BASHIR'S SECOND ANNIVERSARY SPEECH: HOT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 02937 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY E.O.: 12356: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL LY SU SUBJECT: BASHIR'S SECOND ANNIVERSARY SPEECH: HOT AIR IN THE DESERT ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: THE HIGHLIGHT OF CELEBRATIONS (VASTLY SCALED DOWN) FOR THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL SALVATION REVOLUTION WAS RCC CHAIRMAN BASHIR'S SPEECH JUNE 29 AT FRIENDSHIP HALL. IN ATTENDANCE WERE LIBYAN LEADER QHADDAFI AND CHADIAN PRESIDENT IDRIS DEBY (THE ONLY HEADS OF STATE PRESENT THIS YEAR) AS WELL AS SOME LOWER-LEVEL YEMENI, SOMALI AND ERITREAN DELEGATIONS. BASHIR'S SPEECH WAS LARGELY SELF-CONGRATULATORY AND PEPPERED WITH THE EXPECTED DIGS AT THE FORMER POLITICAL PARTIES, THE OPPOSITION IN EXILE AND THE SOUTHERN REBELS. ONE UNEXPECTED ANNOUNCEMENT WAS THE GOS' INTENT TO DEMOLISH KHOBAR PRISON IN A SYMBOLIC GESTURE OF SUDAN'S HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITMENT. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (LOU) SUBSTITUTING FOR THE LARGE MILITARY/CIVILIAN PARADE STAGED LAST YEAR WAS A "GLORIOUS CELEBRATION" HELD IN THE COURTYARD OF FRIENDSHIP HALL, AT WHICH PRESIDENT BASHIR DELIVERED HIS SPEECH ON THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE NATIONAL SALVATION REVOLUTION. ALL CHIEFS OF MISSION, INVITED FOR 1830 HOURS, WERE SEATED IN A LONG ROW OF CHAIRS IN FRONT OF A PACKED MASS OF STANDING "POPULAR FORCES" WHO APPEARED TO BE ALMOST ENTIRELY NIF MEMBERS AND POPULAR DEFENSE FORCES (PDF) IN UNIFORM. ASSEMBLED THERE ALMOST TWO HOURS EARLIER, THEY WERE PRESSED TIGHTLY AGAINST THE SEATED DIPLOMATIC CORPS AND SWEATING PROFUSELY. SINCE THE DEMONSTRATION WAS LIMITED TO THE FENCED-IN FRONT COURTYARD OF THE HALL, THE CROWD NUMBERED ONLY ABOUT FOUR THOUSAND, WITH POSSIBLY TWO THOUSAND MORE LINGERING OUTSIDE THE FENCE. DESPITE REPEATED EFFORTS TO AROUSE THE CROWD WITH SLOGANS SHOUTED OVER LARGE LOUDSPEAKERS, IT REMAINED LISTLESS AND UNRESPONSIVE. ¶3. (U) AT ABOUT 2000 HOURS, GOS MILITARY AND CIVILIAN OFFICIALS AND SCORES OF SPECIAL GUESTS EMERGED FROM THE AIR-CONDITIONED FRIENDSHIP HALL WHERE THEY HAD BEEN SOCIALIZING AND ENJOYING REFRESHMENTS, WHILE CHIEFS OF MISSION SWELTERED OUTSIDE FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF. A LARGE CONTINGENT OF HEAVILY-ARMED LIBYAN BODYGUARDS ALSO APPEARED AND SEALED OFF THE STEPS LEADING UP TO THE FRONT ENTRANCE WHERE THE INVITED WERE SEATED. DOMESTIC HIGHLIGHTS ¶4. (U) IN HIS SPEECH, BASHIR MADE ALL THE EXPECTED NOISES ABOUT THE SUCCESS OF THE JUNE 30 REVOLUTION (EVEN ONE NIF INSIDER SNIFFED TO POLOFF THAT THE SO-CALLED REVOLUTION SHOULD BE MORE APTLY DESIGNATED THE "COUP D'ETAT"). BASHIR HAILED ADVANCES MADE BY THE GOS IN HEALTH, AGRICULTURE, ECONOMIC LAWS AND PUBLIC EDUCATION. HE ALSO PRAISED THE GOS' EFFORTS TO INTRODUCE SHARIA', TO APPLY THE FEDERAL SYSTEM, AND TO MOUNT NATIONAL DIALOGUE CONFERENCES TO "BOOST SHURA" (I.E. CONSULTATION). ¶5. (U) THESE AND OTHER CHANGES, BASHIR SAID, HAVE FREED SUDAN "FROM THE CAPTIVITY OF POWER-SEEKING TRADITIONAL FORCES AND DEFIED THE EXTERNAL CIRCLES HARBORING AMBITIONS IN SUDAN." BASHIR CLAIMED THAT THE "FOREIGN-BACKED OPPOSITION" HAD "DISINTEGRATED" AND THE REBELLION MOVEMENT HAD "SHRUNK." THEREFORE, IT WAS NOT NECESSSARY FOR THE GOS TO RESORT TO EMERGENCY MEASURES. HE CALLED ON OTHER NATIONS TO FOLLOW SUDAN'S EXAMPLE IN RELEASING POLITICAL PRISONERS, A DECISION MADE, HE