VZCZCXRO9996
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0258/01 0331325
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021325Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1267
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 KHARTOUM 000258 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ETRD EAGR EPET KPKO KHIV AU SU
SUBJECT:  Bashir Interview:  AU Summit, Darfur, AIDS, 
Trade, and Oil 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary and comment:  Post received an English 
copy of President Omer Al-Bashir's interview with Sudan 
News Agency Director General Mohamed Hatim Sulieman on 
the occasion of the convening of the 6th African Union 
Summit in Khartoum.  Bashir responded to questions on a 
number of issues ranging from local to regional and 
international questions. 
 
¶2. (SBU) In the carefully staged interview, President 
Bashir pushed some familiar themes:  the foreign 
conspiracy to undermine Sudan, the government's lack of 
responsibility for Darfur, and the west's efforts to 
continually move the goal posts so that Sudan can never 
succeed.  He also took the opportunity to push his 
campaign for AU chairmanship, with both the President and 
the reporter citing several instances where African 
leaders took charge of major organizations despite 
internal conflicts. 
 
¶3.  (U) The interview then moves on to development 
issues.  While generally following the policies of the 
non-aligned movement, the President does say AIDS is less 
prevalent in countries that are "religiously and morally 
committed."  The dialogue ends with an explanation of how 
U.S. oil companies had tried to deny Sudan its oil wealth 
by refusing to produce until America could better control 
and exploit Sudan.  He concluded by saying it is fortune 
that south-south cooperation has led to Sudan being able 
to prosper from it resources.  End summary and comment. 
 
¶3.  (U) The text of the interview is as follows: 
 
(Begin text as received) 
 
Question:  Mr. President, Khartoum is now witnessing 
intensive activities aimed at preparing the ground for 
the sixth African Union summit conference, this was 
preceded by invitations for the African leaders as well 
as your visit to each of Nigeria and Libya and a number 
of African countries, do you expect a huge turn out for 
the summit? 
 
President:  In the name of Allah the Graceful the 
Dispenser of Grace, and Peace and Blessing of Allah be 
Upon His Prophet.  Yes.  In fact we expect a massive turn 
out for the African heads of state to this summit, we 
have dispatched delegations and envoys for this purpose 
and this would be the outcome. 
 
Question:  Mr. President do you expect this summit to be 
a successful one? 
 
President:  We think this will be an important summit 
that will be unique as regards the issues it would be 
handling, in particular the questions related to culture 
and science which are very important parts of the 
discussions of the summit.  It is here that we think that 
our continent is far behind.  If we are talking about the 
African union we have to be aware of the size of the 
differences that exist between and inside the continent, 
which has become vulnerable to foreign cultures.  Africa 
is divided between the French and the English speaking 
countries and thus we would like to have an organization 
that will lead to the creation of a body, the African 
Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (AFESCO) 
that will lay the ground for unification. 
 
Question:  Could we Mr. President speak of Khartoum and 
Sudan working to see a successful summit, or is Khartoum 
working only to secure winning the chairmanship of the 
African Union? 
 
President:  For us the success of the summit comes first, 
preceding even the chairmanship of the AU.  The essential 
issue is not the chairmanship but rather the success of 
the summit.  This is our priority. 
 
Question:  The summit conference success? 
 
President:  Yes the success of the summit is our 
priority.  For us this is a very important issue and it 
would lead to the solution of many a question in the 
continent and problem that the continent faces. 
 
Question:  Mr. President your government has scored many 
successes in the petroleum exploration and in the 
political domains it has achieved peace but up to now it 
has not achieved a breakthrough in the question of 
Darfur, your comment? 
 
KHARTOUM 00000258  002 OF 006 
 
 
 
President:  Yes this is one of the major questions.  In 
fact most of our problems are not internal alone.  The 
foreign element is prominent here.  There is no doubt 
that peace could be achieved between two parties however 
it is clear that the other party or other parties are not 
keen to achieve peace.  Just look at the tremendous 
efforts we have exerted in the negotiation and the 
efforts exerted for the unification of those factions, 
factions with specific demands and with specific 
policies, efforts exerted in Italy and those exerted in 
many other places, but it is clear those movements are 
not qualified to unite their ranks 
 
Question:  Mr. President, Kenya has handled the peace 
file between the Sudanese government and the Sudan people 
liberation Movement SPLM well after it was no longer 
heading the IGAD, so by analogy do you think the Darfur 
file would be removed from the hands of President 
Obassanjo in case the Sudan assumes the chairmanship of 
the African Union? 
 
President:  We have made it clear that the file would not 
be removed from the hand of president Obassanjo of 
Nigeria as mediator because any change in the file would 
mean beginning from scratch.  So at least Nigeria and 
president Obassanjo have become familiar with the file, 
with the negotiations and all other activities 
surrounding the question of Darfur, be it within the AU 
or in the Peace and Security Council or during the five 
member summit or even in the bilateral encounters, thus 
Nigeria is the best lieu for. 
 
