VZCZCXRO4371
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHGI RUEHKUK RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1585 2821239
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 091239Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8785
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001585 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR A/S FRAZER, AF/SPG, AF/SE NATSIOS 
NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON, D, NEA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO AU SU UN
SUBJECT:  DEMARCHE REQUEST: ARAB DONORS CONFERENCE ON DARFUR 
 
¶1. (SBU) Note: This cable contains an action request. Please see 
para 4. End note. The Arab League, the government of Sudan and other 
regional entities are planning an Arab donors conference on Darfur 
to be held October 30-31 in Khartoum. Foreign Minister Lam Akol and 
presidential advisor Mustafa Osman Ismail are the primary sponsors 
on the Sudanese side, and Saudi Arabia is scheduled to co-preside. 
In a preparatory committee meeting hosted by the Sudanese MFA in 
Khartoum on October 6, organizers advised Sudanese ambassadors in 
Arab states to publicize the event through news conferences and 
other media. Most Arab countries are expected to send 
representatives, as well as the Sudanese Red Crescent and local NGOs 
and civil society groups. 
 
¶2. (SBU) According to Hassan Bargo, one of the conference organizers 
and an NCP leader, the conference is intended to promote a political 
settlement in Darfur as well as provide humanitarian assistance. ICC 
indictee and State Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Haroun has 
stated that the conference will encourage "resettlement" in Darfur, 
claiming in a briefing with the Sudanese Council for Voluntary 
Associations (SCOVA) that Darfur is seeing large numbers of 
voluntary repatriations. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Abdul Aziz Sam, director of legal administration in the 
Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA), has sharply 
criticized the conference, saying that any donor activities must be 
coordinated through the TDRA. In a press conference held over the 
weekend, Mr. Sam said that in May 2006 Minni Minawi, chairperson of 
the TDRA, and Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa had agreed to 
hold an Arab donors conference for humanitarian operations in 
Darfur, and that the NCP was now trying to hijack the process. He 
feared that any pledges would go "into the mouths of crocodiles" and 
not to the people of Darfur. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Action request: Post requests that AF coordinate with 
counterparts in NEA to demarche host governments in Arab States and 
make the following points: 
 
-- The U.S. welcomes greater Arab participation in resolving the 
conflict in Darfur. 
 
--  The U.S. is not opposed to Arab states sending representatives 
to the conference, but cautions them to avoid endorsing a purely 
government of Sudan "reconstruction" process that formalizes facts 
on the ground, such as ethnic cleansing and land expulsions, at the 
expense of Darfur's refugees and IDPs. 
 
-- The U.S. will be closely monitoring the conference, looking at 
the amounts of money pledged and the projects and undertakings to 
which money is directed. 
 
-- We believe that the TDRA, or even better, multi-lateral agencies 
of the UN are more responsible and transparent vehicles for the 
solidarity of Arab governments with Darfur.