VZCZCXYZ0013
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDS #1745/01 1771022
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261022Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1296
INFO RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA PRIORITY 1062
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM PRIORITY 0899
RUEHNJ/AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA PRIORITY 0576

UNCLAS ADDIS ABABA 001745 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/FO AND AF/SPG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM PINS SU AU KPKO
SUBJECT: SUDAN - AU REJECTS SUPPORT TO JEM SPLINTER GROUP 
 
REF: A. STATE 102475 
 
     ¶B. ADDIS ABABA 1615 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  Dissident representatives of the Justice 
and Equality Movement (JEM), a non-signatory to the May 5 
Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), seek USD 200,000 to hold a 
party congress in Addis Ababa to replace JEM leader Khalil 
Ibrahim Muhammed.  While the JEM representatives have 
approached the United States, Canada, the UK, the EU, and the 
African Union to request assistance, neither the AU 
Commission nor partner countries or organizations are 
currently considering providing any financial support in 
response.  AU officials underscore the need for the AU to 
maintain its neutrality among parties in Darfur, particularly 
as it anticipates organizing a lengthy Darfur-Darfur Dialogue 
and Consultation that is to include civil society and 
numerous local groups in Darfur.  An academic expert on Sudan 
considers the JEM to be numerically insignificant, and 
questions the utility of supporting a splinter group of the 
JEM.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Poloff has discussed request by UK and UAE JEM 
representatives, Ibrahim Abdalla and Yousif Abaker for 
assistance to organize a party congress to replace Khalil 
Ibrahim Muhammed (refs A-B), with AU Commission officials as 
well as with representives of Addis Ababa-based partners of 
the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS): NATO, UN, EU, 
Canada, Japan, and European allies, including Germany, Italy, 
Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In addition to Post, the JEM representatives have 
also made the same request independently to the Canadian and 
UK Embassies, as well as to the AU and the European 
Commission.  No partner has announced any intention to 
provide financial assistance for this proposed JEM congress. 
On June 20, the JEM splinter group representatives provided 
the U.S. and Canada with a two-page budget proposal 
requesting USD 200,000 for a proposed three-day congress in 
mid-July, half of which is to cover airfare for 200 persons 
to fly to Addis Ababa. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
AU SEEKS TO MAINTAIN NEUTRALITY AMONG DARFUR PARTIES 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Key AU officials responsible either for Sudan or 
other peace and security issues have stated that the AU 
Commission does not intend to provide support for such a JEM 
congress, for fear of jeopardizing the AU,s neutrality.  In 
a meeting with poloff and other partner representatives on 
June 19, AU Darfur Integrated Task Force POLAD Dr. Solomon 
Gomes acknowledged that AU Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar 
Konare had received the request for assistance from the 
breakaway JEM representatives, but said that Konare had not 
met with them.  Moreover, Gomes observed that as the AU was 
responsible for organizing the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue among 
civil society and other local groups in Darfur, the AU needed 
to maintain strict neutrality and objectivity.  Therefore, he 
explained, the AU could not be seen as promoting or 
participating in a process to remove leaders of a particular 
movement. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In a June 13 briefing by AU Commission Conflict 
Management Director El-Ghassim Wane to AU partner heads of 
mission, Wane acknowledged that the AU had met with "a number 
of rebels," but could not confirm a specific meeting with 
Ibrahim Abdalla and Yousif Abaker.  Wane stated that the AU's 
response to such requests was that signing a statement of 
commitment (as several representatives of the Abdulwahid 
faction of SLM/A had done on June 8) to the May 5 Darfur 
Peace Agreement (DPA) was a prerequisite for discussions on 
the DPA.  Asked the AU's response to the June 7 "Joint 
Statement of Darfur Leaders Abstaining from Signing on Abuja" 
(signed in Asmara by Ahmed Ibrahim Diraige, JEM leader Khalil 
Ibrahim Mohamed, Abdulwahid Mohamed Nour, and Khamis Abdalla 
Abakr), Wane referred to the most recent AU Peace and 
Security Council (PSC) meeting on Darfur.  "Our response is 
our communique of 15 May," he said.  (NOTE: The May 15 AU PSC 
communique, inter alia, "regrets the failure" of the JEM and 
Abdulwahid faction of SLM/A to sign the DPA, urges signature 
by May 31, "failing which it shall consider measures, 
including sanctions, to be applied against the leadership and 
members of concerned groups."  END NOTE.) 
 
¶6. (SBU) Poloff discussed the degree of popular support for 
the JEM with Director of the French Institute for Ethiopian 
Studies Prof. Gerard Prunier, author of a recent book on 
Darfur and a long-time observer of Sudan and Horn of Africa 
issues.  Prunier underscored the small size of the JEM, 
noting that the entire movement was smaller than splinter 
groups of the SLM/A, and that it represented a small 
percentage of the population in Darfur.  Given the JEM's 
limited numbers, Prunier questioned sponsoring a "splinter 
group of a splinter group," and said the resulting faction 
would be politically insignificant. 
 
¶7. (SBU) As instructed by ref A, Post will underscore AU's 
lead on Darfur and possible sanctions against DPA 
non-signatories in any future discussions with the JEM 
representatives.  The AU will discuss the DPA at a June 23 
meeting of the Joint Commission in Addis Ababa convened by AU 
Special Representative for Sudan Amb. Baba Gana Kingibe; a 
ministerial-level AU PSC is expected to address next steps 
against DPA non-signatories at the AU Summit on June 27. 
HUDDLESTON