SUDANESE MFA FORMALLY COMPLAINS ABOUT PURPORTED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000162

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/SPG, AF/C

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL SU
SUBJECT: SUDANESE MFA FORMALLY COMPLAINS ABOUT PURPORTED
US-BROKERED REBEL NON-AGGRESSION PACT

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


1. (C) CDA Fernandez was summoned to the Sudanese Ministry of
Foreign Affairs the afternoon of February 3 to receive a
formal complaint from Sudan about an alleged non-aggression
pact between the JEM (Justice and Equality Movement) rebel
group and SLM-MM (Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Minni
Minnawi) being brokered by the State Department in
Washington. Sudanese media that same day featured numerous
articles that AF/SPG Office Director Tim Shortley was coming
to Khartoum to make such a deal. The Embassy put out a press
release categorically denying such a claim.


2. (C) Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Al-Samani
al-Wasila presented Charge with a document (text follows) and
asked if indeed the document was a US document and whether
Shortley was in Sudan for such a purpose. CDA noted that
Shortley was meeting with a range of Sudanese while in
Khartoum, including NCP and SPLM officials, civil society and
others following up on meetings held by acting A/S Carter
with GOS officials in Addis Ababa. While Darfur was certainly
one of the issues under discussion (along with CPA
implementation and bilateral) there was no JEM-SLM deal
brokered by us and this alleged paper was not any sort of USG
document. He noted that, given the spelling, it did not seem
to have been produced by a native speaker. CDA further noted
that the Embassy had already put out a press release denying
the false story in the local media. The Sudan Media Center
(SMC),an official body with ties to Sudanese Intelligence
had disseminated the false story.


3. (C) Al-Wasila said that it was good to hear the Charge's
denial. While some of the points of the document were
unobjectionable, what had caught the GOS's eye was point D:
"The parties to this agreement undertake not to collaborate,
militarily or in the form of intelligence, with the regime in
Khartoum against each other." Such a move, brokered by the
US, would mean that AMERICA had decided to intervene directly
in the Darfur war on the side of the rebels and subvert the
2006 Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) between Minnawi and the
Government of Sudan, an agreement arrived at with US help.
CDA noted that if the DPA has been subverted it is because it
was never fully implemented by Khartoum, not because of
anything the US has done.


4. (U) Begin text (typos in original):

None Aggression Pact

The Parties:
a- Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) chaired by Dr. Khalil
Ibrahim Mohamed.
b- Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) chaired by Mr. Minni A.
Minnawi

Subjects of Agreement:
a - The Parties to this Pact pledge to refrain from any act
of aggression against each other or against the civilian
population in Darfur.
b- The Parties to this Pact undertake to fight banditry and
all sorts of car-jacking and armed robbery.
c- The Parties to this agreement undertake not to obstruct
the smooth flow of relief assistance to the IDPs and the work
of the INGOs and promise to assist UNAMID in its efforts to
protect the civilian population.
d - The Parties to this agreement undertake not to
collaborate, militarily or in the form of intelligence, with
the regime in Khartoum against each other.
e- The Parties to this Pact undertake not to obstruct the
free non-hostile movement of equipment and personnel of each
other in any part of the country.
f- The Parties to this Pact vows not to levy any taxes or
unwarranted fees from the civilian population in Darfur.
g - The Parties to this pact undertake to solve any
agreements or conflicts amiably or through an arbiter
acceptable to both.

Implementation Mechanisms:
a- The Parties will appoint a joint committee to oversee the
enforcement of this Pact.
b- The Parties will establish a proper communication channel
to exchange information about their movements and liaise with
each other.

For SLM-MM

For JEM

Witnessed by

KHARTOUM 00000162 002.3 OF 002



End text.
FERNANDEZ