VZCZCXRO8821
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1873 3331244
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291244Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9348
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001873 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, AF SE NATSIOS 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: BASHIR MEETS WITH UMMA PARTY CHIEF SADIQ AL-MAHDI 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) President Bashir met with opposition Umma party leader 
Sadiq al-Mahdi on November 27 to discuss "national reconciliation," 
according to the media. Presidential advisor and National Congress 
Party (NCP) Vice President Nafie Ali Nafie in press statements 
characterized the meeting as fruitful and emphasized the need to 
agree on national issues. 
 
¶2. (SBU) In a meeting with poloffs November 29, Al-Mahdi 
characterized the Umma-NCP meeting as merely a preliminary contact, 
where the agenda was set for possible future cooperation.  Al-Mahdi 
said that he and Bashir agreed to form a "Joint Committee" to 
discuss four issues: consolidating and improving the current peace 
agreements (CPA, DPA, ESPA); essential freedoms; elections; and 
Darfur. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Al-Mahdi acknowledged that the NCP's overture to the Umma 
Party was probably a public relations ploy.  However he said the 
Umma party will use it as a means of advancing its own agenda. 
Al-Mahdi has proposed a "National Conference" to expand 
participation in the political arena to other groups besides the NCP 
and SPLM.  He downplayed any notion that the Umma party would form a 
coalition with the NCP, noting that the Umma party also met recently 
with the SPLM.  Moreover, he said the Umma party has "commitments" 
to 38 other parties in which it is formed an opposition coalition. 
Mahdi said the Umma party is prepared for elections in 2009, while 
the two CPA signatories are not. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Regarding the current NCP-SPLM standoff, Al-Mahdi observed 
that the SPLM is conflicted and has some internal issues they need 
to deal with.  However, he suggested that the NCP needs to be more 
inclusive in its dealings with others, both in Sudan and with the 
international community.  Al-Mahdi blamed the international 
community for assuming that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) 
brought peace to Sudan.  He suggested that it had just stopped an 
"active conflict" and at the same time ignored North/North and 
South/South conflicts, which are being played out now.  Meanwhile, 
the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) was "born dead" according to 
Al-Mahdi, and the ESPA was "between the governments of Sudan and 
Eritrea."  He reminded poloffs that he has told many U.S. Envoys 
that these peace agreements need to be "revisited and reformed." 
Al-Mahdi also blamed Sudan's conflicts on the current "totalitarian" 
regime, which he said had adopted a "specific Islamist monolithic 
ideology" when it came to power, which excluded many of Sudan's 
citizens. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Comment: Both the NCP and the SPLM have reached out 
recently to the Umma party, not only to voice their grievances 
regarding the current political crisis, but also to begin laying the 
groundwork for possible alliances during the 2009 elections.  The 
Umma party is probably the most organized political party in Sudan 
after the NCP, which of course has access to vast amounts of capital 
and controls most (but not all, thanks to the CPA) levers of 
political power in Sudan.  The Umma party also retains a significant 
following in many states, though far less that it had when Al-Mahdi 
was removed in a bloodless coup by Al-Bashir in 1989.  Umma party 
leadership is also more diverse than the NCP leadership, with some 
significant leaders hailing from Western Sudan, although real power 
is still in the Mahdi family. 
 
FERNANDEZ