VZCZCXRO9650
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHMOS RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0500/01 0581051
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271051Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1645
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000500 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.  12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI PINR KPKO UN AU SU
SUBJECT:  UPDATE #3: Sudan Unrelenting in Public 
Rejection of UN Rehatting 
 
REF: Khartoum 467 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  Heavy government public opposition to UN 
intervention in Darfur enters its second week as 
President Bashir expressed his uncompromising opposition 
to UN re-hatting.  Cabinet members, political parties, 
and pro-government newspapers and civic organizations 
also continue to express their opposition to such a move 
with increasing vitriol.  A few voices supporting the UN 
have started to rise, but even some of these groups fear 
the negative repercussions of re-hatting should 
resistance to the UN turn violent.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Bashir and the Government Stay On The Offensive 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶2.  Speaking to a group in Khartoum calling itself the 
All-Darfurian Conference, President Bashir reiterated his 
belief that foreign intervention caused the crisis in 
Darfur and now would only make it worse.  He explained 
that the African Union (AU) was brought in as an 
alternative to further international intervention and 
that their problems were due to funding issues and a 
change in tactics on the ground.  He also said that the 
AU was only considering re-hatting due to intensive 
international pressure, another form of foreign 
interference.  Newspapers also report that Bashir called 
Libyan President Qadhafi to discuss the issue, while 
Ghana's president reportedly spoke out in favor of an 
African solution to Darfur. 
 
¶3.  Other members of the government have been even more 
direct and hostile.  Interior Minister Zubair Taha, 
responding to reports that he has been named for possible 
targeted UN sanctions (UNSCR 1591), said on February 23 
that only George Bush and his "junta" should be on a 
sanctions list, citing a litany of human rights 
violations throughout US history.  He claimed that Darfur 
was created by the west to get better access to Sudan's 
resources, and that the targeted sanctions list and the 
UN re-hatting were elements of "neo-colonialism."  Taha 
also asserted that the AU had no authority to call for a 
re-hatting. 
 
¶4.  In a separate interview on February 27, the Justice 
Minister Muhammed Ali al-Maradi denied that the 
International Criminal Court (ICC) could exercise 
jurisdiction in Darfur, called the UN Human Rights 
Commissioner biased, and said he was "fed up" with SRSG 
Jan Pronk. The day before, Presidential Advisor and 
Former Foreign Minister Mustafa Ishmail told an Arabic- 
language newspaper that he has proof that Israel ignited 
the crisis in Darfur and has trained a number of rebel 
leaders including Al-Shariff Harir.  That same day, 
February 26, the full cabinet met and declared its 
support of the AU, its desire for a peaceful resolution 
in Darfur, and its united front against foreign 
intervention. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Other Organizations Maintain Pressure 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  Meanwhile, the daily editorials against the re- 
hatting have continue unabated, with the pro-government 
Sudan Vision suggesting that the wide rejection of 
foreign interference demonstrates the will of the people 
and that the UN should respect this "democratic process." 
Newspapers also reported a demonstration in Nyala against 
the intervention during Pronk's weekend visit, although 
sources on the ground say that participation was minimal. 
 
¶6.  Civil organizations and other political parties 
continue to weigh in against the intervention, with the 
Popular Committee for Defending Creed and Homeland 
announcing a demonstration on March 1 in Khartoum.  The 
much smaller and even more radical Sudanese Islamic 
Scholars Association has called for a Jihad to resist the 
international intervention.  Even the Archbishop of the 
Reformed Episcopal Church in Sudan, a splinter group from 
the mainstream Episcopal Church, said that this was an 
African problem requiring an African solution. 
 
¶7.  After last week's meeting of political parties 
(reftel), even more parties within the government have 
issued statements opposing the UN.  The Al-Hindi faction 
of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which joined the 
government ahead of the mainstream DUP, and the 
Democratic Party in the National Assembly have referred 
 
KHARTOUM 00000500  002 OF 002 
 
 
to the intervention as an "invasion," with the latter 
saying it would become another Iraq.  The Communist 
Party, which joined the government as part of the 
National Democratic Alliance, said that they oppose the 
government's policies in Darfur but rejected the presence 
of the UN. 
 
----------------------------------- 
The Other Side Speaks, with Caution 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  As the controversy continues some voices supporting 
UN intervention have emerged.  The Citizen, a southern- 
oriented independent newspaper, printed an editorial 
calling UN intervention "absolutely necessary."  The 
spokesperson for the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement 
(SLM) also told reporters that foreign intervention 
should be used to safeguard peace, as it had done in Nuba 
Mountains, the south, and the east.  However, the pro- 
south independent Khartoum Monitor printed an editorial 
that supports UN intervention in principle, but worried 
that the resistance to any UN force would lead to 
increased violence, a curtailment of aid delivery due to 
insecurity, and possibly even the rise of al-Qaida in 
Darfur. 
 
HUME