VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKH #1155/01 1351652
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 151652Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2822
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEATRS/DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY WASHDC IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001155 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR D, PD, AF/SPG, AF/PD, AND EB/ESC 
DEPT PLS PASS BBG 
USDOC FOR BIS 
TREASURY FOR OFAC 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETTC BEXP PREL KPAO OIIP PGOV US SU
SUBJECT:  SUDAN: OFAC WAIVER NEEDED IN SUPPORT OF SAWA START- 
UP 
 
REF: A) Hume - Snyder e-mail of 14 Dec 05, B) Moseley - Hird 
 
e-mail of 19 Feb 06, C) Moseley - Hird e-mail of 12 March 06 
 
¶1. (U) This is an action request - see para 7. 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY:  After long negotiations, an agreement for 
the establishment of Radio SAWA in Sudan is nearing the 
point of signature.  At this juncture, Post has learned that 
the Department of Treasury's Office Foreign Assets Control 
(OFAC), while approving a license for overall SAWA 
operations in Sudan, has refused a waiver request to allow 
purchase of U.S. spare parts and equipment needed by the 
host institution, the Sudan Radio and Television Corporation 
(SRTC).  Post continues to feel that these imports - 
representing an important goodwill gesture on our part - may 
be essential for the SAWA deal to go through.  Radio SAWA 
offers an important opportunity to assist in disseminating 
information in Darfur in support of the recently signed 
Darfur Peace Agreement.  Post requests the Department to 
reconsider its apparently negative recommendation to OFAC 
concerning a license for these spares.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3. (SBU) On August 10, 2005, the Embassy Khartoum CDA 
Limbert, along with Amin Hassan Omer of the Sudan Radio and 
Television Corporation (SRTC), initialed a Letter of Intent 
to establish Radio SAWA in Sudan.  The plan was to establish 
FM transmitting stations at Khartoum and up to 11 other 
eventual sites, all to be constructed, operated, and 
maintained for SAWA by the SRTC. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Darrell Duckworth, representing the USG's 
Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), was charged with 
negotiating the Radio Sawa agreement.  The SRTC was 
cooperative, but at the same time approached Duckworth to 
help them on another matter:  obtaining badly needed 
transmitter spare parts from the Harris Corporation in the 
U.S., manufacturer of some of the SRTC's main transmitters. 
While no explicit quid pro quo was mentioned, it was 
Duckworth's strong impression that a license for importation 
of the spare parts would ensure that the SAWA deal went 
through. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The SAWA license request (Case # SU-1686, License # 
SU-1207) thus included two parts:  a request for rights to 
supply $200,000 worth of U.S.-made spare parts, and another 
for approval of SAWA operations in Sudan.  The SAWA 
initiative was approved, the spare parts were not, for 
reasons unknown.  Without the spare parts, however, the SRTC 
may be less inclined to sign. 
 
¶6. (SBU) CDA Hume has expressed his support for waivers 
permitting the U.S. sourcing of any SAWA-related new 
equipment as well as of any spare parts needed by the SRTC 
(Ref A).  In response to questions about the SRTC, Post's 
PAO wrote that its broadcasting was "reasonable and fairly 
balanced" and "scrupulously careful not to air material 
offensive to the U.S." (Ref B).  Post believes that OFAC 
should reconsider the matter, and lend its support to the 
waiver request for the purchase of spare parts.  The win-win 
result would support the more constructive relationship that 
has developed since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace 
Agreement in 2005 - and the Darfur Peace Agreement of May 5, 
¶2006.  Embassy Khartoum believes that the importance of 
ensuring the viability of Radio SAWA outweighs any possible 
downside of permitting the spare parts.  Radio may be used 
extensively in Darfur, or instance, to propagate information 
about the Darfur Peace Agreement.  Gaining broad public 
understanding and support for the Agreement is of paramount 
importance in ending the atrocities in Darfur, a 
Presidential priority. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Action requested:  Embassy Khartoum requests that 
the State Department request Treasury OFAC to reconsider its 
waiver decision and to allow the export of radio transmitter 
spare parts for the SRTC in Sudan. 
 
HUME 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Letter of intent"  10 aug 05 
 
 
Jennifer, please excuse the delay in reply. 
 
I have also confirmed that the equipment being asked for now 
is only ($200,000 worth of) spare parts for existing 
equipment owned by Radio Omdurman.  It would be a 
"sweetener" to encourage progress on the SAWA deal. 
 
