VZCZCXRO6155
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1646/01 2951629
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 221629Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8909
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI IMMEDIATE 0253
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001646 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, AF S/E NATSIOS, AND AF/SPG 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KPKO UN AU SU
SUBJECT: SLM ADOPTS LEGALISTIC APPROACH TO LIBYA TALKS, 
REJECTS ATTENDANCE WITHIN GNU 
 
REF: KHARTOUM 01488 
 
KHARTOUM 00001646  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
------------------- 
"Political Suicide" 
------------------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Despite UN and African Union efforts to invite the 
Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM)/Minawi to the upcoming Darfur 
peace negotiations in Libya as a member of the Government of 
National Unity (GNU), the SLM characterizes this formulation 
as "political suicide," three senior SLM leaders told Poloff 
on October 20.  Following the National Congress Party (NCP)'s 
designation of Presidential Assistant Nafie Ali Nafie as the 
head of the GNU delegation to the talks, direct association 
with Nafie would undermine the movement's credibility in 
Darfur and prevent them from advocating their positions 
during the negotiations.  The SLM is only prepared to attend 
the talks in its capacity as a signatory to the Darfur Peace 
Agreement (DPA).  The GNU is a fiction, they said, given the 
current crisis between the NCP and the Sudan People's 
Liberation Movement (SPLM), and a GNU delegation will in 
reality be "100 percent" NCP. 
 
----------------- 
An "Enhanced" DPA 
----------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Echoing the position of SLM Chairman Minni Minawi 
(reftel), SLM leaders maintain that the current process 
should result in an "enhanced" DPA rather than a new 
agreement.  While flexible on many components of the 
DPA--including giving up the position of Senior Assistant to 
the President--the SLM leaders stated that the focus of the 
negotiations should be on establishing effective security 
arrangements and further delineating the power and 
wealth-sharing provisions of the agreement to address the 
concerns of the non-signatories.  These more specific power 
and wealth-sharing elements should then be codified, they 
argue, within the national legal framework.  According to the 
SLM, DPA implementation stalled because President Bashir 
delayed the integration of its provisions into the Interim 
National Constitution, despite ratification by the National 
Assembly and the Council of Ministers. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The SLM leaders explained that an enhanced DPA could 
provide legal powers to the Senior Assistant and the chairmen 
of the commissions of the Transitional Darfur Regional 
Authority (TDRA) so that they can address the marginalization 
of the people of Darfur.  Wealth-sharing could be addressed 
by fixing specific amounts of compensation, creating a 
credible mechanism for distributing the funds, and unifying 
the development budgets of the three Darfur states.  The SLM 
leaders contended that a peace process with this approach 
would accommodate the concerns of the DPA non-signatories 
without alienating the SLM.  (Note: Following the 
UN/AU-organized meeting of several rebel movements in Arusha 
in early August, UN/AU officials cited the movements' 
acceptance of "80 to 90 percent" of the DPA as one of the 
principal successes of the event.  End note.) 
 
---------------------- 
A Doctrinaire Approach 
---------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) An example of the SLM's doctrinaire approach to the 
upcoming negotiations is their technical objections to the 
draft cessation of hostilities agreement that the UN/AU 
presented to senior SLM officials on October 18, which the 
UN/AU intends as the first order of business in Libya.  The 
title--"Declaration on a Cessation of Hostilities"--and the 
absence of any reference to the DPA or the N'djamena 
Humanitarian Cease-fire Agreement ignored the existence of 
previous cease-fire mechanisms that were still binding on all 
of the parties, according to the SLM leaders.  They suggested 
that "commitment" replace "declaration" in order to account 
for these prior documents.  The SLM representatives further 
objected to the use of "renewed" in reference to the upcoming 
negotiations, as it inaccurately implies that the 
negotiations were "between the same parties" as the Abuja 
process. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The SLM considers any changes to the DPA without 
 
KHARTOUM 00001646  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
their consent to be a violation of a legally binding 
agreement and resents the UN/AU's lack of consultation with 
them as the peace process unfolds.  By the UN/AU's own 
admission, their October 18 meeting with the SLM was the 
first time that the movement's participation in the talks and 
its position on the issues were discussed in detail.  The SLM 
finds the absence of UN/AU consultation particularly 
insulting given Minawi's public support for the UN/AU process 
and private efforts to convince non-signatories, such as 
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) faction leaders Bahar Abu 
Gharda and Abdullah Banda, to attend the talks.  End comment. 
 
¶6. (U) Tripoli minimize considered. 
POWERS