DARFUR/ABECHE CONFERENCES YET TO MATERIALIZE, BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L NDJAMENA 000175 SIPDIS SIPDIS PARIS AND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/06/2017 TAGS: PREL LY CD SU SCRS SUBJECT: DARFUR/ABECHE CONFERENCES YET TO MATERIALIZE, BUT SOME REBELS ATTEND TRIPOLI CONFERENCE REF: A. TRIPOLI 190 B. NDJAMENA 70 Classified By: S/CRS Charles Wintermeyer for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (C). Summary. Although the proposed rebel conferences in Darfur and Abeche still have not occurred, a number of rebel leaders did attend the Tripoli conference last week. According to representatives of the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) in Ndjamena, a unified SLM must still be achieved before any new Darfur peace talks can succeed. End Summary. Tripoli Conference -------------- ¶2. (C) G-19 members Adam Bahkit, Khamis Abdullah and Adam Kashsham met with Ambassador and EmbOff on 24 February. Bahkit, Abdullah and Kashsham were escorted by Chadian Pan-Sahel Initiative (PSI) Anti-Terrorism Coordinator LTC Abakar Mohamed Abdullah. ¶3. (C) Khamis Abdullah had just returned from the Tripoli conference (Ref A),and listed other attendees as Khalil Abdullah (NMRD),Ahmed Abdelshafi (SLM),Khalil Ibrahim (JEM),and Mohamed Abdullah of the Defense Forces. Bahkit said that he did not attend the Tripoli conference. The Darfur commanders conference has not occured yet, and Bahkit believed the rebel groups had to unify first in order for new Darfur talks to succeed. He did not trust Libya and was concerned that the GoL would bring the GoS and rebels together without notifying them beforehand. For these reasons, he did not attend. ¶4. (C) Khamis Abdullah stated he only went to Tripoli in order to talk to President Deby and the President of Eritrea; he did not go to meet with either President Bashir or other rebel leaders. He concurred with Bahkit that the rebels had to unify first before any new negotiations could be held with the GoS. He said he had asked the two presidents not to try to force talks between the GoS and the rebel leaders. Still No Darfur Or Abeche Conferences -------------- ¶5. (C) Khamis Abdullah claimed that having an SLM conference in Darfur was his idea. He recommended who would be invited, including political leaders, and was upset when the political leaders were not invited. He faulted the AU, UN and EC for not being transparent in organizing the conference. He did not plan on attending any NRF conference in Abeche until after the SLM was unified (Note: The NRF conference in Abeche had been scheduled for last week, after several delays, but has still not taken place. However, there were some smaller rebel meetings in Abeche last week. End Note.). No Renunciation of Regime Change -------------- ¶6. (C) Asked directly, these interlocutors responded that they were not prepared to renounce violent regime change as a goal, as SE Natsios recommended (Ref B). They seek a negotiated solution, and have told the AU they would try to reach a solution through the AU. However, they do not trust the AU, since they believe some AU members are trying to block progress. Comment -------------- ¶7. (C) While rebel leaders agree on the need to unify before negotiating with the GoS, they are not any closer now than they were five weeks ago. ¶8. Minimize considered. WALL