VZCZCXRO9736
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0502/01 0581127
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271127Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1647
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KHARTOUM 000502 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR SU
SUBJECT: Yassir Arman Reflects on Negotiating Peace 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  The following is an interview with SPLM 
National Assembly Leader Yassir Arman, recently published 
in the Sudan Vision daily, a pro-government English daily 
newspaper.  Arman discussed the process that led to the 
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and emphasized that 
all the Sudanese people should embrace the CPA because it 
will benefit them all if fully implemented.  At several 
points in the interview, Arman is asked about his 
experience as a northerner in the SPLM.  Each time, Arman 
refuses to recognize that his regional origin is 
relevant.  He says the SPLM is a national movement 
working for the benefit of all Sudanese and that a 
birthplace in the north or south is irrelevant (Note: 
Arman is one of the main SPLM leaders working to 
establish the party as a political force in the north. 
End note).  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (Begin text, printed as received) 
 
Q: Ustaz Yassir, we shall start further back before 
Machakos when all Sudanese used to dream about arrival at 
a final peace and about bringing war to an end.  How did 
you feel within SPLM/A, as a political and military 
movement and as Northerners? 
 
A: We can speak about our feelings as members of a 
movement but not as Northerners.  I do not speak on 
behalf of Sudanese in the movement, nor did I even meet 
Northerners in the Movement.  So that we might speak 
about special feelings among Northerners. 
 
Q: No, I mean feelings that you personally have as a 
northerner have? 
 
A: No, all my feelings are those pertaining to the Sudan 
People's Liberation Movement.  I am part of it like the 
others I belong to a certain region and have a birthplace 
there.  These are issues that cannot actually be 
classified in terms of North and South, at least not to a 
degree that can be described as pure distinctive northern 
feelings.  SPLM, before and after Machakos did not expect 
the journey towards peace to be easy.  Nobody expected at 
all the peace can be arrived at with the National 
Congress Party.  The gap between it and SPLM was quite 
wide, but there were some developments within the Sudan 
as well as outside that were happening.  These 
developments created an environment conducive for arrival 
at the Peace Agreement. 
 
As for me, I can only relate a short but meaningful 
story: On July 19th, a day before signing the Machakos 
protocol, I was in Asmara, the Eritrean Capital.  Myself 
and Pagan Amum were supposed to participate in 
negotiations.  We did not go because we were engaged, 
then, in some other issues which were related to the 
Eastern front.  Dr. John Garang contacted me at around 
three or four p.m.  He was saying that negotiations will 
end tomorrow, and an agreement might be arrived at.  He 
asked me to set the information strategy we should adopt 
to deal with that situation.  He agreed that Nhial Deng 
will contact me to brief me about some details.  I 
returned home quite late to find that Dr. Garang had 
contacted me several times between 3 and 4 and without 
finding me.  He contacted me at 6 a.m., he works usually 
till midnight and starts work again at 9 a.m.  When he 
phoned me I told him "There must be something serious 
which made you start work so easily." His answer was: "It 
is something about negotiations". Of course the round 
failed.  His answer was "No, it did not!  I was 
astonished "Do you mean to say, we arrived at an 
agreement?" "Yes we agreed". 
 
So it was then that things started to develop in another 
way.  But negotiations were even more difficult in 
Naivasha. Negotiations of both sides were quite efficient 
and that gave the agreement more depth and dimensions. 
Its implementation will not be easy at all.  It is quite 
obvious that to make war is much easier than make peace. 
 
Q: This would lead us towards conditions during 
negotiations and the amount of optimism and pessimism 
that used to prevail there? 
 
A: Negotiations were like a stock-exchange where shares 
fluctuate daily, against all predictions.  They were just 
as our leader, Dr. John Garang, used to tell journalists 
in Naivasha about negotiations being like weather, 
changing every now and then. 
 
Q: Ustaz Yassir as a member of the negotiating 
 
KHARTOUM 00000502  002 OF 004 
 
 
delegation, we would like you to describe the most 
difficult moments during negotiations and about moments 
when tensions grew more acute and the feeling that they 
might collapse crept over everybody? 
 
