WESTERN EQUATORIA GOVERNOR CALLS FOR ARMED CIVILIAN FORCE

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000040 DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG, AF/E, AF/C NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PINS MARR MOPS ASEC SU UG SUBJECT: WESTERN EQUATORIA GOVERNOR CALLS FOR ARMED CIVILIAN FORCE TO BE USED AGAINST LRA ¶1. (SBU) Western Equatoria State Governor Jemma Kumba has requested that the SPLA arm her state's civilian population in the face of renewed and increasingly violent LRA activity in her state since the UPDF bombing of suspected LRA areas in Garamba Park in early December 2008. SPLA Chief of Staff Oyai Deng Ajak told ConGen PolOff on January 9 that he met with Kumbu on January 6 to discuss her dissatisfaction with "failed" SPLA efforts to repel LRA militias from Western Equatoria State (WEQ),which has seen more than fifty killings and at least seventeen abductions since January 1. Ajak told ConGen PolOff that the SPLA has a sufficient supply of excess weapons to arm "qualified men and women" but that, as he noted to the governor, the decision to arm civilians would have to be taken by GOSS President Salva Kiir Mayardit. In attempt to assuage the Governor's concerns about SPLA performance against the LRA, Ajak had seconded two officers, including Director for Operations MG Piang Deng (brother of Minister for Presidential Affairs Luka Biong Deng) to Kumbu's office in Yambio in order to provide her with daily briefings. ¶2. (SBU) Governor Kumba told ConGen PolOff on January 12 that although she accepted that the SPLA was "trying its level-best against a challenging threat," she charged the Ugandan government with "merely dumping its trash into my backyard." Ajak is similarly disenchanted with his Ugandan counterparts. He complained to ConGen PolOff during a dinner with StaffDel Smith that the Ugandan Chief of Defense had abandoned a "well-coordinated plan" of joint SPLA/UPDF action against the LRA in Garamba, ordering aerial strikes well before SPLA infantry forces could get into place. "I'm very annoyed with him," Ajak said, terming the premature action "obviously doomed to fail" and noting that he was so angry about the disconnect that he was no longer accepting the Ugandan Defense Chief's calls. Asked on January 9 whether the bilateral relationship had improved, Ajak allowed that the Ugandans were pressing him to come to Kampala for consultations as early as the week of January 12th, but he was not optimistic about that happening until before the end of the month. (NOTE: In addition to briefing newly-appointed Minister of SPLA Affairs Nhial Deng and attending his brother's wedding, Ajak must be at a Joint Defense Board meeting on January 16. END NOTE). ¶3. (SBU) While quick to defend the SPLA's record to Kumba, Ajak remains critical of SPLA operations along the Juba-Nimule corridor and along the Nile's western banks. Seventeen SPLA soldiers have died in combat to date. Repeat LRA attacks against Maridi town and attempted LRA incursions into Yei (only 100km from Juba) have left many in the Government of the Southern Sudan and SPLA rattled. Ajak admitted to ConGen PolOff that he at first assumed that the forty minutes of sustained barrage of weapons fire (tht icluded fifty-calibers) on January 1 in Juba was the LRA entering the South's capital. (NOTE: The weapons-fire was actually to mark Sudan's independence day. END NOTE). Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly MPs from LRA affected areas representing opposition parties and SPLM alike have taken to the floor of the assembly and to the local press to loudly accuse the SPLA of being incapable of protecting the South's civilian population. Floor testimony on January 7 alleged that SPLA were refusing to fight LRA rebels as a result of non-payment of salaries. Ajak maintains this is false. While he admits that salaries continued to be paid late, there has not been mutiny or insubordination along the front-lines. ¶4. (SBU) Kumba maintained in her discussion with ConGen PolOff that a government-supervised arming of the civilian population is necessary given the level of unrest in Western Equatoria State. "The organized security forces alone are not sufficient to meet this threat," the governor said, specifically citing the January 9 LRA axe attack near Mundri that left one member of the Southern Sudan Police Services dead. "We need to make sure that people can defend themselves in the dark of night, issuing weapons to each home is the only viable method of protection." ¶5. (SBU) COMMENT: Post strongly doubts that Kiir will accede to Kumbu's request, given efforts by GOSS to disarm the civil population throughout the South, but her call to arms, and Ajak's startling assumption of an LRA attack on Juba on January 1 are telling. While the SPLA's senior-most leadership has consistently maintained it is capable of handling operations along two fronts (the 1956 North/South border and its Southern-most border) SPLA readiness levels have been compromised by ongoing logistical constraints, despite the relative ease of movement during the dry season. Some unhappiness with Kampala, still seen as among South Sudan's best friends, extends into the GOSS civilian ranks, as does surprise at the timing of the operation in December. Ministers and SPLA commanders alike believe that had the SPLA been able to effect a cordon near Garamba Park as originally agreed with the UPDF, the present level of slaughter in Sudan's South would have been avoided. To date, contacts in Juba maintain no explanation has been provided to SPLA leadership for the alleged premature action by UPDF. While post understands that this is a one-sided view geared in part toward defending a troubled SPLA from any criticism, we pass along these complaints nonetheless as a measure of the irritation felt in Juba following the December UPDF attacks on the LRA, which according to the SPLA were less coordinated than advertised. FERNANDEZ