NCP Tells Staffdel that South to Blame for CPA Shortfalls

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001063 NSC FOR MGAVIN, LETIM DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM SU SUBJECT: NCP Tells Staffdel that South to Blame for CPA Shortfalls ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In an August 25 meeting with U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee Staffdel Doran, Dr. Idris Muhammad 'Abd-al-Qadr, State Minister of the Presidency, and Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar Hassan, Office of the Presidency, acknowledged delays in implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Both, however, blamed the bulk of those delays on the SPLM. The NCP representatives pointed to SPLM failures to appoint representatives to committees, to take a consistent position on the census, to demobilize SPLA troops in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, and to curb corruption. END SUMMARY CPA Delays Continue -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Dr. Muhammad Hassan, staff assistant to Dr. Idris, and an established NCP technical expert on the terms of the CPA, welcomed Staffdel Doran. On behalf of State Minister Idris, Hassan delivered a detailed PowerPoint presentation on the terms and implementation of the CPA. In this briefing, Hassan blamed the SPLM for the Unity Government's frequent failures to meet CPA benchmarks. ¶3. (SBU) Dr. Hassan called the pre-interim period a "mad scramble" to "set up a government, arrive at a consensus on how things should be run, and appoint people to positions." According to Dr. Hassan, the NCP achieved ninety-percent compliance with the CPA during this time period, and that the failure to achieve full implementation was the result of the SPLM's repeated delays in nominating people for government positions. Appointments for both the Human Rights Commission and the National Land Commission still have not been made, he noted, because the SPLM still has not submitted nominees. However, Hassan acknowledged that at least part of the delay was due to funding problems in Khartoum. Hassan did not provide details on the lack of funding, but claimed that these issues would soon be resolved. ¶4. (SBU) Border demarcation is a technical, not a political issue, according to Hassan. The NCP is still waiting for the South to send representatives for all its states. Hassan noted that one Southerner resigned his post on the demarcation committee, and was not replaced for six months, holding up the entire demarcation process during that period. Dr. Hassan also accused the South of quibbling over non-substantive issues. Census Debate Remains a Touchy Subject for North -------------- --- ¶5. (SBU) Dr. Hassan defended the integrity of the 2008 census. He said that one high-ranking Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS),whom he did not name, sent him a letter stating that the Southern government would accept the census. This same minister later raised several issues disputing the census results. Hassan went on to claim that Salva Kiir and all other Southern leaders had endorsed the census results soon after they were released, but later changed their stories. ¶6. (SBU) Dr. Hassan added that an International Monetary Fund officer from South Africa, whom he also did not name, "issued a clean bill of health" for the census. According to Hassan, certain objections raised by the South, including questions regarding male-female ratios, tribal migration issues etc., had been presented to a technical working group, investigated, and resolved, before the working group signed off on the census results. Government of Sudan Wary of U.N. Election Assistance -------------- -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Dr. Hassan briefly described how seats in the National Assembly would be decided. A group of 450 seats are available, with sixty-percent to be elected from geographical constituencies, and the remaining forty-percent to be elected via proportional representation. Proportional representation will be applied at both the national and local assembly levels. ¶8. (SBU) Citing the 1956 and 1986 elections to support his claim that the Government is able to run its own elections without outside help, Hassan remarked that the U.N. had offered to transport completed voter registration forms via U.N. planes, an offer he said the government was reluctant to accept because the process left open the possibility that the forms could be subject to tampering if outside GOS control. Census, Wealth-Sharing, DDR Complaints -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Dr. Hassan dismissed SPLM arguments that Southern KHARTOUM 00001063 002 OF 002 representation should be increased from twenty-one percent to thirty percent. Any such increase, according to Hassan, would come at the expense of the Northern population, which would have to give up seats in order to accommodate the south. ¶10. (SBU) Hassan also claimed that the NCP has complied completely with the wealth-sharing requirements of the CPA, and blamed rampant corruption within the GOSS as an explanation for continued wealth-sharing disputes. According to Hassan, the eight billion dollars sent from the North to the South has gone to line the pockets of Southern politicians, rather than to build infrastructure. "Forty-percent of the GOSS budget goes to the SPLA; the rest goes to corruption," he told the group. ¶11. (SBU) Despite the fact that only three North-South violations of the ceasefire have occurred since 2002, the NCP complains that the SPLA is still only one-quarter redeployed out of South Kordofan and Blue Nile States. The Sudanese Armed Forces, by comparison, is 100 percent redeployed out of these areas, he claimed. The Charge pointed out that one reason that SPLA soldiers are present in the area is that they live there. The problem, he said, is that they are still armed and still wearing their uniforms. ¶12. (SBU) Comment: The NCP worked hard to make its case to the Foreign Relations Committee staff. Dr. Hassan spoke from and handed out copies of his elaborate power point presentation. END COMMENT. ¶13. (U) Staffdel Doran did not have the opportunity to clear this cable before departing post. WHITEHEAD