A: There were so many such moments that I cannot relate 
them all.  There were moments when negotiations were 
taken over by Dr. John Garang and Ustaz Ali Osman Mohamed 
Taha about the military and security arrangements.  There 
was also another movement when we discussed the number of 
forces, their reduction and their redeployment.  They 
were all issues that were quite complicated and almost 
collapsed.  But we arrived at an agreement despite that. 
There were several complicated situations and 
negotiations especially after the Nakuru Document which 
the Government rejected.  That was quite a critical 
stage; added to that was what happened in Torit during 
negotiations leading to the withdrawal of the Government 
delegation and almost brought the round to a collapse. 
There were several such moments when negotiations were 
about to collapse. 
 
Q: How did you feel when you first met the Government 
negotiation delegation?  Did you really wish peace to be 
achieved so that you might return to your people in 
Khartoum? 
 
A: Naivasha was not the first occasion for me to meet the 
NCP delegation.  The first time came when it was headed 
by Mohamed Al Amin Khalifa in Addis Ababa in 1989.  We 
met again in Nairobi under sponsorship by the American 
former President Jimmy Carter.  There were several other 
meetings some of which I really attended. 
 
Q: Did you feel differently in Naivasha? 
 
A: It was not a different feeling in Naivasha despite the 
fact that after Machakos hopes were greatly revived. 
Naturally we are affiliated to SPLM/A, if it were to 
proceed in war for forty years we would not hesitate to 
fight on its side.  Our commitment towards the Movement 
and its issues will not be affected by time.  But as 
people we want to achieve peace.  We want to return to 
our people. I don't mean our homeland.  We have been to 
Rumbek, Maridi and Hamash Koreib, we do not feel we have 
been out of our homeland.  We just feel we must return to 
our smaller communities, our families.  We have been 
giving priority to our political commitments over all 
other commitments however dear they are. 
 
Q: How did you feel when you entered Khartoum for the 
first time as a resident after the CPA was signed? 
 
A: It was a mixture of feelings. I wanted to lead a 
different life, but due to certain other developments, I 
got settled in Khartoum.  That was something quite good 
and enjoyable.  I have been longing for the sound of land 
and the people who loved us and we loved them.  For me it 
is quite a good thing that war ended after twenty years 
of war spent with SPLM.  It is quite a pleasure to return 
and meet our dear ones. Many of my close friends did not 
return home yet.  We were quite lucky to come here. 
 
Q: This leads us to another question. Were you able to 
resume your previous life and social relations which you 
had before joining SPLM/A? 
 
A: No, that is not possible.  My life had been totally 
changed. I became restricted and more tied to official 
organs and meetings.  I was not married when I left 
Khartoum, nor did I hold an official post.  I was free 
and led a much singular life.  I was even more youth 
then.  Many of my previous friends and colleagues are no 
longer residing in Khartoum.  Even those who are still 
present in Khartoum do not have time to spare so that we 
can meet.  They had also had their life changed. They are 
married and are burdened by obligations towards their 
families.  They had grown up, so had their obligations 
and responsibilities. 
 
Q: As northern members of SPLM/A, did you play any role 
towards bridging the gap between the two sides or were 
you leaning towards the Movement? 
 
A: I do not know about such roles.  I only know that our 
presence within SPLM indicates that it is a new movement 
that includes both northern and southern Sudanese.  It 
includes also members from east, west and central Sudan. 
This is the actual situation within SPLM, and I do not 
know what you mean by northern. 
 
KHARTOUM 00000502  003 OF 004 
 
 
 
Q: I mean members from Northern Sudan. 
 
A: There are many northerners in SPLM.  There are also 
members from Nuba Mountains, aren't they northerners? 
There are thousands from Blue Nile region, aren't they 
northerners? There are also others from all parts of the 
Sudan.  Maybe you mean that myself and Dr. Mansour came 
from Central Sudan.  We are a small group coming from 
Central Sudan, we have an effect here because every human 
has an effect whether as an individual or as a group.  We 
have struggled for peace but not because we were 
northerners.  Our leading peacemaker Dr. John Garang is 
the first one who should be praised and honoured.  He 
devoted all his life in aim of achieving peace, he had 
this objective in mind even when he went into war.  He 
fought for peace, for insuring a better life for our 
people and for issues of justice and equality.  He will 
therefore, remain forever, as one of our national heroes. 
We are happy that our people had honoured him in Al Saha 
Al Khadra.  He had passed away quite satisfied about the 
Sudanese nation, and we are quite proud of him. 
 
