VZCZCXRO3613
PP RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1613/01 1910813
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 100813Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3603
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001613 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO AMGT AU UN US SU
SUBJECT:  EL FASHER DPA IMPLEMENTATION OFFICE CHALLENGES 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The El Fasher DPA Implementation Office is still 
two weeks away from opening.  While AMIS is engaged in the 
logistical aspects of the facility, they have neither the staffing 
capabilities nor policy guidance to move the operation forward. 
AMIS appears willing to accept support and suggestions from the 
ARC/Embassy field presence, and the team has therefore offered AMIS 
some initial suggestions on organization and mission orientation. 
SLM/Minawi has seen the facility and is eager to move some of his 
people into it.  Lack of AMIS political capacity in the field may 
force the team to engage with AU/AMIS in Khartoum to guide what 
should be an El Fasher/Darfur-oriented process.  Field officers also 
met with UNMIS head of office Niels Scott to make introductions and 
discuss DPA implementation.  END SUMMARY. 
 
DPA IMPLEMENTATION OFFICE BUILDING NEEDS TWO MORE WEEKS 
 
¶2. (SBU) ARC Officers visited the future DPA Implementation Office 
on several occasions, including once with SLM leader Minawi.  Per 
discussions with USAID/OTI implementing partner DAI, steps needed to 
complete the facility include adding razor wire to the low walls, 
installing floodlights, and bringing in a generator from Khartoum. 
Once these issues are resolved, DAI can install the furnishings it 
already has warehoused and AMIS will post guards.  Computers and 
AMIS-provided Internet should shortly follow, along with an 
air-conditioned meeting tent for large gatherings (100 plus 
persons).  DAI hopes to receive a final cost estimate and issue the 
work order to contractor PAE within the next day, and work, short of 
the tent, could be completed within two weeks.  ARC Officers hope to 
use the building immediately after power is up and guards are in 
place. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Minawi said he was pleased with the site and said his 
people needed the office space if they were to start focusing on the 
political process.  While he did not know who would occupy the 
limited space, he directed ARC Officers to engage with SLM/M 
Secretary General Mustafa Terab on matters pertaining to DPA 
 
SIPDIS 
implementation.  ARC Officers had met with Terab earlier, and he 
appeared eager to maintain a strong relationship. 
 
NO AMIS CONOPS YET DEVELOPED FOR IMPLEMENTATION OFFICE 
 
¶4. (SBU) The highest ranking AU/AMIS civilian in El Fasher, 
Ambassador Hassan Gibril, has been away on compassionate leave since 
the ARC arrived in Sudan.  He is not scheduled to return until after 
July 15.  ARC Officers met briefly with his political staffer, 
Elizabeth Mgaya, during their first visit to the AMIS base.  Mgaya 
had recently arrived and was unaware of plans for a DPA 
Implementation Office.  She has also since left on leave.  There are 
no other civilians within AMIS in El Fasher for the team to plug 
into with regards to DPA implementation, leaving AMIS military as 
the only available interlocutor. 
 
¶5. (SBU) During meetings on June 25 and June 27 with Acting (Deputy) 
Force Commander BG Frank Kamanzi, ARC Officers were able to discuss 
some logistics regarding the facility, but were unable to engage BG 
Kamanzi in a discussion of the Implementation Office's mission or 
staffing.  BG Kamanzi said this was a policy matter that would be 
decided in Khartoum and worked through Ambassador Gibril.  He noted 
that the building was unlikely to be completed until Gibril returned 
anyway, and therefore we could afford to wait.  (NOTE: Several 
sources reported that when Force Commander Ihekire, also on leave, 
was present, BG Kamanzi was excluded from most meetings and 
therefore was often not privy to his superior's thinking and plans, 
if any.  Moreover, DAI noted that during its first three meetings 
with Gibril, Gibril had not yet received word or instructions from 
AU headquarters regarding its involvement in the DPA Implementation 
Office.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶6. (SBU) ARC Officers later learned that BG Kamanzi has been 
appointed "Chairperson" for developing an AMIS DPA implementation 
plan and that his deputy, LTC Washington, is the POC and DAI 
interlocutor for matters pertaining to the DPA Implementation 
Office.  ARC Officers held a friendly meeting on July 4 with LTC 
Washington on AMIS staffing plans and other thinking vis-a-vis the 
DPA Implementation Office.  LTC Washington freely admitted that 
while AMIS realized the Office required high-level political 
leadership, they simply do not have anyone.  Nor had they given much 
thought to the Office's function, capabilities, or possible 
activities.  For now, BG Kamanzi had assigned several officers to 
man desks copying their current limited civil affairs functions, 
including an IDP and NGO desk.  The Office and these military 
officers would be managed for the time being by a Major.  On other 
aspects of DPA implementation, Kamanzi called a meeting of his 
sector commanders to instruct them to develop security and 
verification SOPs for various DPA provisions.  The commanders are to 
return for another meeting soon (NFI) to present their plans. 
 
