VZCZCXRO0238
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1031/01 1220527
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 020527Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2574
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 001031 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI AL US SU
SUBJECT:  Pres. Bashir Interview with Saudi News Channel 
on Darfur and Development 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  On April 17, Riyadh Al-Ikhbariyah Satellite 
Channel in Arabic broadcast an interview of President 
Bashir by Sharif Husayn Sharif.  During the broad-ranging 
interview, Bashir commented on the Darfur conflict and 
characterized it as a tribal issue.  He claimed the 
Darfur problem had taken the Government by surprise, as 
it had been focused on peace negotiations with the South. 
He denied incidents of ethnic cleansing and collective 
rape, and insisted that regional and international 
intervention has hamstrung Darfur's traditional methods 
of conflict mediation, without which ongoing peace 
efforts would fail.  Bashir went on to laud the nation's 
economic and developmental advances in the past year.  He 
noted Sudan's excellent relations with African, Asian, 
and Arab countries, singling out Saudi Arabia.  He 
credits this with launching a wave of investment that has 
allowed progress in the services, education, and health 
sectors in Sudan.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  The main body of the interview is as follows: 
 
(Begin text) 
(Sharif) Observers have witnessed Sudan's success in 
playing host to the Arab summit, an important Arab 
meeting, which was held in Khartoum a few days ago.  Can 
you brief us on this obvious Sudanese endeavor to bring 
the Arabs together by hosting this summit? 
(Al-Bashir) In the name of God, the merciful, the 
compassionate. First of all, we praise Almighty God for 
this success because it would not have been a success 
without support from God and without efforts by those who 
prepared for this important summit.  This summit was 
preceded by the African summit, which also was an 
excellent experiment, thanks to the team responsible for 
the preparation of the summit.  This team also 
contributed to making the Arab summit a success. 
However, the most important factor in the success of this 
summit was Sudan's external relations with all the Arab 
states.  We emphasize that these relations are 
excellent.  They enabled us to hold a successful Arab 
summit, which resulted in perfect unanimity.  God be 
praised, this summit was free of any disputes or 
wrangling. 
(Sharif) Neutral observers have been witnessing a 
qualitative economic development in Sudan, in terms of 
foreign investment, and the infrastructure improvement, 
which is being witnessed by visitors and observers alike, 
as well as the bridges, construction projects, and the 
oil sector.  Can you brief us on this? 
(Al-Bashir) Once again, we praise Almighty God.  Success 
cannot be realized only my material resources.  We say 
that God blessed the efforts of the sincere Sudanese 
youths in all fields.  This success has been achieved 
because of the economic stability, which has been 
realized by tremendous efforts and under unfavorable 
domestic and international circumstances.  We are still 
subjected to economic sanctions by Western countries and 
major financial establishments.  However, through the 
enlightened administration of the economy and the 
country's stability, the economy became the basic element 
that attracted investment. 
Secondly, efforts have been exerted to secure the oil 
fields and to attract capable companies to work in the 
oil sector after Western companies refused to work in the 
oil sector in Sudan and indeed impeded this work for many 
years. The efforts of the brothers who led the process of 
exploring, exporting, or refining the Sudanese oil, led 
by Dr Awad al-Jaz, played an important role in oil 
production.  The peace that has been realized in the 
south created a position climate and imparted a sort of 
confidence in the hearts of investors.  You are aware 
that capital is coward and before committing itself it 
has to be certain of its position. 
Therefore, God be praised, we are witnessing a wave of 
investment or an investment offensive on Sudan, which 
placed Sudan at the forefront of states that received 
investment last year.  Because of these combined efforts 
you can see development projects in everything, not only 
in terms of streets and bridges but also in all aspects - 
- services, education and higher education, and growth in 
health services.  There have been great efforts to 
establish treatment in local hospitals on a strong basis, 
not only in Khartoum but in all Sudanese provinces as 
well. 
There has been stability in power generation, which was 
one of the primary problems that the people had been 
facing. There have been economic and security stability. 
All these efforts contributed toward the development 
projects that everyone has been witnessing. 
 
