VZCZCXRO5377
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #2919/01 3621029
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 281029Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5676
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 002919 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AIDAC 
SIPDIS 
 
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 PMARCHAM, MMAGAN, AND TSHORTLEY 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
USUN FOR TMALY 
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/28/2026 
TAGS: EAID KDEM PGOV PHUM PREF SOCI SU KHDP
SUBJECT: SUDAN - INCREASING DISCONTENT AMONG THE MISSERIYA 
GROUP IN ABYEI 
 
KHARTOUM 00002919  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: P/E Chief E. Whitaker, Reason:  Section 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  On November 16, a crowd of 700 demonstrated 
in the Misseriya town of Al Fula, Southern Kordofan State, to 
protest the Government of National Unity,s (GNU) failure to 
provide the Misseriya people with their share of oil 
revenues.  In a subsequent meeting on November 18, the 
Misseriya Paramount Chief told a USAID representative that 
his people sacrificed for Sudan,s peace and that they are 
not seeing the expected benefits from their efforts.  The 
Paramount Chief believes that the Comprehensive Peace 
Agreement (CPA) did not resolve the major issues between the 
Misseriya and Dinka around Abyei and feels that this lack of 
resolution, together with the findings of the Abyei 
Boundaries Commission (ABC), is likely to cause increased 
tensions and conflict as the census, elections, and 
referendum unfold.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
Demonstrations in Al Fula against the Central Government 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) According to the local newspaper Ray Al Shaab, 
approximately 700 people and 20 speakers gathered at Al Fula 
on November 16 to protest the GNU,s failure to implement CPA 
provisions that allocate portions of oil revenue from the 
area to the Misseriya people.  (Note:  With the signing of 
the CPA, Western Kordofan State * an area populated 
primarily by the Misseriya ethnic group * was split and 
integrated into Northern and Southern Kordofan states.  The 
CPA allocated 1 percent of oil revenues coming from Southern 
Kordofan to the area that was formerly Western Kordofan.  In 
addition, 2 percent of revenues from the oil-rich Abyei area 
was allocated to the Misseriya, and another 2 percent split 
equally between former Western Kordofan and Southern 
Kordofan.  End note.) 
 
¶3. (C) The protesters demanded their share of the region,s 
oil profits, comparing the lack of development in Misseriya 
towns to the prosperity of El Jaili, a town north of Khartoum 
that receives a portion of the profits from the oil refinery 
operating there.  The protesters gave the GNU one month to 
respond to these demands.  According to the former Three 
Areas researcher for the CPA,s Assessment and Evaluation 
Commission (AEC), a local security officer in Muglad 
confirmed that the protest took place, but noted that he did 
not believe the Misseriya are currently unified enough to be 
capable of collectively taking up arms against the GNU. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
Misseriya Unification on Wealth-Sharing Issues 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶4. (SBU) The former researcher also stated that the protests 
may have been organized by members of the Al Shamam (People 
of the Misseriya) organization.  Al Shamam was founded in a 
conference held in Khartoum between May 15 and 17, 2006, with 
a mission of bringing together the Misseriya people to ensure 
that they receive their share of the country,s wealth.  The 
director of Al Shamam is former Labor Union leader Suliman 
Debelo. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Discontent with Progress of the Western Kordofan Fund 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶5. (C) During a meeting with a USAID representative, the 
Misseriya Paramount Chief, Emir Mukhtar Babu Nimir, stated 
that the Misseriya made important concessions during peace 
negotiations by agreeing to integrate Western Kordofan into 
Southern Kordofan for the sake of peace; however, many 
Misseriya remain unhappy with the outcome.  To appease the 
Misseriya, an appendix was added to the CPA establishing the 
Western Kordofan Fund (WKF), to which the GNU is to transfer 
funds for development in Misseriya areas.  According to the 
Paramount Chief, the GNU has allocated approximately USD 1 
million to this fund.  However, the Paramount Chief stated 
that the Misseriya people have not seen benefits from the WKF 
and believe that the individuals running the fund, including 
Director General Ahmed Sahli Saloha, are sympathetic to the 
 