Question:  Handling the file? 
 
President:  Yes for handling the file. 
 
Question:  Mr. President on the international level we 
have been following the question of the International 
Criminal Court ICC and also the report of the Human 
Rights Watch groups on alleged human rights violation in 
Darfur and on the regional level the year 2005 witnessed 
the signing of the CPA in Sudan that was considered a 
good omen for Africa.  On the other hand we have seen the 
election of a president for Togo and a Hutu leader was 
elected President for Burundi and Mrs. Ben Johnson was 
also elected as the first African lady to become 
President.  But this same year has seen a renewal of the 
Ethiopian over Badamy triangle and then by the end of the 
year we witnessed a scuffle between Sudan and Chad and 
the campaign led for foiling the convening of fire sixth 
summit conference in the Sudan and the chairmanship of 
the AU added to this the recent statements by Koffi 
Annan. So Mr. President, how do you see all these evens 
while we are approaching the convening of the summit 
conference in Khartoum? 
 
President:  Of course there was an influential and big 
power that had been opposing the convening of the summit 
in Khartoum and as the convening of the summit was a 
decision to be taken by the heads of state in the African 
continent thus it became difficult for them to cancel the 
convening of the summit in Khartoum.  So they did their 
best that the AU would not nominate or elect the Sudan 
for the chairmanship of the African Union for the coming 
year.  All this is to be seen within the context of the 
plotting against Sudan.  We have noticed that whenever we 
score a success in one area the activities of the hostile 
quarters would be intensified for creating other problems 
that would affect the Sudan.  This was clear that the 
moment we were about to sign the peace protocols in 
Naivasha, the question of Darfur was escalated and was 
brought to the attention of the Security Council despite 
the fact that the war in southern Sudan continued for 
twenty years, the longest war in the continent and the 
most destructive war in therein, still the issue was 
never brought to the attention of the security council 
but the success we secured was not expected by elements 
opposing the peace in southern Sudan and we are now sure 
that they are hiding waiting if the peace deal works in 
Darfur then they would fan the question of Eastern Sudan 
and the report of the Human Rights Watch is never a 
surprise to us nor was the report of Amnesty 
International nor that which was filed by Christian of 
Baronet Cox.  Those are all quarters that have been 
declaring war against the Sudan and are coming up with 
allegations about all these human rights violation and 
about the genocide and about the ethnic cleansing and 
mass rape and now they are coming up with the lie of the 
 
KHARTOUM 00000258  003 OF 006 
 
 
forceful kidnapping and all these are not new to us and 
they in fact are no longer bothering us, we have lived 
with them for the last 16 years. 
 
Question:  This is despite the fact that the question of 
the Niger Delta had not prevented Nigeria from heading 
the Union likewise the question between Ethiopia and 
Eritrea did not prevent Ethiopia from heading the AU? 
 
President:  In fact Kenya, which since 1993 was heading 
IGAD when the initiative was launched, and its 
chairmanship for IGAD changed and we were heading that 
organization for two session but still Kenya continued to 
handle the Sudanese peace file.  The same with Somalia 
when Kenya was handling that file, it continued. 
 
Question:  And it now heads the session for the African 
Peace and Security Council? 
 
President:  Yes, we could not link the two issues, but 
the file of Darfur will remain in the hands of President 
Obassajo, God willing. 
 
Question:  Mr. President since the formation of the 
Organization of African Unity in 1963 and its conversion 
into the African Union in June 11 2002, the continent 
witnessed some 126 coups and 24 wars and disunity is 
facing a number of African countries, so how can the 
African unity be realized and is the African union a copy 
of the European union or is it a real crystallization of 
the political, economic and cultural unity under the 
umbrella of the African diversity? 
 
President:  Our view of the African problem is that most 
of them are internal problems inside the countries, this 
is because of the reasons that the countries in Africa 
were not formed in the natural way, the colonization drew 
the borderlines and amassed inside the boundaries of one 
and each state contradictions and the existence of these 
contradictions led to the creation of a conducive climate 
for time bombs that could go off and as there are so much 
of interest in Africa, Africa being the virgin land with 
its un tapped natural resources and the fact that Africa 
has huge raw material needed for the western industries 
and if we look at the aphidian map and the map of the 
problems the continent is suffering from them we would 
come with the conclusion that the two are identical. 
That the countries with huge potentials in the lake area 
we will find Congo and Angola and we will find Sudan. 
 
Question:  The presence petroleum and diamonds? 
 