OFAC exemption for the new SAWA equipment would then be 
asked for separately. 
 
In Darrell Duckworth's view: 
 "If we do not get the authorization for the spare parts 
then we will have more problems with the .. . to get the new 
equipment.  It appears that the only fly is in the State 
response.  If State gives a positive supportive response to 
the spare parts we will proceed with the agreement and the 
new equipment requests." 
 
My own view is that these sanctions affecting general 
infrastructure are generally not constructive, and that any 
chance for exception should be taken. 
 
Moreover, I would like to make a special recommendation of 
Omdurman TV and Radio.  I periodically watch the TV (which 
has similar news to the radio), and have talked to my staff 
about the radio.  It is our collective impression that these 
are reasonable and fairly balanced broadcasting media, and 
that -- compared with what one hears about the media in some 
parts of the Arab world -- are quite scrupulously careful 
NOT to air material that would be offensive to the U.S. 
Many improvements could be made, especially in giving more 
airtime to non-Arab material relating to other parts of the 
country, and dissenting points of view from within the 
country.  As far as U.S. interests are concerned, however, I 
think the overall moderation of these stations deserves to 
be rewarded. 
 
Best, 
 
Kay Moseley 
Public Affairs 
Khartoum 
 
 
   -----Original Message----- 
  From:     Hird, Jennifer L(AF/SPG) 
  Sent:     Friday, February 17, 2006 12:32 AM 
  To:       Moseley, Katharine P 
  Cc:       Whitaker, Eric P 
  Subject:  RE: Board of Broadcast Governors question 
 
  Kay, 
 
  Please see the application attached. From my read, it 
  does not include equipment only spare parts. If we need 
  to, I can go back to BBG and request exactly what parts 
  they would like to provide. 
 
  Jennifer 
 
   > 
 
  _____________________________________________ 
  From:     Moseley, Katharine P(Khartoum) 
  Sent:     Thursday, February 16, 2006 5:11 AM 
  To:       Hird, Jennifer L(AF/SPG) 
  Cc:       Whitaker, Eric P 
  Subject:  RE: Board of Broadcast Governors question 
 
  Jennifer, a quick clarification if possible: 
 
  Does the first part of the BBG-SAWA application, that you 
  refer to below, also include EQUIPMENT? 
 
  Thanks,  k. 
 
      -----Original Message----- 
     From:     Hird, Jennifer L(AF/SPG) 
     Sent:     Tuesday, February 14, 2006 9:32 PM 
     To:       Whitaker, Eric P; Moseley, Katharine P 
     Cc:       Klein, John Marshall 
     Subject:  Board of Broadcast Governors question 
 
     Eric and Kay, 
 
     We received an OFAC license application from the Board 
     of Broadcast Governors. Ambassador Hume asked me about 
     it in December/January. We received their answers 
     below; however, I wanted to reach out to the Embassy as 
     well. There are two parts to the application - one is 
     to take part in a 10 year agreement with the Sudanese 
     government for the establishment of up to 12 FM radio 
     stations. This part seems fine. Additionally, however, 
     BBG also requests authorization to provide spare parts 
     to repair one of the Sudan government's medium wave AM 
     radio transmitters. 
 
     We reached out to BBG regarding this transmitter and 
     received the response below.  It seems the Sudanese 
     government, specifically the Radio and TV Network Corp, 
     will be using this radio transmitter, not BBG. Do you 
     think we should support this? What kind of information 
     flows through the Network Corp? We could approve just 
     one part of the application and not the spare parts. 
     Please let me know your view. 
 
     Thanks, 
     Jennifer 
 
     _____________________________________________ _ 
     From:     Klein, John Marshall(EB/ESC/TFS) 
     Sent:     Monday, February 13, 2006 11:41 AM 
     To:       Hird, Jennifer L(AF/SPG) 
     Subject:  Re BBG questions 
 
     Hi Jennifer, 
 
     The BBG folk just got back in touch with me. 
     Unfortunately, they were not able to provide complete 
     answers. 
 
      On Question 1: Will the BBG be using the medium wave 
     AM radio? - The answer is no. It helps the BBG only 
     indirectly by facilitating their broader deal with the 
     GOS to permit Radio Sawa operations. 
 
