CAIRO-BASED DARFURI GROUPS DISCUSS ROADMAP, MINAWI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000069 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, AF/SPG E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/10/2020 TAGS: PREL SU EG SUBJECT: CAIRO-BASED DARFURI GROUPS DISCUSS ROADMAP, MINAWI MEETING Classified By: Minister Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs Donald A. Blome for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. Key Points: -- A representative of the Sudanese United Revolutionary Forces Front (URFF) told us that the URFF, United Resistance Front (URF) and the SLA Unity-Abdallah Yahya support the U.S. Roadmap for Darfur and are prepared to hold a conference in Jebel Marrah to unite the groups, but lack the funding to do so. He said the three groups are no longer working with the Democratic Justice and Equality Movement (DJEM),which he believed is not committed to the roadmap. -- According to the URFF representative, the process of reconciliation and unification was "very slow" due to miscommunication, lack of funds and difficulty in facilitating the logistics between representatives in Cairo, N'Djamena and those "in the field" in Darfur. -- Representatives of the URFF, SLA Unity, URF and DJEM met with Sudanese Senior Assistant Advisor to the President and SLA leader Minni Minawi to discuss the peace process and the Darfuri strategy for elections and the post-referendum period. The URFF representative said the groups agreed to negotiate with the Government of Sudan (GoS) for expansion of authority for local governance, wealth-sharing, development assistance and the full return of IDPs and refugees with GoS compensation. -- The group representatives and Minawi agreed that Darfur cannot participate in April elections unless there is a peace deal on Darfur, an accurate census, elimination of the new security law and international monitoring. Minawi expects South Sudan to secede in 2011 and all agreed that Darfur will remain part of Sudan, but Darfuris can no longer be "second-class citizens." ¶2. (C) Comment: It was clear from our conversation with the URFF representative that the three groups (URFF, URF and SLA-Unity) do not want to work with DJEM because of ideological differences probably stemming to the DJEM's "Islamist" roots. End Comment. -------------- Support for Roadmap, Darfur Conference -------------- ¶3. (C) Hafiz Abdel Naby, the Cairo-based representative of the United Revolutionary Forces Front (URFF) told us on January 10 that he had met with representatives from the United Resistance Front (URF) and the SLA Unity-Abdallah Yahya groups on January 8 to discuss the U.S. Roadmap on Darfur. URF leader Abu Garda and SLA Unity leader Abdallah Yahya joined the meeting via telephone. He said the three groups are still committed to the roadmap and believe it is the best chance to "exit from the violence in Darfur." Abdel Naby said the three groups are prepared to hold a conference in Jebel Marrah to unite under one organizational umbrella as agreed in previous meetings. However, the groups lack the funding to purchase tickets and need help coordinating with UNAMID to hold the conference, according to Abdel Naby. He said the Democratic Justice and Equality Movement (DJEM), which was initially part of the group was "not seriously committed to the roadmap" and had gone to Libya. Abdel Naby stated that the remaining three groups committed with each other not to engage in any military action during the conference, but are concerned that JEM or government troops will disrupt the conference. He clarified that the moratorium on military action was not a ceasefire, but a temporary agreement amongst the three factions. -------------- -------------- Miscommunication, Lack of Funds Plague Unification Efforts -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) Abdel Naby complained that the process of reconciliation and unification was "very slow" due to miscommunication, lack of funds and difficulty in facilitating the logistics between representatives in Cairo, N'Djamena and those "in the field" in Darfur. He said the group leaders were unclear whether they had a budget for the unification project. Abdel Naby complained that Washington was only communicating with the technical committee in N'Djamena, leaving the leaders of the groups uninformed despite their "being the only individuals that could approve group actions." He stated that members of the technical committee had been invited to be in Doha for the January 19 meeting of civil society and armed groups, but he said unless CAIRO 00000069 002 OF 002 the groups had completed the unification process, the talks will not be successful. -------------- Egypt Only Providing Moral Support -------------- ¶5. (C) Abdel Naby told us that the groups had met with EGIS officers General Hatem Bishat and Colonel Khalid Salah about their unification efforts. He said Egypt offered moral support and encouraged the groups to involve their members "in the field." However, the Government of Egypt (GoE) refused a request made in July to provide financial and logistical support, according to Abdel Naby. He did not expect any forthcoming Egyptian assistance, but was thankful the GoE did not threaten or harass them like the Libyan Government. -------------- -------------- Meeting with Minawi on Peace, Elections and the Referendum -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) Abdel Naby said he and representatives of SLA Unity, DJEM and URF met with Sudanese Senior Assistant Advisor to the President and SLA leader Minni Minawi on December 30 to discuss the peace process and the Darfuri strategy for elections and the post-referendum period. He said Minawi and the group representatives agreed that all share a common interest in Darfur and these issues need to be resolved. ¶7. (C) According to Abdel Naby, Minawi "welcomed the U.S. Roadmap," and told the group that the Abuja Agreement had failed. Minawi said he wanted to make sure that the three groups were united and negotiated with the GoS for "what is due to Darfur" including expansion of authority for local governance, wealth-sharing, development assistance and the full return of IDPs and refugees with government compensation. Minawi discussed Darfur's participation in the upcoming April elections. All agreed that unless there is a peace deal on Darfur, an accurate census, elimination of the security laws and international monitoring that elections would not be held in Darfur, according to Abdel Naby. He said if these issues remain unresolved the NCP is guaranteed to win the election and southern Sudan will most likely separate. ¶8. (C) Abdel Naby said Minawi believes the South will vote for secession in 2011. He told us that Minawi and the group representatives agreed that they will not attempt to secede, but wish to remain part of Sudan. However, they all agreed that Darfuris can no longer be relegated to "second-class citizens in North Sudan." SCOBEY