VZCZCXRO7060
PP RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1900/01 2221547
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101547Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4095
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001900 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AIDAC 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR AF/SPG, PRM, AND ALSO PASS USAID/W 
USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AFR/SP 
NAIROBI FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA, USAID/REDSO, AND FAS 
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH 
NAIROBI FOR SFO 
NSC FOR JBRAUSE, NSC/AFRICA FOR TSHORTLEY 
USUN FOR TMALY 
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI KAWC SU
SUBJECT:  SUDAN - STATUS OF THE BORDER COMMITTEE 
 
KHARTOUM 00001900  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (SBU) The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) Implementation 
Modalities call for the establishment of a Technical ad hoc Border 
Committee to demarcate the January 1, 1956 North-South Sudan border. 
 This committee, which was established in November 2005, has met 
three times to deal with primarily administrative issues, but has so 
far failed to address any issues of substance.  On July 31, in Juba, 
USAID/Sudan staff met with Simon Kun, a Sudan People's Liberation 
Movement (SPLM) representative to this committee, to discuss the 
committee's activities and the possibility of setting up a U.S. 
government (USG) program of technical assistance for the SPLM 
committee members.  In addition to facing stalling tactics by the 
National Congress Party (NCP), the SPLM membership does not have 
access to colonial-era maps, the necessary attention of SPLM 
leadership, or the technical capacity to move the committee's agenda 
forward.  End summary. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Structure and Meetings of Border Committee 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Since its establishment in November 2005, the Border 
Committee has met once to deal with financial issues, a second time 
to address procedural issues such as quorum and consensus, and a 
third time to discuss forming three subcommittees to deal with each 
of the two aforementioned subjects as well as technical issues of 
border demarcation.  The committee has only met when an NCP member 
has called the meeting; requests by the SPLM members to meet have 
been ignored.  The committee is comprised of 11 NCP members and 7 
SPLM members; it thus requires 6 NCP and 4 SPLM members to 
constitute a quorum.  In all three meetings to date, only two or 
three NCP members have been present to meet with the delegation of 
seven SPLM members.  The Presidency of the Government of National 
Unity (GNU) provided airfare for the SPLM members on all three 
occasions, but did not provide lodging or transport in Khartoum. 
Kun claims that the maps from the Sudan Survey Department that were 
brought to one of the committee meetings by the NCP had been visibly 
altered.  A British researcher, Doug Johnson, has sent some maps and 
other border-related research by email to Kun, but Kun believes the 
SPLM members need access to the original maps. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The original SPLM co-chairman of the committee, Michael 
Moquai, stepped down early in 2006 because he did not want to report 
to the NCP chairman, who is of lower military rank than Moquai. 
Moquai has not been replaced on the committee, and he declined to 
meet with USAID staff in Juba.  USAID staff showed a list of the 
Border Committee membership to Deng Alor (Minister of Cabinet 
Affairs to the GNU), Yassir Arman (Chair of the SPLM Caucus in the 
National Assembly), and Pagan Amum (Secretary General of the SPLM); 
however, they were all unable to identify the committee's SPLM 
members, with the exception of Kun. (Comment:  Presumably, 
Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) President Salva Kiir signed off 
on the appointments of the SPLM representatives to the Border 
Committee; however, the fact that core members of the movement only 
recognized one of the SPLM members on the list suggests that the 
GOSS did not appoint SPLM members with significant clout in the 
movement.  This calls into question whether the SPLM realizes the 
critical linkage between the activities of the Border Committee and 
several other major CPA implementation issues, and whether those 
representing the movement on the committee will be able to hold the 
attention of SPLM leadership during the course of the committee's 
work.  End comment.) 
 
¶4. (SBU) It is clear that SPLM leadership is not seized with the 
Border Committee, despite its importance relative to oil revenue 
division, the census, and the national elections anticipated in 
2008-2009.  Kun recently discussed the Border Committee with GOSS 
President Salva Kiir, who agreed that the committee is critically 
linked to other CPA implementation issues, but expressed concern 
about the lack of SPLM technical capacity.  After returning from the 
committee's third meeting in Khartoum, the SPLM members requested a 
meeting with President Kiir.  President Kiir's schedule did not 
permit a meeting, so an SPLM member de-briefed GOSS Vice President 
Riek Machar instead.  No clear reporting structure exists to keep 
SPLM leadership abreast of the Border Committee's activities.  Kun, 
also a member of the Southern Legislative Assembly, intends to brief 
the GoSS legislature in September. 
 
 
KHARTOUM 00001900  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
--------------------------------------- 
SPLM Delegation to the Border Committee 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The SPLM delegation to the Border Committee is comprised of 
experts, including two engineers, one geographer, and one individual 
with survey training.  However, it is clear that they do not match 
the technical skills of the NCP membership.  Given the NCP's 
suspicion following the Abyei Boundaries Commission's (ABC) decision 
that the USG is unduly influencing the outcome of border-related 
disputes in Sudan, it is important to provide any technical 
assistance to the Border Committee as quietly as possible.  USAID 
staff discussed with Kun the possibility of arranging a trip for 
some or all of the SPLM committee members to London (colonial 
archives), Durham University Library, and the Library of Congress in 
Washington, which would provide the SPLM an opportunity to view 
original colonial-era maps.  It is likely that the SPLM members 
would need technical advice on-site at these locations in order to 
properly interpret the maps. 
 
¶6. (SBU) USAID staff also discussed with Kun the possibility of 
bringing a technical advisor to southern Sudan to conduct a workshop 
with the SPLM committee members, providing copies of the necessary 
maps and briefing them on the issue.  USAID staff provided several 
copied maps from the Library of Congress to Kun at this meeting, 
which he plans to show to the other SPLM committee members.  Kun 
agreed to send USAID an updated list of the SPLM committee members 
and their locations in the South.  USAID staff agreed to discuss 
with USAID headquarters what resources are available to accommodate 
the SPLM's technical needs in regard to the Border Committee. 
 
HUME