President:  Wherever there is gold, oil and diamond then 
you have problems and people who want to keep Africa poor 
and ignorant and a source of raw material they are the 
countries that are behind the problems in Africa.  Thus 
the African unity is our only hope to get out of those 
problems.  If you look at Asia we find that it has 
already moved forwards, Europe and America the same, then 
what rest is Africa which is underdeveloped and most of 
the developing countries are found in Africa. 
 
Question:  Then what are the vision and the objectives of 
the current summit conference of the African Union in 
Khartoum? 
 
President:  The first objective is to reinforce the 
African Unity and to bring closer its members and also as 
I have said earlier one of the objectives is to 
established AFESCO, which would be a vital element in the 
African unity. 
 
Question:  But do we have that strong political 
commitment to achieve all those objectives? 
 
President:  Yes we think the political will is there but 
of course there are other elements which are outside the 
continue and their influence is felt inside the 
continent.  However efforts are being exerted to bring 
the African closer and to contribute in resolving the 
pending question among the countries of the continent.  I 
believe that this would pave the way for moving forwards 
and we expect the birth of the African unity in a very 
short time if we look into the case of the European union 
since its establishment and that it has now reached the 
stage of a unified monetary unit. 
 
Question:  Mr. President the convening of the summit 
coincide with the 50th anniversary of Sudan's 
 
KHARTOUM 00000258  004 OF 006 
 
 
independence, what is the significance of linking the two 
events and what is the Sudanese contribution for the 
African continent in fifty years and what has Africa 
given to the Sudan? 
 
President:  The independence of the Sudan is no doubt one 
of the major events in the continent, Sudan being one of 
the first African countries to gain independence, well 
before the establishment of the organization of the 
African unity and Sudan played a major role in backing 
the African liberation movements and many of the 
movements began their activities from inside the Sudan. 
I personally met President Nelson Mandela and the former 
President of Namibia Sam Ngoma who all stressed that they 
moved out of southern Africa to Sudan and Khartoum 
because it was the capital that had gained its 
independence and that they found support and each of them 
was holding a Sudanese passports and also Sudan provided 
assistance to those movements in the diplomatic and 
political domains.  Sudan is also a founding member of 
the organization of African unity OAU.  Sudan is also a 
founding member of the non-aligned movement.  So Sudan 
provided assistance to the African liberation movements 
be it directly or indirectly via the regional and 
international organizations.  We also provided assistance 
to many of the sons of the African continent and we have 
provided training and education to over five thousand 
African student in the African international university 
in Khartoum and other universities in the country.  We 
also provide experts for Africa and Sudanese experts have 
contributed in so many projects in the African continent, 
Sudanese experts established the railways in Zambia and 
in Tanzania. 
 
Question:  And what has Africa provided for the Sudan? 
 
President:  In actual fact we have found every possible 
assistance from Africa and Africa stood by our side.  It 
suffices to cite the peace that has been achieved in 
southern Sudan.  This peace was achieved as a result of 
the IGAD initiative, which was directly supported by the 
African Unity. 
 
Question:  Mr. President for the percent 45% of the 
population in Africa have an income of less than one us 
dollar a day and an African child dies in every five 
second in Africa, how can Africa face this question of 
poverty? 
 
President:  This is a serious challenge for the continent 
in general, the poverty, the famine and the diseases that 
affect African in the north and in the south and in the 
west such as malaria and other fatal disease such as AIDS 
and the spread of illiteracy all these are some of the 
real challenges that face the continent.  But the main 
cause behind all those problems is the instability inside 
those countries and between these countries.  So if we 
can achieve stability in the continent and if we can 
achieve peace and stability inside the countries of the 
continent then we would create the conducive atmosphere 
for an economic development, a corner stone in resolution 
of all those problems. 
 
Question:  Mr. President, you said AIDS registered 3,2 
million new cases in Africa, while 60% of world AIDS 
cases, around 40 million people, are in Africa.  You have 
also mentioned that the infection rate in some African 
countries amounted to 40% among their citizens.  As 
African Leaders how can you face this lethal disease, 
which threatens the continent? 
 
President:  As I said the issue of AIDS tops the agenda 
of the summit as with how to face it and how to utilize 
the experiences of other countries to roll it back.  If 
we look into the AIDS belt in Africa, we find that the 
less infected countries are the countries, which are 
religiously and morally committed, while some of such 
countries are even AIDS free. 
 
Question:  But Mr. President, the disease did spread? 
 
President:  AIDS outbreak does constitute a serious 
issue, for if 40% of the population are infected, this 
means that they pose a threat for the non-infected ones, 
particularly through extramarital relations.  Such a 
matter is probable, a matter, which necessitates an 
intensive media campaign to inform the people with the 
danger of the disease as well as advanced diagnostic mean 
and then how to deal with the infected ones.  Of course 
 
KHARTOUM 00000258  005 OF 006 
 
 
we do not call for discriminating the AIDS infected 
people, but we call for dealing with them in a positive 
way, which insures that the disease would not be 
transmitted through them to non-infected people, 
particularly the children who have nothing to do with 
this matter.  Another matter is the existing medicines. 
Are they effective or their effectiveness is questioned, 
thou they are expensive?  Of course we believe that the 
concerned bodies could be processing inexpensive drugs to 
save the infected people. 
 
