/political officers after one was killed in Kutum in early
February. "I want peace more than you," Aprezi said. "In other
missions I have worked, such as Liberia, field commanders made aid
workers off limits and would mete out strong justice against those
who attacked them. Here they are the prime target." Appealing to
their self-interest (representatives are very well compensated),he
suggested that the representatives become better informed about the
nature of European democracies that have real elections and not the
"kangaroo elections" we Africans are used to. Aprezi urged the
faction representatives to take on a larger sense of ownership for
what is going on in their sectors.


5. Aprezi said that there are currently 198 faction reps deployed
throughout the CFC, and if the Second Chamber comes into being in
the current configuration, the number could go as high as 300-350.
He would like to look at options to get the total down to 150, with
the inclusion of Second Chamber representatives. He asked
representatives to consider a series of options:

1) No MSA for anyone.
2) Reduce the numbers of representatives proportionally across the
sectors (three to two in HQ, two to one in MSGs).
3) Place faction representatives only in areas the factions formally
control.
4) Give the DPA signatories more representatives than signatures in
the Declaration of Commitment (DOC).
5) Have representatives only in areas where factions have tribal
roots, a variant of #3.
6) Reduce amount of MSA for all. He suggested that this could be
done as a stand-alone measure, or in conjunction with any of the
other options.


KHARTOUM 00000303 002 OF 002



6. Aprezi said that he would develop these options with specific
numbers and costs and send them to Khartoum as an options paper. He
also asked the factions to consider them and advise him which one
would be best for the operations of the CFC.


7. The factions said that they would go back and study the options,
but in the meantime expressed concern that they had not been paid
their MSA for so many months. They said it would be impossible to
continue to have people deployed if they are not receiving money for
food and rent. The SLA/Minawi representative also objected with
cutting the CFC along tribal lines (option 5),as it would
exacerbate tribal conflicts. The FC said that on MSA arrears was
not a donor issue but an AU administrative issue. The EU
representative said that in fact there was some question on the
future of funding for the CFC. Visiting UK DATT told El Fasher
Poloff on February 20 however, that there appears to be a way
forward on funding the CFC from a European source. He believes the
arrears issue will be worked out soon, although he was less sure
about future funding.

JANJAWEED DISARMAMENT
--------------


8. The FC then turned to the issue of Janjaweed disarmament,
suggesting that the Government of Sudan had studied the issue more
than the factions or AMIS and intimating that Government of Sudan
representatives were looking for loopholes around the DPA to delay
or reduce the burden of disarming the Arab militias. He said he was
directing his own staff to examine the issue and to form a joint
GOS-AMIS team to review the Government of Sudan plan in detail. He
said that observers and faction representatives would not be part of
the disarmament team but the findings would be briefed in the CFC.

OTHER BUSINESS
--------------


9. Other issues that were addressed included:

-- Standard operating procedures are still under revision and will
be reviewed in the next meeting.
-- Government of Sudan was pressed on the issue of airport access,
which has been tightened and makes it difficult for AMIS to
function. The Government of Sudan representative said there was
simply too much vehicular traffic at the airport and they will now
provide just 15 passes for AMIS at any given time. The FC informed
the Government of Sudan representative that this was simply
unacceptable as his party alone has four vehicles.
-- FC would like to convene a meeting of aid workers to show that
some areas with proper coordination are safer than they believe.
-- Factions complained about being uninvited to the morning AMIS
briefing. FC told them they had been abusing the information from
these briefings to benefit their factions.
-- There were 12 cases ready for review, but they were delayed until
the next week because of the Minawi's visit during the Wednesday
meeting.

HUME