UGANDAN AMBASSADOR REQUESTS US ASSISTANCE WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 000874

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SE GRATION, S/USSES, AF A/S, AF/C, AF/E, AND INR/AF
NSC FOR MGAVIN
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2019
TAGS: ASEC PREL PINR EAID UN AU SU UG IR
SUBJECT: UGANDAN AMBASSADOR REQUESTS US ASSISTANCE WITH
ABDUCTED NGO STAFFER

REF: KHARTOUM 820

Classified By: CDA Robert E. Whitehead for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

This is an action request.


1. (C) Summary. Ugandan Ambassador Betty Akech Okullou
called on Charge July 28 to discuss the fate of a Ugandan
national abducted a month ago in Darfur (reftel). Okullou
said she had been consulting closely with the Irish, who are
also working to free an Irish national abducted at the same
time, but she confided that she was worried by the length of
the captivity and the lack of information from the NISS. She
said that she knew that the US has "good sources" and
requested that the embassy pass along any useful information
that we might see. Charge told her what we know about the
case to date, which is not a great deal new, and offered to
help as possible. Okullou also commented briefly on the GOU
position on the ICC indictment against President Bashir in
the context of the GOU's own ICC case brought against the
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). End summary.


2. (C) Ambassador Okullou informed the Charge that there is
increasing concern in Kampala over the fate of the Ugandan
national seized by kidnappers almost a month ago from the
Irish NGO GOAL office in Kutum, along with an Irish
colleague. She confirmed that the kidnappers are NOW
requesting less than a million dollars US but noted that
there had been no progress toward resolving the case.
Okullou said she had dispatched one of her staff to
coordinate with an Irish police/military team in Darfur and
was in touch with Irish Ambassador Corr, who had twice come
to Khartoum from Cairo to meet with GOS officials. Okullou
said that her embassy intelligence liaison officer was in
contact with NISS but complained that the flow of information
had been scant. She did not know exactly where the detainees
were presently located and wondered if bilateral politics
might be involved. Okullou continued that she knew the US
has good sources of information and would appreciate anything
we might be able to share.


3. (C) Charge replied that he has seen a limited amount on
the case but to date had detected no political motivation on
the Sudanese side. The kidnappers were reportedly part of an
Arab militia group of some sort; it appeared that the
motivation for the kidnappings appeared monetary rather than
political. He said that we had offered the UN and the Irish
to help in any way we could, and assured her that the same
was true for Uganda. He cautioned that payment of a ransom
to the kidnappers, whoever they turn out to be, risked
triggering an open season on humanitarian workers in Darfur,
further complicating humanitarian outreach efforts there.


4. (C) Okullou said that relations between Kampala and
Khartoum are presently delicate due to the ICC indictment of
President Bashir. Uganda had been forced into a balancing
act between its commitment as an ICC signatory and its desire
to respect the AU position on the indictment to the extent
possible. Uganda had brought one of the very first cases to
the ICC, the request to indict Joseph Kony and his LRA
lieutenants, and had a strategic interest in seeing the ICC
succeed. It was not an easy moment to be Ugandan Ambassador
in Khartoum, she sighed, and especially a female one.


5. (C) Action request. We have seen limited information on
the abduction case but request that anything pertinent we can
share be passed along, including sanitized information from
intelligence channels.
WHITEHEAD