KHARTOUM 00002919  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
GNU and corrupt.  Both the Paramount Chief and the former AEC 
researcher indicated that local community leaders have 
claimed that those managing the fund are using the money as 
bribes to gain political support in future elections. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The Paramount Chief also noted that Misseriya 
leaders and communities had come together and identified 
development priorities for Misseriya areas, but that this 
document had not been considered by the fund,s manager. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
Paramount Chief: Abyei Situation Moving Towards Conflict 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Paramount Chief said that the Misseriya reject 
the ABC,s findings.  The Chief stated that the 
&international experts and educated Dinka (of the ABC)8 
ceded Misseriya land to the Dinka that the Dinka had not 
previously claimed.  (Note:  Following the publishing of the 
ABC,s findings, the Misseriya publicly claimed that Meiram, 
Nama, Heglig, and Kaylak are towns that were given to the 
Dinka that the Dinka had not claimed.  End note.)  The Chief 
noted that traditional leaders from both ethnic groups were 
capable of coming to a peaceful, more reasonable, and widely 
accepted resolution than the ABC,s &academic8 solution, 
which he feels did not consider the current realities of 
people on the ground. 
 
¶8. (C) (Note:  In late September 2006, the Dinka Director of 
the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission 
(SSRRC)/GNU Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) in Abyei, Bol 
Dan Deng, told a USAID representative that Meiram was a 
Misseriya town hosting a majority population of Dinka 
internally displaced persons (IDPs).  Deng warned that 
tensions were rising due to the strain IDPs were putting on 
the town,s resources.  Following this discussion, USAID 
planned to conduct a trip to Meiram to assess the situation 
and determine appropriate support.  On November 9, fighting 
broke out between militia allied to the Sudan People,s 
Liberation Army (SPLA) and remnants of the pro-Sudanese Armed 
Forces (SAF) militia in the area, forcing the planned USAID 
trip to be cancelled.  The fighting caused approximately 
4,000 Dinka IDPs to flee to Majok Yeithou, a town 120 km 
south of Meiram in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State.  End note.) 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Paramount Chief told the USAID representative 
that in January 2002, the Misseriya and Dinka had worked out 
a peace agreement, which determined that Meiram, Nama, 
Heglig, and Kaylak belong to the Misseriya.  He specifically 
expressed disappointment in Francis Deng, a prominent Dinka 
leader who had lived in the house of the Misseriya Paramount 
Chief,s father for some years while studying.  According to 
the Paramount Chief, Francis Deng became &educated8 and has 
supported the ABC,s findings over traditional agreements. 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Paramount Chief explained that he believed that 
the lack of clarity in the CPA about what defines the 
&people of Abyei8 and Abyei,s unresolved boundaries issue 
has created a situation that could result in conflict.  He 
noted that the CPA did not specify if Misseriya living in 
Abyei are considered &people of Abyei,8 since the Abyei 
region was defined as the area of the nine Dinka chiefdoms, 
which can be interpreted to exclude Misseriya living there. 
The Chief stated that if the census were conducted based on 
the geographical boundaries determined by the ABC,s 
findings, and Abyei voted in the referendum not to remain 
part of Northern Sudan, then the primarily Misseriya areas 
inside Abyei region would not accept the decision.  The 
Paramount Chief commented that moving ahead with the census, 
elections, and referendum without the traditional leaders of 
the Dinka and Misseriya coming to an agreement on these 
issues would lead to increasing conflict between the two 
ethnic groups. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Development Could Reduce Conflict Potential 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Conflict between Misseriya herders and Dinka 
farmers is common.  To mitigate potential immediate conflict 
 
KHARTOUM 00002919  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
between the two groups, the Paramount Chief noted that water 
captures (containment structures) are needed along the 
uncontested Misseriya northern portions of three main 
migration routes leading from Misseriya areas in the north 
through Dinka areas in the south.  Misseriya herders migrate 
south each year during the dry season and continue moving 
further south as water supplies dry up.  These water captures 
would slow the pace and extent of Misseriya migration, 
enabling some Misseriya to settle near these water sources 
and others to arrive in Dinka areas later in the dry season, 
when they pose less of a threat to farmers, crops.  USAID is 
considering providing support to increase the number of water 
captures in uncontested Misseriya areas along these key 
routes.  (Comment:  Widespread fighting between the Misseriya 
and Dinka would threaten to unravel the CPA.  Misseriya and 
Dinka leaders agree that providing more resources to 
encourage Misseriya settlement in uncontested Misseriya areas 
would reduce conflict between the two groups.  End comment.) 
HUME