FOREIGN MINISTER ALOR: NEW MARCHING ORDERS FROM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000042

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, AF/SPG, SE WILLIAMSON,
NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2013
TAGS: PREF SU AU UN PGOV
SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER ALOR: NEW MARCHING ORDERS FROM
BASHIR

Classified By: CDA Alberto M. Fernandez, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: In a January 12 meeting with Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary (PDAS) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the newly
sworn in Foreign Minister (FM) Deng Alor said President
Bashir had personally tasked him with taking the lead in
improving bilateral relations between Sudan and the United
States. PDAS, accompanied by CDA Fernandez and SPG and USAID
representatives, strongly reiterated to the foreign minister
the importance of permitting construction of the new embassy
compound to resume, and that this issue was a security
matter, not a political one. On Darfur, the FM characterized
UNAMID deployment problems as "details" and simple to
resolve. End summary.


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OBSTRUCTION OF NEW EMBASSY COMPOUND
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2. (C) PDAS opened the meeting by thanking newly appointed FM
Alor for the government's cooperation in the ongoing
investigation of the New Year's Day murders of USAID
employees John Granville and Abdul Rahman Abbas. Noting that
the murders had tremendously impacted the larger Embassy
community and seriously changed its daily working conditions,
PDAS urged the Sudanese government to allow construction of
the new embassy compound to continue without further
hindrance. The new embassy would be essential to the security
of American personnel working in Sudan, she said.


3. (C) The new embassy was not a political issue, the FM
said, but a procedural one (contradicting his own deputy at
the MFA). In recent meetings the NCP and SPLM had agreed that
it was necessary to improved bilateral relations with the
United States, he told PDAS, and President Bashir had asked
him to take the lead in doing so. It was the Sudanese
government's responsibility to provide security for Americans
in Sudan, and the new embassy was part of that. However, the
FM also said that "things depend on bilateral relations" and
the Sudanese Embassy in Washington also had outstanding
issues to be addressed. "There are things we must do, and
things you must do," he said. The FM also said that the NCP
and SPLM had come to some agreement on other issues including
the redeployment of forces, but that Abyei was still
unresolved. Since Alor is from Abyei, he noted "I am pretty
confident about CPA progress, except for the case of Abyei."


4. (C) PDAS cautioned the FM that the planned new Juba
compound could also be in jeopardy if problems with the
Khartoum embassy persisted. "We need assurances," she said;
even with assurances, however, the Sudanese government's past
about-faces would make it hard to convince Washington that it
would be safe to proceed with the building. Contrary to what
other officials told PDAS (NISS head Salah Ghosh and State
Minister al-Samani),the FM said, the Ministry of Finance was
not the problem, but rather the strained bilateral relations.
PDAS stressed that the new embassy must be seen as a security
issue, and not a political or bilateral marker. Despite his
remarks about Sudan-U.S. relations, the FM assured PDAS that
the blocked containers would be released and that he would
call the Finance Minister to suggest this move forward.

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UNAMID ISSUES SHOULD BE RESOLVED
--------------


5. (C) On the recent SAF attack of a UNAMID convoy, the FM
called the incident "unfortunate," but maintained that both
sides were at fault and that better coordination on movements
was necessary. Speaking to the political process in Darfur,
he said that the SPLM had helped rebel movements come to some
consensus about what their position. The SPLM was also
sending another envoy to visit Abdul Wahid Nur in Paris. PDAS
noted that she hoped the new U.S. special envoy would travel
soon to Sudan. She also stressed the need to resolve
outstanding issues on land rights and troop-contributing
countries, and that Nepalese and Thai troops should be
allowed to participate. The FM, aware of these details as
well as the threats to oust the British UNAMID chief of
staff, said, "We all agreed it would be a hybrid force. All
that remains are the details." But these details are a
tragedy, countered CDA Fernandez, telling the FM that they
build an image of Sudan as untrustworthy.

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SUDAN-U.S. RELATIONS MOVING IN NEW DIRECTION
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KHARTOUM 00000042 002 OF 002




6. (C) The FM maintained that Sudan was "starting in a new
direction," and wanted serious discussions with the United
States. He had yet to inform others in the government of this
new position, he admitted, but assured the delegation that
President Bashir agreed. According to the FM, the president
told him that since the SPLM was to blame for the
government's problems with the U.S., the SPLM should be the
ones to fix them. CDA told the FM that the NCP should rather
thank the SPLM for what they've accomplished, especially with
the Juba talks uniting Darfur rebel factions. CDA also
encouraged the government to accept visits from U.S.
Congressmembers, while USAID Mission Director Pat Fleuret
urged the government to ease its restrictions on development
work.


7. (C) Comment: This was the second meeting with Deng Alor
since he assumed his new post some ten days ago. His
assertion that the bilateral relations should move in more
positive direction is welcome, though whether or not this
view is really shared throughout the higher levels of
government is unclear. Alor's confidence that the embassy
compound issues could be rather simply resolved perhaps
represents a "softer" side of the government's multi-layered
approach to its dealings with the U.S., as opposed to the
more hard-line statements of his non-SPLM colleagues (see
septels). Alor also said that he planned to travel to the
U.S. sometime in February, and that he would be happy to meet
with A/S Frazer at upcoming AU summit in Addis Ababa. The
Foreign Minister, a decent, approachable and pro-American
official, has the unenviable task of presenting an unsavory
regime's foreign policy to us, and to the world. End comment.


8. (U) PDAS Thomas-Greenfield did not have a chance to review
this message before her departure.


FERNANDEZ