     Question 2: Will this transmitter be used by and for 
     the GOS? Yes.  It will be used by the Radio and TV 
     Network Corp. of Sudan, a Govt-affiliated network. 
     Range of the transmitter is unclear. Potentially, as a 
     medium-range AM transmitter, it could reach the whole 
     country. The BBG may be able to find out a bit more 
     about the range issue. 
 
     In re potential programming content and prior GOS use 
     (or abuse) of radio, BBG has no idea. They suggest 
     asking the embassy. This makes sense to me, and I think 
     is something we probably need to know before making a 
     recommendation. Would the public diplomacy section 
     there have this info? 
 
 
 
     John-Marshall Klein, Ph.D. 
     EB/ESC/TFS 
(202) 647-9452 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kay good to hear from you.  The Spare parts are for exisitng 
SRTC equipment 
in the amount of +$200K.  We will ask for the Additional 
radio Sawa 
 
 
equipment after we get an agreement with the SRTC 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We give them m oney and they from wherever they can.  I 
don't like it either but that is the requirement from 
State.  The costs are going to be high. 
 
DD 
 
 
Subject: FW: Sudan agreement 
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 18:14:06 +0300 
From: MoseleyKP@state.gov 
To: dduckworth6@hotmail.com 
 
This is really hard to believe.  so how/where will the 
necessary NEW equipment come from?  We just give money and 
they buy from the Chinese?  We rent facilities?? 
 
 
From: Darrel Duckworth [mailto:dduckworth6@hotmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 5:03 PM 
To: Moseley, Katharine P 
Subject: RE: Sudan agreement 
 
Kay, 
 
It does not include th new equipment either.  We were a 
litle dissapointed in the lack of support from State.  If 
State had given a positive response we would not have a 
problem.  Maybe you and hte Ambassador can get State o 
change its position.  We understand that Sudan is going to 
permit UN assistance in darfur and troops as well.  This 
could be what is needed to turn it around. 
 
See you in June. 
 
DD 
 
 
Subject: RE: Sudan agreement 
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 16:23:22 +0300 
From: MoseleyKP@state.gov 
To: dduckworth6@hotmail.com 
 
Sorry to hear this! 
Does the license at least cover the NEW equipment that Sawa 
would bring in? 
 
By the way, was down in Juba some time ago, and they too 
have these old Harris Corp transmitters (or some-such major 
equipment) that need spare parts. 
 
 
From: Darrel Duckworth [mailto:dduckworth6@hotmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 3:54 PM 
To: Moseley, Katharine P 
Subject: Sudan agreement 
 
Kay, 
 
-----Original Message----- 
 
 
 
 
From:     Hume, Cameron (Khartoum) 
Sent:     Wednesday, December 14, 2005 12:06 PM 
To:       Snyder, Charles R(AF/SPG); Sams, Duane E(AF/SPG) 
Cc:       Moseley, Katharine P; Steinfeld, Andrew 
          W(Khartoum) 
Subject:  BBG Waiver 
 
Gentlemen, 
  I will fax to SPG today correspondence relating to a BBG 
request to OFAC to renew license SU-1207.  You may already 
have a copy of this. 
  Some of the prose is obscure to me, but it seems there are 
two issues: 1) permission to export from Harris Corp in 
Quincy, Illinois, $600k of FM broadcasting equipment for 
Radio Sawa; 2) permission to export $2million of spares from 
Harris for the Sudan Radio Corporation, a transaction that 
would facilitate BBG operations here to some extent.  #1 is 
a no brainer, it would appear; #2 could well be in our 
interest. 
  Could you coordinate in Washington on this, as all of the 
action agencies are there? BBG should be able to provide 
quickly any additional information.  Of course, we will in 
Khartoum do whatever we can to move it forward. 
  Thanks for your help.  Cameron 
 
 
 
 
 
 -----Original Message----- 
From:     Hume, Cameron (Khartoum) 
Sent:     Monday, December 12, 2005 12:37 PM 
To:       Ranneberger, Michael E(AF Front Office); Snyder, 
          Charles R(AF/SPG) 
Cc:       Padilla, Chris; Steinfeld, Andrew W(Khartoum); 
          Whitaker, Eric P 
Subject:  USG FM Radio in Sudan! 
 
