BEJA CONGRESS, FREE LIONS ACKNOWLEDGE COLLAPSE OF THE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000669 DEPT FOR SE GRATION, S/USSES, AF A/S CARSON, AF/E NSC FOR MGAVIN DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI ASEC AU UNSC SU ER CM SUBJECT: BEJA CONGRESS, FREE LIONS ACKNOWLEDGE COLLAPSE OF THE EASTERN FRONT REF: A) KHARTOUM 665 B) 08 ASMARA 361 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Eastern Front has fallen apart, representatives of the Free Lions and Beja Congress conceded to poloffs separately on May 18-19. Implementation of the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA) was the only hope for keeping it together, they said, but the peace dividend promised upon its signing failed to materialize. Hameed Ali Hamid of the Free Lions stated that the lack of ESPA implementation is prolonging a dire humanitarian situation, and noted that the lack of DDR promised for thousands of former Rashaida soldiers has put them at risk of involvement with smuggling. He added that while most illicit cross border activity in Eastern Sudan involves legal goods, human smuggling is a growing problem there. Despite these issues, the Free Lions remain united under their leader Mabrouk Mubarak Salim, he said, but noted the Beja Congress has splintered into four factions. Al Amin Shingrai of the Beja Congress acknowledged the end of the Eastern Front, but downplayed fractures within his party. Both Hamid and Shingrai were eager for USG involvement in the East and urged SE Gration to visit this beleaguered region. End Summary. LACK OF DDR, DEVELOPMENT FOR RASHAIDA -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On May 18, poloffs met with Hamid Ali Hamid, Chief of Staff for Dr. Mabrouk Mubarak Salim, Chairman of the Free Lions Movement. Hamid lamented that aside from the appointment of Eastern Front members to a series of federal, state and local positions in which they have little power, the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA) has done nothing for the Rashaida people in East Sudan. Almost 4,000 Rashaida families are still living as IDPs near the Eritrean border, he said, as promises of GOS assistance have not materialized. All assistance they have received thus far has come in the form of a personal donation from Free Lions Chairman . Mabrouk, he said. The ESPA has also not provided educational opportunities for Rashaida students who halted their studies in Eritrea to return to Sudan after the signing of the ESPA, he said. He added that the Eastern Sudan Reconstruction and Development Fund (ESRDF) has yet to build any schools. ¶3. (SBU) Hamid continued that the promised Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) of the several thousand Rashaida former rebels has not materialized, as ongoing DDR programs have not included them. He worried that if these soldiers are neither demobilized nor reintegrated soon, they will resort to criminality, causing social unrest. Hamid admitted that smugglers recruit many of these former soldiers due to their knowledge of the terrain. (Note: the Rashaida have a well-known reputation for smuggling along remote areas of the Red Sea coast. End Note.) Hamid asserted that most such cross border activity involved the transport of "perfectly legal" goods and commodities, though he did acknowledge a growing problem of human smuggling. Would-be migrants from Kenya, Somalia, and even West Africa pay smugglers a handsome sum to get them across the border into Egypt, he said. Rashaida tribesmen are used in the smuggling, he acknowledged, but they were not the brains of the operations. "We don't know who is behind this," he said. ¶4. (SBU) Hamid also steadfastly denied the smuggling of weapons was taking place in Eastern Sudan, citing commercial grounds: "You can't fit more than 100 Kalashnikovs in a Landcruiser," he said. "The smugglers find moving people to be much more lucrative." Poloff asked about reported strikes in January by unidentified aircraft on a convoy of suspected arms smugglers, The attacks had been revealed publicly by Dr. Mabrouk at a March press conference in Kassala. Hamid reported that the GOS had urged Mabrouk to keep the incident quiet, but after being approached by numerous families of the victims asking for assistance, Mabrouk felt he had to disclose it to the world "for humanitarian reasons." Following the announcement, a number of MPs had called on Mabrouk to be summoned to parliament to explain himself, said Hamid. Mabrouk avoided this by arguing that if he was to be summoned, so should the Minister of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS),and Ministry of Interior to explain how Sudanese airspace was so easily violated. END OF THE EASTERN FRONT -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Hamid told poloffs that without implementation of the ESPA, the Eastern Front had little chance of remaining a cohesive body. It is now effectively dissolved, he said, having splintered along ethnic lines into a myriad of factions. The Rashaida of the Free KHARTOUM 00000669 002 OF 002 Lions Movement led by Mabrouk Mubarak Salim constitute one movement , while the Beni Amer have followed Dr. Amna Dirar and her newly formed Eastern Democratic Party (Ref A). The Beja Congress, meanwhile, has splintered, as several prominent party figures broke ranks with Beja Congress Chairman Musa Mohamed Ahmed. In addition, Shiva Dirar, Abdallah Musa, and Abdallah Kunna have each formed his own Beja Congress faction, according to Hamid. He accused some former Eastern Front leaders of lying about ESPA implementation and understating the humanitarian situation in order to gain regime favor, singling out Musa Mohamed Ahmed and Amna Dirar. ¶5. (SBU) Al Amin Shingrai, head of External Relations for the Beja Congress, admitted that the Eastern Front is finished as a result of Dirar's establishment of the Eastern Democratic Party. He denied any fractures in the Beja Congress, although he admitted that Deputy Chairman Shiva Dirar had been removed from his position by the Central Committee following several inflammatory statements about returning to war, as well as his inability to work in "an institutional way." The decision to remove Shiva Dirar from his leadership position was made after a vote, said Shingrai, highlighting the democratic process within the committee. CHINA'S GROWING ROLE IN SUDAN -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Shingrai, a U.S. citizen who returned to Sudan following the signing of the ESPA, noted that China is increasing its political and economic presence in Sudan, particularly in the East. China recently donated USD 36 million to the Eastern Sudan Reconstruction and Development Fund (ESRDF),with the stipulation that the 12 projects to be implemented with this money be awarded to Chinese companies. (Note: Chinese oil interests are also reportedly conducting exploration in the Tokar Delta area of Kassala State. End Note.) China has also recently invited a delegation of representatives from all of Sudan's political parties, including the Beja Congress, to Beijing for a conference on democracy and human rights, he said. He urged that the USG exert its political and economic influence in the East as the Chinese have, noting that unless counterbalanced, China will continue "rooting itself" in Sudan. Shingrai also noted that as the Beja Congress' Head of External Relations, he was recruited to be a part of the soon-to-be-announced Sudanese Council for Foreign Affairs, a semi-official policy advisory body whose membership includes Presidential Advisors Dr. Ghazi Salaheddin and Mustafa Osman Ismail, as well as several ex-Foreign Ministers and prominent businessmen. USG FUNDED TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Despite the admitted fragmentation of the Eastern Front, both Hamid and Shingrai were eager to have their constituents involved in any USG-funded training opportunities available, particularly for up-and-coming leaders within the organizations. They were excited about the potential to participate in capacity-building workshops sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Asmara (Ref B). Shingrai noted that Kassala or Khartoum would be preferable venues, citing GOS suspicion of any gatherings of Sudanese abroad. COMMENT -------------- ¶9. (SBU) From the beginning, the Eastern Front was a shaky alliance between two ethnic groups with little in common; the Rashaida are a relatively wealthy Arab tribe that migrated from the Arabian Gulf to Sudan in the mid -19th century, while the Beja are African, poor and indigenous to the region. The armed struggle against Khartoum was enough to bring them together, but the meager results of ESPA implementation have not been enough to keep them united. Without a unified Eastern political body, members of the former Eastern Front have lost what little leverage they had in pushing for implementation of the ESPA. ASQUINO