Q: Ustaz, tell us about any amusing situations that 
imparted some amusement and brought you out of the dreary 
tensions of formalities during negotiations? 
 
A: Oh, you are taking me unprepared I cannot recall all 
situations despite the fact that there were many of them. 
I remember that the Minister of Investment, Ustaz Malik 
Aggar, and he was well-built and quite big, was in the 
Government Delegation.  The region where negotiations 
were held had a large population of hippopotamus, which 
frightened people from making morning walks.  Many people 
claimed that they had seen hippos running in fear 
whenever they saw Ustaz Malik.  That was quite an amusing 
topic among negotiations. Moreover, Dr. John Garang was 
known for his mirth and jollity, he had several merry 
occasions which broke the monotony of serious 
negotiations.  He used to crack jokes especially when 
tensions grew tight.  Many people relate jokes and funny 
stories made by him. 
 
Q: How were your relations as Sudanese out of the serious 
atmosphere of negotiations? I mean as Sudanese who are 
pursuing some objectives? 
 
A: They were quite good. Relations between Sudanese 
during negotiations and during the war period were quite 
distinguished.  This was asserted by former President 
Jimmy Carter and his wife and all mediators.  They all 
asserted that Sudanese people are endowed with 
psychological and social characteristics that extend back 
to the Meroetic kingdoms.  They are characteristics that 
enable the Sudanese to behave in a civil way even during 
periods of differences and disputes.  There were quite 
civil relations out of the negotiations hall which 
developed into friendships between people there.  That 
gave rise to mutual confidence and trust between the two 
sides and assisted arrival at peace. 
 
Q: Were there any outstanding stances by some negotiators 
which you feel deserve to be recorded? 
 
A: There were quite a number of these.  I think the Peace 
Agreement had resulted from present efforts that all 
collaborated together to arrive at an agreement. That did 
not take place only in Naivasha, but attempts had been 
going for about twenty years.  It is quite essential to 
record that all those attempts had borne fruits in 
Naivasha.  As for the characters which played an 
important role in this respect, there are, beside 
Sudanese characters, other like General Lazarus 
Sumbyeiwo, the Kenyan mediator, who was well-known his 
discipline and patience.  He was a real addition to the 
negotiators.  There were also other personalities which 
contributed to a marked degree such as Nicholas Haytham a 
South African Professor, a former legal advisor to 
President Mandela and members of the National African 
Congress.  His presence as an expert contributed greatly 
towards the success of negotiations.  In addition to all 
that there were the remarkable concessions made by the 
efficient leadership of Dr. Garang and Ustaz Ali Osman 
Mohamed Taha.  Even ordinary Sudanese people contributed 
in those efforts, and I think that the first peace hero 
is definitely our Sudanese nation. It was this nation 
which paid both war and peace bills. 
 
Q: Ustaz Yassir, a year had passed since the Peace 
Agreement was signed, what does that mean to you? 
 
KHARTOUM 00000502  004 OF 004 
 
 
 
A: There are so many indications, if a year had passed 
that means there are five years remaining for self- 
determination.  This means that Sudan's unity will be 
subjected to test.  If the CPA was not properly 
implemented, then the result would be tragic.  The 
agreement is now put to practice only partly.  This means 
that there should be some change in the Sudanese mode of 
life.  This change should affect ordinary people's life, 
obligations had grown bigger and all the rosy dreams 
about the agreement and those who signed are backing now. 
Sudanese people are more aware now and aspire for a 
different and better lie.  If those expectations were not 
achieved, then the wide reception and celebration for the 
agreement and those who arrived at it will take another 
form.  It is necessary, therefore, that all should do 
their best to fulfill all promises made for Sudanese 
people.  At least part of those promises should be 
fulfilled.  Sudanese people had celebrated signing the 
agreement because it will insure their bread-winning, 
their peace and their unity on a new basis.  The old set- 
up of bases and principles proved a failure in respect of 
Sudan's unity.  They will not accept the old basis, 
especially in Southern Sudan.  Our real battle will be 
that of achieving unity on a new basis. 
 
(End text) 
 
HUME