  The Board of Broadcast Governors is in the last stages of 
concluding an agreement (expected to be signed here in 
January) to set up about 10 FM broadcasting stations 
throughout Sudan.  These stations will broadcast Radio Sawa, 
using a special "Sudan Stream" of programming.  This 
agreement will be a major step forward for USG public 
diplomacy in Sudan, and it should have positive spin-off 
effects on the domestic political evolution here. 
  Normally, BBG would use equipment from the Harris 
Corporation in Illinois, but OFAC has already determined 
that USG sanctions prohibit this export (even though the end 
user is the U.S. government!).  Isn't this crazy?  Why 
should the USG sanction its own programs?  Wouldn't even 
Senator Obama understand a waiver for this export?  I have 
asked for more precise information on this issue; I am 
inclined to ask that a waiver be considered to permit this 
export. 
  Sudan's own radio corporation has also used Harris 
equipment and now is in need of replacement parts.  A 
request relevant to that might also make sense, but I 
understand that would be a subsequent issue. 
  Let me know if you have any advice on how best to raise 
this.  Thanks.  Cameron 
 
 
 
We have received the OFAC license.  Unfortunately, it does 
not permit the procurement of the MW spare parts as the 
Comittee had told IBB earlier in the week.  It does permit 
us to broadcast in Sudan.  This is an unfortunate turn of 
events.  The state department input was " not consistent 
with current U.S. Policy.  ".  I am still planning a trip to 
Khartoum wih hat in hand to try to get a signing of the 
agreement.  We may need to increase the quid to get 
signing.  If we can not get an agreement signed soon we will 
lose the money. 
 
I will be in Washington May 21-26 to get my visa.  I will 
keep in touch. 
 
 
 
I have just learned today of the favorable decision on the 
spare parts.  We will be forwarding the License to the 
USEmbassy Khartoum as soon as I receive it.  We have 
committed $100,000 FOR THE SPARE PARTS.  I will ask Kay 
Mosely to request a signing date for the agreement from Mr. 
Omer. 
Please advise your Ministry of Foreign affairs , that I will 
be in Washington the 
 
 
The spare parts issue is be held by State department.  If 
the State department Sudan desk would give the approval then 
 
the ofac license will be issued and the spare parts purchase 
can be made.  To date (since December) the Sudan desk in 
State Deparment hass not given their approval.  I ahve 
exchanged emails with Kay and she and the COM have requested 
State to give their input.  State has yet provided and are 
dragging their feet fearing SRTC will use the spare parts to 
bring a transmitter into service that will broadcasst 
programs detrimental to US interests. 
 
Our feeling is that not having Radio Sawa in place is a 
greater detriment to US Interests than any broadcastss by 
the SRTC.  it seems to be a catch 22.  We can not get Radio 
Sawa into Sudan to provide alternative news unless State 
gives their approval for the spare parts.  We (IBB) are 
hopeful state will see the error in their logic. 
 
 
 
 
The spare parts is a quid for the SRTC 
>if we can get the authorization.  I fwe do not get the 
authorization 
>for the spare parts then we will ahve more problems with 
the to get the 
>new equipment.  It appears that the only fly is in the 
State response. 
>If State gives a positive supportive response to the spare 
parts we 
>will proceed with the agreement and the new equipment 
requests. 
 
 
 
To:   Assistant Director for          From:   Mr. Jan S. McNutt 
     Licensing                              Assistant General 
     ATTN: Jan Brown                            Counsel 
Fax:  (202) 622-0447                  Pages:  1 (including cover) 
Phone                                 Date:   January 3, 2006 
: 
Subje Case # SU-1686                  Tel:    202-203-4550 
ct    License # SU-1207 
                                      Fax:    202-203-4585 
 
 
Dear Ms. Brown: 
 
Further to my facsimile dated December 28, 2005, in response 
to  your request for information concerning the spare  parts 
we  addressed  in our letter dated November  8,  2005.   The 
Harris Corporation informed use today that all the parts  we 
are  considering  for export to Sudan are classified  EAR99. 
This   includes   both  Harris  made   and   vendor   parts. 
Previously,  Harris was not sure of the  vendor  parts,  but 
confirmed  to us today that these are also EAR99.   All  the 
parts  are  used in and are part of the model  DX-600  600kW 
Medium  Wave  transmitter, which Harris Corporation  designs 
and manufactures. 
 
We  hope  this information is useful to you.  Please contact 
us if you require additional information. 
 
Regards, 
 
Jan S. McNutt 
Assistant General Counsel