VZCZCXRO1797
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0832/01 0941417
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041417Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2178
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000832 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON PREL EFIN SU
SUBJECT:  LEGAL AFFAIRS MINISTER TAKES AIM AT KHARTOUM 
Ref:  Khartoum 00813 
 
¶1.  (SBU) During a meeting with CG and USAID staff, a 
frustrated GoSS Minister of Legal Affairs Michael Makwei 
listed areas in which Khartoum had violated the 
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), or taken actions 
inimical to maintaining cordial relations with the South. 
Makwei cited examples of how legislation submitted by the 
Government of National Unity (GNU) and passed by the 
National Assembly in Khartoum ran counter to provisions 
in the CPA. 
 
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Banking Sector 
-------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Makwei said that the GNU had just added a new 
provision to banking regulations that required indigenous 
banks to deposit USD 12 million, and foreign banks twice 
that amount, in the Central Bank of Sudan to be able to 
operate in Sudan (Comment:  reftel, sourced in public 
announcements, listed these totals as $6 and $15 million, 
respectively.  End Comment.)  This provision would 
effectively put the recently opened Nile Bank Ltd. out of 
business - it did not have adequate resources to cover 
the required deposit - and presumably would keep the 
Commercial Bank of Kenya from opening its doors as well, 
since CBK was unlikely to put USD 24 million up front. 
Makwei fairly seethed that the SPLM's Elijah Malok, the 
Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sudan, had not 
notified the GoSS in advance of the new provision. 
Makwei said that the GoSS did not know how it would 
resolve the issue but was prepared to decree that Islamic 
banks could no longer operate in the South. 
 
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Security Situation 
------------------ 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Makwei cited a nighttime attack on the 
outskirts of Juba a day earlier in which unidentified 
gunmen had opened fire near the customs market, not far 
from the CG compound, panicking local residents into 
flight.  No one was hurt or abducted, according to follow 
up reports.  Makwei did not share the popular view that 
the Lord's Resistance Army - which is blamed for 
virtually every security incident in the South - was 
involved and wondered if this episode had not been staged 
by those who sought to purposely frighten the population 
and destabilize the situation in Juba. 
 
------------------------- 
Bashir to Name All Judges 
------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Makwei read the texts of recently promulgated 
laws that violate various articles of the CPA.  He said 
that draft laws frequently went directly from GNU 
ministries to the National Assembly for immediate action 
before the GoSS and its lawyers had reviewed the texts. 
One particularly egregious example was a new provision 
that gave the President of Sudan the authority to appoint 
all judges throughout Sudan, including in the South. 
Makwei said that the provision violated the CPA, the GoSS 
would simply ignore it, and he would travel to Khartoum 
to raise this and similar legislative violations of the 
CPA with the National Judicial Service Commission. 
 
--------------- 
Still No Phones 
--------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Makwei seethed over Khartoum's continued 
refusal to restore Mobitel cellular phone service to the 
South.  Cell phone service has been shut off - for 
whatever reason - for most of the day for the past six 
months, and no one in the GNU has either explained why, 
or taken remedial action.  Makwei said that Khartoum had 
refused to issue additional licenses to cell phone 
operators interested in working in the South.  Khartoum 
had effectively paralyzed communication within South 
Sudan. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Makwei was visibly vexed by decisions taken in 
Khartoum that hamper the South's ability to establish 
GoSS institutions and that appear designed to undermine 
implementation of the CPA.  Makwei wryly concluded his 
litany of complaints by noting that "the day will come 
when we cross that river," and he was not referring to 
 
KHARTOUM 00000832  002 OF 002 
 
 
the Nile. 
 
STEINFELD