SAID, IN RESPONSE TO APPEALS BY "ARAB AND MOSLEM BROTHERS AND IN COMPLIANCE WITH...ISLAMIC SHARIA." BASHIR RENEWED THE GOS AMNESTY FOR ALL WHO "OPPOSED OR CARRIED ARMS AGAINST" THE COUNTRY BUT GAVE NO APPLICABLE DATES. NOT SATISFIED WITH THE EARLIER RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS, BASHIR ALSO ANNOUNCED THAT 1300 CONVICTS WOULD BE FREED FROM PRISON. THESE CONVICTS ARE TO BE LARGELY MADE UP OF ELDERLY PERSONS AND YOUTHS WHO HAVE SERVED MOST OF THEIR SENTENCE (INELIGIBLE, AMONG OTHERS, ARE THOSE IMPRISONED UNDER THE STATE SECURITY ACT). ¶6. (U) BASHIR ACKNOWLEDGED THE HARDSHIPS BEING ENDURED BY THE SUDANESE POPULATION BUT NOTED THAT THEY WERE THE NECESSARY RESULT OF NEEDED ECONOMIC REFORMS. HE ALSO REITERATED THAT THE "BASES" OF THE NEW POLITICAL SYSTEM WOULD BE LAID DOWN SOON BUT GAVE NO OTHER DETAILS. INTERNATIONAL ARENA ¶7. (U) ON FOREIGN POLICY, BASHIR SAID SUDAN "WAS ABLE TO AFFECT THE OCCURENCE OF EVENTS AND TO MAKE THE WORLD CONSIDER ITS VIEWPOINTS" IN INTERNATIONAL FORA. HE NOTED THAT SUDAN HAD "STOOD AGAINST THE IRAQI INVASION OF KUWAIT AND ALSO AGAINST THE DEVASTATION OF IRAQ." HE DEMANDED THAT THE ARAB LEAGUE WORK TOWARDS LIFTING SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ. BASHIR DESCRIBED THE SUDANESE-LIBYAN INTEGRATION AS SUDAN'S "OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT" IN ITS RELATIONS WITH THE ARAB WORLD. THE INTEGRATION, HE CLAIMED, HAD "PRODUCED VARIOUS SUCCESSES" FOR THE SUDANESE AND LIBYAN PEOPLES. ¶8. (U) BASHIR ALSO SAID SUDAN WANTED TO ENHANCE ITS RELATIONS WITH ALL WESTERN, EUROPEAN AND EASTERN COUNTRIES. AT THE SAME TIME, HE CALLED ON AFRICAN STATES TO INCREASE COOPERATION AMONGST THEMSELVES, IN PART TO AVERT FOREIGN INFLUENCE AND DETER COLONIALIST INTERVENTIONS. HE AGAIN URGED THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO PROVIDE RELIEF TO ETHIOPIAN REFUGEES IN SUDAN. KHOBAR ¶9. BASHIR'S MOST SURPRISING STATEMENT, HOWEVER, WAS HIS ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GOS' INTENT TO DESTROY KHOBER PRISON IN KHARTOUM NORTH. THE DESTRUCTION, TO OCCUR JULY 1, IS INTENDED TO SHOW SUDAN'S COMMITMENT TO HUMAN RIGHTS. (COMMENT: BASHIR'S SELECTION OF THIS PRISON IS A STRANGE ONE. OF ALL OF SUDAN'S JAILS, KHOBER IS CONSIDERED THE MOST COMFORTABLE. MANY FORMER KHOBAR DETAINEES HAVE FAVORABLY CONTRASTED THEIR ACCOMODATIONS IN KHOBAR TO THE CONDITIONS IN OTHER PRISONS -- SHALLA FOR EXAMPLE -- OR IN "GHOST HOUSES." TALK IN KHARTOUM IS THAT THE GOS WANTS THE DESIRABLE REAL ESTATE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD FOR DEVELOPMENT INTO PRICEY HOMES FOR THE ELITE. END COMMENT.) THE LIBYANS ¶10. (LOU) THE LIBYANS IN ATTENDANCE INCLUDED SOME OF QHADDAFI'S FEMALE BODYGUARDS DRESSED IN TIGHT FIGHTING DESIGNER JEANS AND SPIKED HEELS AND PACKING PISTOLS UNDER THEIR LOOSE FITTING JUMPER TOPS. THIS MUST HAVE BEEN SOMEWHAT SHOCKING TO THE ASSEMBLED ALL-MALE ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISTS WHO HEAVILY ROBE AND COVER UP FEMALE MEMBERS OF THEIR FAMILIES. ¶11. (LOU) THE APPEARANCE OF POSTERS PICTURING COLONEL QHADDAFI AND CHANTS OF "WAFI WAFI YA QADDHAFI (FAITHFUL QADDHAFI) MADE IT APPARENT THAT THE BROTHER LEADERS WOULD NOT ONLY APPEAR BUT WOULD BE HONORED AND ADULATED AT THE CEREMONY AND WOULD LIKELY ADDRESS THE CROWD, DISPENSING HIS USUAL INVECTIVE AGAINST THE U.S. AND THE WEST. AMBASSADOR CHEEK AND BRITISH AMBASSADOR RAMSAY THEREFORE DEPARTED FROM THE PREMISES FOLLOWING THE APPEARANCE OF QHADDAFI AND THE PLAYING OF SUDAN'S NATIONAL ANTHEM. CHEEK