FOLLOW-UP MEETING WITH SLM/A REBEL LEADERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NDJAMENA 000119

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

PARIS AND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/06/2017
TAGS: PREL PREF CD SU SCRS
SUBJECT: FOLLOW-UP MEETING WITH SLM/A REBEL LEADERS

REF: A. NDJAMENA 70 B. NDJAMENA 99 C. KHARTOUM 170

Classified By: S/CRS Charles Wintermeyer for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (C) Summary: Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM/A) Chairman
Ahmed Abdelshafi met with the Ambassador for the first time
since the meeting of Special Envoy (SE) Natsios with rebel
leaders in Abeche on January 19 (Ref A). Abdelshafi
continues to reject the Darfur Peace Agreement as a basis for
future negotiations on power-sharing and security
arrangements. He also remains unwilling to renounce any
intention of seeking regime change. End Summary.

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Concerns about Different Commanders Conferences
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2. (C) SLM/A Chairman Ahmed Abdelshafi, accompanied by his
assistant Abaker Mohamed Abuelbashar, met with the Ambassador
and EmbOff 6 February in N'Djamena. They said that they plan
to attend the SLM field commanders conference scheduled
shortly (no firm date, but probably around 9 Feb),which will
be followed by a broader SLM meeting. They felt both the SLM
and NRF were heading towards unity. They added that they had
tried unsuccessfully to convince the NRF to postpone its own
conference scheduled for 12 Feb. While the SLM/A leaders
stated that they would have preferred to have a joint meeting
with the NRF after the SLM meeting, the Justice and Equality
Movement (JEM) branch is pushing for an NRF-only conference
first. They acknowledged that unification is problematical
as they want to unify their own organization first. They
have invited Adam Bakhit (who is currently in Adre) to
observe, explaining he is under the NRF "umbrella" but not
actually part of the NRF. The SLM would prefer a coalition
with t
he NRF, but the NRF prefers to have the SLM under the NRF's
overall leadership. (Note: Our JEM/NRF interlocutors last
week argued that the SLM should not hold its own conference,
which may fragment it more, but rather wait for the NRF to
provide the framework for a joint conference instead (Ref B).
End Note.)

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No Formal Renunciation of Regime Change
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3. (C) Regarding SE Natsios' appeal to the NRF in Abeche
January 19 to renounce regime change as a political goal, the
SLM/A representatives restated their case as to why they
thought it necessary to maintain that goal. In their view,
the Government of Sudan (GoS) will never treat Darfur in good
faith. They said that the National Congress Party of
President Bashir cannot be trusted, nor is there any chance
for it to transform itself. They accused the National
Congress of 'crying wolf' to the Arab world and feeling that
only God could remove them.


4. (C) They argued that regime change is essential, and,
since peaceful means will not work, the overthrow of the GoS
is necessary. They accused President Bashir of being
criminally insane -- he tries to defuse the Darfur crisis by
trying to link it to the Palestine and Iraq issues in the
eyes of the larger Arab world. They also condemned Bashir
for giving monetary support to the Palestinians and Iraqis,
rather than to his own people in Darfur.

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Disdain for the DPA
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5. (C) In response to the Ambassador's points about the DPA
being the basis for future negotiations, and the necessity
for a political solution, Abdelshafi and Abuelbashar
responded that the GoS is just buying time. They believe
that negotiations would not be taken seriously by the GoS,
and that the result would be a 'slow death' for the rebels
and people of Darfur.

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No Chadian Support
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6. (C) When specifically asked about aid from the
Government of Chad (Ref C),they responded that, even though
they had requested support, no arms or other support from the
GoC has been provided to date. They said Deby was
preoccupied with Chad's own rebels, who they said were 15
kilometers from Adre, and were expected to soon attack Adre
again. They claimed that if they had had GoC support, they
would be in control of Darfur by now. They described the
Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) as having poor morale and no will

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to fight, and said that the GoS recruits its soldiers from
the destitute and starving. The rebel leaders noted with
concern that the Chinese provide arms to the SAF.


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Comment
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7. (C) SLM/A leaders appear willing to work with the NRF to
achieve unity among the rebel factions. However, they appear
to have a harder line than the NRF/JEM concerning SE Natsios'
points about negotiations with the GoS based on the DPA, and
on the denunciation of regime change as a goal.
WALL