VZCZCXRO0357
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1037 1820955
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 010955Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7763
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI PRIORITY 0193
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 001037 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF FOR A/S FRAZER, AF/SPG, SE NATSIOS 
NSC FOR PITTMAN, SHORTLEY 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2017 
TAGS: KPKO PGOV PHUM PREL UN AU SU
SUBJECT: IRC PRESIDENT SEES TANGIBLE IMPROVEMENT IN GOS 
COOPERATION 
 
 
Classified By: CDA Alberto M. Fernandez, Reason: Section 1.4 (b) and (d 
) 
 
 ¶1. (SBU) CDA met with International Rescue Committee 
President George Rupp and his visiting delegation (and IRC 
Country Representative Nicky Smith) to get a sense of their 
week-long stay in Sudan and interaction with the GOS.  The 
delegation was generally quite pleased with their meetings 
with GOS officials, which included MFA, NISS, HAC and others. 
 They had made time to wait for appointments and meet with 
Sudanese officials and had gotten the meetings and answers 
they had sought.  They sensed a much more cooperative spirit 
coming from the Sudanese side, with the NISS offering to "run 
interference" with Humanitarian Affairs officials (many of 
whom have an intelligence background themselves) to get 
approval for visas and travel documents.  They said that they 
are optimistic that circumstances are slowly improving for 
IRC in Sudan and they had seen "tangible progress over the 
past few days" in getting approvals for their staff.  They 
cautioned that "we are not out of the woods just yet" but 
felt confident that they will have "increased space for 
humanitarian operations" in Sudan. 
 
¶2. (SBU)  IRC was very appreciative of USG support in keeping 
the pressure on the GOS and in getting the Humanitarian 
Access Agreement approved.  This is finally paying off with 
the GOS.  They noted that the relationship was "conflicted, 
they will never love us," but it is "actually getting better 
before our eyes" and the Sudanese now understood that IRC had 
a 27 year history of helping the Sudanese people, that they 
were not going anywhere and that IRC was non-political and 
had nothing to do with foreign advocacy organizations which 
may have a political axe to grind against the GOS.  IRC and 
CDA Fernandez agreed to continue to cooperate closely for a 
consistent improvement in humanitarian access and to 
encourage the GOS to follow through over time with more 
positive steps. 
 
¶3. (C) COMMENT: In recent meetings with senior GOS officials, 
such as the late Presidential Advisor Magzoub al-Khalifa and 
Minister of State Ali Karti, both of them hardliners with a 
Darfur focus, the GOS made it clear that they were going to 
improve the working relationship with the NGO community 
working in Sudan.  This was being done not out of any sense 
of altruism or common purpose but because they clearly 
understood the utility of using the operational NGOs working 
on the ground in Sudan against the much more shrill advocacy 
NGOs calling for tough action against the Khartoum regime in 
the West. As IRC pointed out, there is no love lost between 
them and the GOS and yet they also see a qualitative gap 
between their practical humanitarian work on the ground, 
helping real people, and posturing on an international stage 
that can have negative repercussions inside Sudan.  This is a 
case of cynical exploitation by the GOS and allowing oneself 
to be used by them that is resulting in improving access for 
humanitarian aid workers and improved delivery of services. 
It isn't pretty but the end result is what we want to see and 
encourage more of from the regime.  END COMMENT. 
FERNANDEZ