Question:  Mr. President, in the recent Hong Kong 
conference, the rich countries refused to subsidies from 
their agricultural products, a matter, which greatly 
disappointed the African States, which depend on the 
agricultural products of those rich countries.  How can 
Africa tackle this problem? 
 
President:  This reflects the size of the international 
hypocrisy.  When the World Trade Organization was 
established, of course it was established by the rich 
countries, which believed that, through the organization, 
they can control the world trade.  However, they 
discovered that a great number of the citizens, in many 
countries, are involved in agriculture, while they are 
industrial countries.  In America, for instance, 
agriculture does not exceed 4% of the US economic 
activity, yet the majority of the American people work in 
agriculture, and therefore, lifting the support from 
agriculture in these countries will have a great negative 
effect on them at the internal level, the reason why they 
became hesitant in lifting such a support.  This 
indicates that they may even never fulfill their 
commitments, save for after long times, a matter, which 
would constitute a blow for the developing countries 
whose economies relay on agriculture. 
 
Question:  On agriculture? 
 
President:  I mean the agricultural countries whose 
products are raw.  Actually, the refusal to lift the 
agricultural subsidies constitutes a blow for all the 
producers.  Definitely, the countries that depend mainly 
on the agricultural activity, while the income of the 
country is from taxes on the agricultural activity, 
therefore, when agriculture is a particular country is 
supported by the state, this country resorts to imposing 
taxes on agriculture to be able to manage to steer its 
activities. 
 
Question:  Then this means there is no competition at the 
international market? 
 
President:  Of course we can enter these markets, but it 
would be with very low prices for our raw exports.  At 
the same time, we import these same raw materials, after 
they are processed, with double their prices.  For 
instance, we produce cotton, but we import the turban, so 
think at what price do we sell cotton and how much do we 
pay to buy the turban? 
 
Question:  A big contradiction? 
 
President:  Big contradiction. 
 
Question:  Mr. President, concerning trade, we find that 
the size of the African trade has dropped from 6% of the 
total world trade in 1980 to 2,2% in 2004.  How do you 
view the situation within the challenges of the coming 
world trade? 
 
President:  Many of the problems, such as drought, which 
hit many of the African countries, have definitely 
affected productivity, and consequently exports.  Non- 
introduction of modern agricultural technologies also 
contributed to the decrease in the production rates. 
Many countries, which used to import great amounts 
commodities, such as rice, have now started to achieve 
high production rates after introducing modern 
agricultural technologies.  Therefore, we, in Africa, 
need to introduce these modern technologies.  However, 
the introduction of these technologies needs great 
potentialities that Africa lacks, the reason why 
international organizations, such as FAO and others, 
provide assistance for the African states, and because 
food production itself became a problem in Africa, as we 
watch famines and their destructive impact on the 
satellite channels. 
 
 
KHARTOUM 00000258  006 OF 006 
 
 
Question:  Referring to what you said about petroleum, 
the U.S. Vice President mentioned in 2001 that Africa was 
the source of American energy, while the US Assistant 
Secretary of State also mentioned, in 2001, that the 
 
SIPDIS 
African petroleum has become of a strategic interest. 
Additionally, the CIA report also indicated that America 
would get a quarter of its oil imports from Africa.  How 
do view this American concern with the African file? 
 
President:  Definitely, there would positive sides if 
America, with its companies, invested in petroleum in 
Africa, but the Americans try to control oil sources, a 
matter which poses a threat.  True that America obtains 
25% of its oil needs from Africa, and presently there is 
a petroleum belt that extends from Sudan to Equatorial 
Guinea.  All these areas are oil rich.  Of course people 
produce oil to sell, but the attempts of monopoly is what 
poses threat against these oil rich countries.  We have 
an experience with America in this respect, for they 
came, explored and discovered the petroleum and specified 
its areas and reserves, but they delayed its utilization. 
 
Question:  Why did they delay utilization of the Sudanese 
oil after they discovered it? 
 
President:  They left with the hope to come back 
according to their plans and programs, but thanks to God 
Almighty, for we have managed to explore and extract our 
petroleum with the support of our friends, so we present 
our experience as a model for the south-south 
cooperation.  People used to say that western countries 
should come if we are to extract our petroleum, but we 
did that with the support of the Chinese, Malaysian, 
Indian and Pakistani experiences.  Thanks to Allah, the 
God Almighty. 
 
(End text) 
 
HUME