APPOINTMENT OF NHIAL DENG NHIAL AS MINISTER FOR SPLA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001836 DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN ADIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PINS KDEM SU SUBJECT: APPOINTMENT OF NHIAL DENG NHIAL AS MINISTER FOR SPLA AFFAIRS REFLECTS SHIFTING SPLM DYNAMICS REF: KHARTOUM 1817 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Presidential advisors assert that Nhial Deng Nhial's performance during and after Ali Osman Taha's December 16th visit to Juba (reftel) gave an 11th hour boost to his selection by GOSS President Salva Kiir Mayardit to be Minister for SPLA Affairs. They add he was chosen over Jonglei Governor Kuol Manieng amidst the SPLM's shifting calculus towards Khartoum. The appointment reflects the steady resurgence of the SPLM's "Garang wing" in Juba politics, and the depth of rapprochement between Kiir and Nhial despite the latter's self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom and "abandonment" of the party in 2006. The decision is broadly popular among the SPLA senior command. Rival contender Manieng says he harbors no ill- will about being passed over for the position. END SUMMARY. -------------- THE TRAJECTORY OF THE NHIAL CANDIDACY -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Kiir's December 21 appointment of Nhial Deng Nhial as Minister for SPLA Affairs reinserts Nhial into GOSS politics two-years after the latter's self-imposed exile to the United Kingdom. It follows months of carefully-tended rapprochement between the two SPLM/A vanguards that began with Nhial's appearance at May's SPLM National Convention and most recently with Nhial's provision of welcome and discreet advice to Minister for Presidential Affairs Luka Biong Deng amidst the increasingly internecine politics of Juba. With his return to the South following completion of a Masters of Letters in Law at Scotland's Dundee University, Nhial adds heft to the efforts of Pagan Amum, Yasir Arman, Deng Alor, and Anne Itto to rejuvenate John Garang's vision of a transformed "New Sudan," against the South-centric "nationalist faction" of the SPLM. Kiir has also pressed Nhial into service as an ad-hoc member of the SPLM's Crisis Management Team, utilizing his skills most recently in formulating possible SPLM responses to the anticipated ICC indictment of Sudanese President Omar al Bashir. ¶3. (SBU) Nhial has been an on-again, off-again candidate on Kiir's short-list to fill the eight-month ministerial vacancy that followed the May 2 death of then-Minister Dominic Dim Deng in a plane crash, along with his wife, and a number of Ministry staffers. On November 20, Regional Cooperation Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told ConGen Juba staff that Jonglei Governor Manieng "was indisputably" Kiir's choice for SPLA Affairs, and at a Thanksgiving dinner hosted by USG-funded contractors working on Security Sector Transformation, Manieng grudgingly admitted that he was resigned to the fact that he was headed to Juba. ¶4. (SBU) As recently as December 13, Minister for Legal Affairs Michael Makuei Lueth told the Acting Consul General that Manieng was coming to Juba, and that Makuai understood that he would be tapped to replace Manieng as Jonglei-State Governor. Makuei had promoted Nhial as candidate to replace him in the Ministry of Legal Affairs, and Makuei believed Kiir was positively inclined towards the suggestion. Makuei allowed that the only stumbling block to Manieng's transfer to SPLA Affairs were grumblings from the Nuer community that Jonglei's new governor not be "another Dinka." According to Makuei, at the request of Energy and Mining Minister John Luk Jok, Kiir now was "making a show" of considering GNU Minister James Kok and GOSS Ambassador to Kenya John Duku for the governorship. 5.(SBU) While Manieng maintained to Acting CG December 22 that he is "thrilled" to be able to stay in Jonglei, and views Kiir's decision as "one necessary for the good of the SPLM," some in Juba contend that Manieng may have been his own worst enemy. GOSS Presidency staffers told Acting CG on December 16 that Kiir was said to have grown increasingly uncomfortable with reports that, as ONE of his first acts in office, the oft-confrontational Manieng intended to move against the militias of ex-SSDF Commander and present Deputy Commander in Chief Paulino Matiep and GOSS Vice President Riek Machar. (NOTE: Machar and Matiep both defied a presidential directive in April to disband their 4,000-strong combined militias. END NOTE.) During the week of December 8 there were reportedly rumors circulating within SPLA Headquarters that Manieng also intended to replace SPLA Chief of General Staff Oyai Deng Ajak. Given present joint operations with the UPDF against the Lord's Resistance Army, the same presidential staffers noted to Acting CG on December 20 that Kiir had criticized