¶7. (SBU) ARC Officers briefed LTC Washington on the support they 
hoped to provide AMIS and the Implementation Office.  He expressed 
willingness to work closely with the team, and take any suggestions 
for staffing and activities under advisement.  ARC officers 
presented Washington with a proposed organizational plan that would 
 
KHARTOUM 00001613  002 OF 002 
 
 
mirror the six commissions/committees established under the DPA and 
that form the basis of the (future) Transitional Darfur Regional 
Authority.  In addition, the team suggested the Office include space 
for an information/public affairs unit.  Finally, space should be 
set aside to represent current and future non-signatory ascendants 
to the DPA.  Washington agreed and promised to present these ideas 
to the Commander.  ARC Officers also offered LTC Washington a 
notional mission statement for the Office, outlining the following 
possible functions: 
 
-- Venue, planning, and production facilities for public outreach 
activities to explain and promote the DPA to the signatories, 
adherents, Darfur constituency, and other interested parties; 
 
-- Facilitation of dialogue and coordination among the signatories 
on implementation issues; 
 
-- Meeting space for signatories, ascendants and key stakeholders, 
including civil society groups and community leaders; 
 
-- Limited office space for the AU, signatories, and adherents; 
 
-- Monitoring, reporting, and analysis of DPA implementation 
activities through "desks" mirroring the structure of the 
Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA); and, 
 
-- A Darfur planning and coordination headquarters for the 
Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation (DDDC). 
 
DPA IMPLEMENTATION IN KHARTOUM LIKELY TO GUIDE EL FASHER 
 
¶8. (SBU) Because AU/AMIS, as well as the UN, leaves policy decisions 
to headquarters in Khartoum, and because SLM/M appears to initially 
be moving much of its political operation to the capital, guidance 
for the El Fasher Implementation Office will probably be guided by 
developments of the office in Khartoum.  Therefore AU DPA 
Implementation lead Ambassador Sam Ibok, recently returned to Sudan 
from yet another consultation with AU headquarters in Addis, will 
continue to be the lynchpin for DPA implementation.  Until the 
Khartoum DPA Implementation Office is leased and is opened, Ibok 
will lack office space and a focus point for implementation 
activities and donated/seconded support staff.  While AU Khartoum is 
wealthier in terms of political/civilian staffing for 
implementation, thus far it is only by a magnitude of one.  As a 
result, ARC officers will work with the Embassy to engage and 
support Ibok's office as quickly as possible. 
 
TOUCHING BASE WITH HEAD OF UNMIS REGIONAL OFFICE 
 
¶9. (SBU) ARC officers and Tod Wilson also met with head of UNMIS 
regional office Niels Scott on July 3 to make introductions and 
discuss UN efforts to date to support the DPA.  Scott noted that the 
UN is only providing "technical assistance" at the moment to AMIS in 
connection with the DPA, as opposed to direct political support.  He 
noted, however, that the UN had formed a DPA Implementation Team 
(DPAT) that would visit El Fasher beginning July 5.  Scott only 
vaguely described the DPAT as an entity to support AMIS in 
implementation and track roadmap progress.  (NOTE: ARC officers are 
seeking a meeting with DPAT and have sent the roadmap document via 
email to Embassy Khartoum and Department.  END NOTE.)  Scott also 
mentioned that he was in contact with SLM leader Minni Minawi on 
issues related to the delivery of humanitarian goods and 
specifically noted both Minawi's interest in humanitarian supply 
routes and his appointment of Adam Ali War as the SLM/M Humanitarian 
Coordinator. 
 
HUME