DEATH OF EUFOR SOLDIER IN SUDAN: FRENCH

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 000431

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/10/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS KPKO UNSC AU SU CD EU FR
SUBJECT: DEATH OF EUFOR SOLDIER IN SUDAN: FRENCH
PRESIDENCY VIEWS

REF: KHARTOUM 351

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, 1.4. (b/
d).


1. (C) Romain Serman, AF-advisor at the French Presidency,
briefed acting AF-watcher and UK Embassy Paris AF-watcher
Lucy Joyce on March 10 concerning Chad/Sudan/EUFOR. Septels
will report other parts of the briefing. Serman provided a
detailed account of the death of the EUFOR solider in Sudan
(reftel) wholly at odds with media and Sudanese depictions of
the incident.


2. (C) Basing his comments on the debriefing of the French
soldier who was with Sgt Gilles Polin (the solider killed in
the incident),Serman said that there were four EUFOR jeeps
patrolling on the Chad side of the border. Three of them
were north of a geographic obstacle. Polin's vehicle was to
the south of the obstacle. He wanted to join up with the
other three and instead of going north on the western side of
the obstacle, he went around the obstacle to the east before
heading north. He thus crossed the border (unknowingly) into
Sudanese territory. Polin and the other soldier then
encountered a Sudanese military outpost.


3. (C) Serman said that Polin and the other soldier
immediately raised their hands and said "French soldiers with
EUFOR." (NOTE: Serman did not say whether they said this in
French or English. END NOTE.) The Sudanese opened fire
(which is perhaps why the GOF stated that they used excessive
force). According to the soldier who survived the incident,
Polin was seriously hit immediately and collapsed. The other
soldier was lightly wounded and ran westward. Serman said
that the wounded soldier commandeered a horse and rode the
horse to safety to the Chad side of the border, where he made
contact with the three other EUFOR jeeps. The three jeeps
then returned to the area of the skirmish, hoping to rescue
Polin and recover the fourth jeep.


4. (C) Serman said that when the three jeeps arrived in the
area, the Sudanese fired mortars at them, bracketing the
vehicles with mortar shells landing in front of, behind, and
to the left and right sides, of the vehicles. They were
unable to proceed and headed back to the Chad side of the
border.


5. (C) Serman said that Sgt Polin, according to the other
soldier with him, was killed instantly. Serman indicated
that everything else the Sudanese have been saying about the
incident -- that Sgt Polin was only wounded, that he was
found by nomads who tried to help him, that later four of
these nomads were killed when one of his grenades exploded --
was false. The Sudanese took several days in responding to
French and EUFOR requests to cooperate in terms of locating
and returning Sgt Polin's corpse and providing other details
about the incident. Serman noted the Sudanese claim for
compensation for the four nomads allegedly killed in the
grenade explosion, and added that the Sudanese had even
demanded compensation for a camel supposedly killed at some
point during the episode.


6. (C) COMMENT: If Serman's account is true, then this
would more than adequately explain the strongly worded French
condemnation of the incident reported reftel. It is not
clear that EUFOR, in making its own statement at variance
with the French statement, was privy to the information on
the incident the GOF received from the surviving soldier.
EUFOR may also have wanted to downplay the incident so as to
avoid making other EUFOR participants nervous about the
hazards of deploying along the Chad-Sudan border. END
COMMENT.


Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm


STAPLETON