APREZI RETURNS, SLM REP MELTS DOWN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000930 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU NSC FOR PITTMAN AND SHORTLEY SENSITIVE, SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV KPKO AU CD SU SUBJECT: APREZI RETURNS, SLM REP MELTS DOWN -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) Force Commander Lt. Gen. Luke Aprezi returned to AMIS Force Headquarters on June 11. He expressed doubts that Gen. Martin Luther Agwai was a good selection to replace him as AMIS force commander, though admitted Agwai would be well-positioned to lead the UN/AU hybrid operation. Within hours of Aprezi's return to El Fasher, a Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM)/Minawi sector observer waged a standoff at Force Headquarters to protest "underpayment" of his monthly subsistence allowance. AMIS soldiers later disarmed him. End Summary. -------------- Aprezi on Aqwai -------------- ¶2. (SBU) AMIS Force Commander Aprezi returned to AMIS Force Headquarters on June 11. Speaking with POLOFF following a First Chamber Ceasefire Commission meeting, Aprezi said that he expected incoming AMIS force commander Martin Luther Agwai to arrive within two weeks. ¶3. (SBU) Aprezi confided that he did not believe that Agwai was the right man for the job as AMIS Force Commander. He had worked for Agwai for over four years as his chief of operations in the Nigerian military. Agwai then became Chief of the Nigerian Defense Staff where he had "300 generals working for him." Aprezi said that it was a mistake to send a senior military officer to El Fasher, who would quickly lose patience with the inexperienced "little boys" who make up the bulk of AMIS soldiers. Aprezi confirmed that Agwai would be good for the Hybrid force, however. ¶4. (SBU) As if to underscore his point, several of Aprezi's staff entered his office and reported that there was an armed SLM/Minawi soldier on the compound threatening the chief of staff. Aprezi complained that the soldiers should not have bothered to ask him before acting on their standing orders. He said they had only "informed" him of the event so they could blame any violence that ensued on him. ¶5. (SBU) Aprezi complained that he had tried to work closely with U.S. field representatives in the past. However, his warnings of certain trends, "such as the need to prop up Minawi to ensure the SLM would not implode," had yielded no guidance and or support. "I'm tired of being a scapegoat - that's why I'm retiring," he said. -------------- Gunwielding Minawi Rep Demands Past MSA -------------- ¶5. (SBU) At around 11:30 a.m., the SLM Minawi rep from al-Daein, LTC Ali Hamid Noor Shogar (Sector 8) entered the AMIS Force Headquarters compound to demand a return to the original Monthly Subsistence Allowance (MSA) of 2,700 dollars before international donors lowered the MSA to 500 dollars in March. He first held SLM/Minawi Ceasefire Commission representatives in their office at gunpoint. A CFC Secretariat soldier, passing by the office to obtain a signature, was pulled inside by the gunman and kicked. He reported that the SLA representatives shielded him from the gunmen with their own bodies, and it appeared at one point that Shogar would shoot SLM rep Musa Mohamed Dabo. After speaking with them for about 15 minutes, Shogar attempted to lock the three SLA representatives and one AMIS soldier in the office and left. ¶6. (SBU) Shogar went to the office of AMIS Chief of Staff Col. Partington, who talked to him for about half an hour and explained that the decision to reduce the MSA was made with the concurrence of the international community. Partington said Shogar had called the CFC SLA representatives "liars and criminals" for misleading him about the MSA. Partington advised Shogar to collect his higher February MSA and wait to collect his March payment pending a review of the issue. As Shogar exited Partington's office into the CFC conference room, AMIS soldiers surrounded him. He fired a warning shot into the air but was then disarmed. (Note: Payment of MSAs have been pending since February as the U.K. and Netherlands conduct an accounting review. End note.) ¶7. (SBU) Soon after he was detained, several SLM/Minawi members arrived to ask for Shogar's release, and he was released into their custody. AMIS did not contact the Sudanese police. ¶8. (SBU) Comment. Signs continue to point to the growing rifts with the SLM and between the SLM and AMIS. SLA Minawi CFC representatives have told S/CRS POLOFF that they understand how KHARTOUM 00000930 002 OF 002 events such as this have sullied SLA Minawi's reputation, weakened AMIS' peacekeeping role and undermined the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). However, they rationalize the behavior of SLM soldiers as a difference in "culture." End Comment. FERNANDEZ