SUDAN PARTIES A NO-SHOW AT IGAD MINISTERIAL

UNCLAS DJIBOUTI 001387 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL DJ ET KE SU SUBJECT: SUDAN PARTIES A NO-SHOW AT IGAD MINISTERIAL REF: 09 KHARTOUM 1376 1.(SBU) Summary: The Dec. 7-8 IGAD Ministerial Council meeting opted not to discuss Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) implementation, after senior Sudanese representatives from the National Congress Party (NCP) and Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM) failed to attend. Instead, the Council mandated the Kenyan and Ethiopian Foreign Ministers to travel "soon" to Khartoum and Juba to "talk to the parties heart to heart" and report back to the IGAD Council. End summary. 2.(SBU) Senior Sudanese representatives failed to turn up for the Dec. 7-8 IGAD Ministerial meeting in Djibouti, leaving their Ambassador to Djibouti to head the delegation, apparently without instructions. Consequently, the detailed discussion of CPA implementation that was to be a centerpiece of the IGAD meeting did not occur. 3.(SBU) In brief comments at the conclusion of the meeting, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, in his capacity as IGAD Council Chair, insisted that the absence of senior Sudanese representatives was for "only technical reasons" (related to travel arrangements). The report of the IGAD Special Envoy for Sudan was submitted to the working-level IGAD Committee of Experts, Seyoum said, but the Council of Ministers declined to consider the report in the absence of Sudanese delegations from the NCP and SPLM. 4.(SBU) Seyoum said that the Council had mandated him and Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula to travel to Juba and Khartoum "soon" to "talk to the parties heart to heart" and report back to the Council. Seyoum stressed that "whatever happens in Sudan is bound to affect us all." He thanked international partners - "especially the United States and Special Envoy Gration who is actively involved in assisting the parties" to implement the CPA. IGAD support was instrumental in negotiation of the CPA and will remain "vital for follow-up and implementation" of the agreement. 5.(SBU) Comment: Despite widespread rumors that the absence of NCP and SPLM delegations was due to the recent spike in political tensions in Sudan (reftel),the IGAD ministers avoided any comment on these matters and Seyoum took pains to ascribe the absence to mere "technical" factors. SWAN