KHARTOUM 00001031  002 OF 003 
 
 
(Sharif) The great transformation in Sudan was the result 
of the implementation of the comprehensive peace 
agreement between the north and the south.  Based on this 
success, observers have felt that great efforts have been 
exerted in reach for a solution of the Darfur crisis, 
which has been going on for the past few years.  The 
Abuja negotiations are a proof of this.  How do you view 
these negotiations? 
(Al-Bashir) Definitely the issue of Darfur took us by 
surprise because our efforts had been pooled to realize 
peace.  We know the benefits of peace in terms of 
domestic stability, preserving the homeland's manpower, 
and stopping dissipation of resources.  Peace gives us 
the opportunity of exploiting Sudan's huge natural 
resources.  However, it is obvious that after this 
success, our enemies realized that peace was imminent in 
southern Sudan and they started working to create the 
Darfur sedition.  The Darfur problem started as a tribal 
issue.  There were tribal struggles between neighboring 
tribes over the meager resources there or because of 
friction between youths in various areas. 
Darfur has a very strong heritage, which is being taught 
in Harvard, the most respectable US university; namely, 
the Darfurian tradition in solving disputes through the 
Ajawids [mediators]. Thus, regional and international 
interventions hampered the Darfurian traditions in 
resolving disputes, and hostile Western media started to 
propagate stories that have nothing to do with the 
Darfurian society, such as the talk about mass 
annihilation, ethnic cleansing, and collective rape. 
These have been lies but we are aware that the powerful, 
scientific, programmed, and guided media gave this issue 
its current dimensions. 
However, we are interested in realizing genuine peace in 
Darfur.  We are certain that the national unity 
government's vision of a solution to the Darfur issue was 
a sound vision and was appreciated by all observers.  We 
hope that efforts in Abuja will be crowned by realizing a 
peace agreement.  However, genuine peace cannot be 
realized except within Darfur itself.  The current large- 
scale efforts are intended to bring about reconciliation 
among the tribes because the peace agreement in Abuja 
will not realize peace until social peace and 
reconciliation have been established and until 
differences have been bypassed and the Darfurian heritage 
in solving disputes among tribes in Darfur has been 
applied. 
(Sharif) After playing host to the Arab summit and the 
African summit, Sudan intends to host the Pacific- 
Caribbean summit perhaps next December.  Sudan also has 
witnessed a rapprochement in its relations with world 
countries, especially Western nations.  Can you talk to 
us about this issue? 
(Al-Bashir) God be praised, we have been devoting great 
attention to our foreign relations.  We have passed 
through a real crisis in our foreign relations after the 
Gulf war and its repercussions.  Indeed, Sudanese 
diplomacy succeeded in bypassing all our differences, 
especially within our regional surroundings. This greatly 
helped us improve our relations with other countries. 
Now we can say that our relations with African and Asian 
nations are excellent.  We can reasonably say that we 
have relations with the West but pressure groups are 
trying to impede the positive development of our 
relations with the West.  However, we can say that our 
relations with the nations of the south are excellent. 
This is proven by the fact that all of them, especially 
in the African, Caribbean, and Pacific nations agreed to 
hold their summit in Khartoum, God willing. 
(Sharif) Your Excellency, this is a question on the 
longstanding and strong relations between Sudan and the 
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  These relations have witnessed 
bolstering and progress over the past number of years. 
Can you explain to us the special relations between Saudi 
Arabia and Sudan? 
(Al-Bashir) God be praised, our relations with the 
Kingdom are extremely excellent.  We have received 
special attention from the custodian of the two holy 
mosque King Abdallah, who has been playing a great role, 
not only in bolstering Sudanese-Saudi relations but 
because in all his meetings with world leaders who visit 
the Kingdom, the issue of Sudan has always been a 
permanent point on the agenda of the talks, defending 
Sudan, explaining Sudan's real position, and demanding 
backing for Sudan in various domains. 
We have also received assistance for all of our 
development projects from Saudi Arabia, especially the 
project of the century, the Merowe Dam Project, which is 
mainly financed by Arab funds, including the Saudi Fund, 
 
KHARTOUM 00001031  003 OF 003 
 
 
which led the process to finance the project. 
(End text) 
 
STEINFELD