CHADIAN REBELS REACT TO JANUARY 15 NDJAMENA ACCORD;

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 000077 SENSITIVE SIPDIS NSC FOR MGAVIN, LETIM DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/28 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR CD SU SUBJECT: CHADIAN REBELS REACT TO JANUARY 15 NDJAMENA ACCORD; REITERATE CALLS FOR TALKS WITH GOC CLASSIFIED BY: Robert E. Whitehead, Charge d'Affaires; REASON: 1.4B, D ¶1. (C) Summary: On January 27,CDA met with a glum Union des Forces de la Resistance (UFR) President Timan Erdimi, Second Vice President Abdulwahid Aboud Makaye, and Secretary General Abakar Tollimi. Appearing only vaguely aware of the January 15 Ndjamena Accord (reftel),they asserted it was doomed to fail because Chadian President Idris Deby was acting in bad faith. They praised the GOS for its outreach to Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Chairman Khalil Ibrahim and urged that President Deby do the same, noting they are eager for reconciliation. End Summary. ¶2. (C) CDA asked the Chadian rebel leadership for their thoughts on the January 15 Njdamena Accord, and its impact on their plans. Erdimi noted that he had not received a copy of the agreement, nor was he familiar with its contents. But he wryly noted it was not the first agreement signed to normalize Chad-Sudan relations, and he expected it to fail like the others. Makaye added that President Deby was untrustworthy, with a history of acting in bad faith. Anything Deby signs is worthless, he said. ¶3. (C) The rebel leadership slammed Deby for continuing to deny their existence and refusing calls for reconciliation, with Tollimi noting the EU-led initiative to facilitate talks with the GOC remains at a standstill. UFR has received no response to its roadmap document, he said. On the contrary, said Makaye, the GOS was acting in good faith by reaching out to JEM's Khalil Ibrahim despite his refusal to travel to Doha himself for peace talks and JEM's continued incursions into North Darfur from the Chad-Sudan border region. (Note: In mid-2009, Chadian rebel forces were cantoned over 100 km away from the Chadian border as a sign of good faith. End Note.) ¶4. (C) On the subject of elections, Tollimi noted that at this moment transparent and credible elections in Chad were an impossibility, given that that President Deby had co-opted domestic opposition. He remarked that in comparison elections in Sudan appear credible, with serious opposition candidates such as the SPLM's Yassir Arman and Umma's Sadiq al Mahdi. In Sudan political parties remain financially autonomous, he said, noting that in Chad that is not the case. ¶5. (C) Asked if they had any messages for the USG, the UFR leadership reiterated their desire to begin talks with the GOC and urged increased political pressure on President Deby to submit to talks. "If Deby continues to refuse a dialogue, what options do we have?" asked Makaye. ¶6. (C) Comment: It appears that the GOS has shared little detail of the January 15 Ndjamena Accord with UFR, but remains keen to dialogue with JEM. Deby's continued failure to reach out to Chad's armed opposition leaves them little choice other than to cool their heels in Sudan and hope that the GOS does not disarm and canton them as de facto refugees. WHITEHEAD