Manieng's impulsiveness. -------------- THE TAHA FACTOR -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Undersecretary for Regional Cooperation Cirino Hiteng Ofuho notified the Acting CG of Nhial's appointment hours after Kiir KHARTOUM 00001836 002 OF 002 issued the Presidential Decree, noting that Nhial's performance in the days following Taha's visit played a "substantial role" in Kiir's choice. According to Hiteng, should the NCP choose to replace Bashir with either an active or retired SAF general ill-disposed towards CPA implementation, including the 2011 referendum on the South's independence, it might become necessary for Kiir to campaign for President of Sudan in the 2009 national elections to preserve "the South's right to independence." (COMMENT: Select GOSS and SPLM officials also expressed this view in meetings with StaffDel Smith (septel). We are not convinced that Kiir himself is leaning in the direction of running for the national presidency, but it is notable that the Garang Wing continues to advocate such an approach, and that Kiir apparently has given them the impression that it is a possibility. END COMMENT.) ¶7. (SBU) Moreover, pulling Nhial into SPLA Affairs deepens Kiir's coterie of dependable advisors as he acts to limit the reach of GOSS Vice President Riek Machar. Kiir told Acting CG in October that Machar was already actively campaigning for the GOSS Presidency in 2009 - despite a personal appeal from Kiir to "put the preservation of the South - and the 2011 Referendum" first. Placing Nhial in such a pivotal position gives Nhial public visibility necessary should unfolding events in Khartoum prompt Kiir to run at the national level - and should the SPLM's Garang-wing be able to persuade the party's secessionists of the necessity of such action. (COMMENT: According to those present at the discussions, Nhial consistently supported such a move in SPLM meetings following the Taha visit. END COMMENT.) ¶8. (SBU) The decision not to move forward with Manieng also brings change within the GOSS Council of Ministers at a critical period in Khartoum/Juba relations as the SPLM awaits the NCP's decision on Bashir's future. Kiir's appointment of Manieng to SPLA Affairs would have forced a GOSS-wide reshuffle, with changes occurring, at a minimum, of five ministries (Finance, Telecommunications, Internal Affairs, Ministry of Legal Affairs, and the Ministry of Health). (NOTE: While it is still possible that Internal Affairs Minister Paul Mayom may be moved to Rumbek to serve as Lakes States Governor, Kiir's December 21 decision buys the GOSS time before enacting such a change. END NOTE.) -------------- SPLA RESPONSE: LARGELY JUBILANT, BUT... -------------- ¶9. (SBU) SPLA Chief of General Staff Oyai Deng Ajak enthusiastically praised Nhial's appointment in a December 21 conversation with the Acting Consul General. Nhial and Ajak had an extremely close relationship during the 22-year North/South civil war, and Ajak believes that Nhial will prove to be an "intelligent and transformative" choice to lead the SPLA and effectively advocate for its needs within the GOSS Council of Ministers. He predicted that Nhial would prove highly effective before the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly as well, "a good mix of politician and diplomat," able to deftly deflect and diffuse the SSLA's criticism of the SPLA - presently heightened with last week's tabling of the 2009 GOSS budget. Deputy Chief of Staff James Hoth Mai was more measured in his praise, noting that the rank and file had already placed high expectations in Kuol Manieng's reputation for delivery, whereas "some soldiers may need convincing that Nhial will not leave us as he left Sudan in 2006." He noted, however, that he personally supports the decision, and that with time Kiir's choice will prove to be sound. -------------- BIO NOTE -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Nhial Deng Nhial was appointed Minister of Regional Cooperation for the GoSS by Kiir on October 25, 2005. He resigned from his position less than ONE year later following his repeated clashes with Kiir on issues of corruption, Kiir's alleged mismanagement of the GOSS and purported abandonment of the vision of Garang's vision of a "New Sudan." Nhial earned a Masters in Letters of Law from Dundee University in Scotland in July 2008. His thesis was on Foreign Direct Investment in agricultural sectors in Africa. Nhial served as Leader of SPLM/SPLA Advance team to Khartoum in 2005; Commander of SPLM/SPLA and Chief Negotiator during the Naivasha Peace Talks. He has a Law Degree from the University of Khartoum, is a member of the SPLM Political Bureau and National Liberation Council. A Dinka from Lakes State, he is a direct relative of William Deng, a highly renowned veteran Southern politician from 1960's Sudanese politics. Born in the 1950s, Deng is married and has children. ASQUINO