VZCZCXYZ0012
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKH #1908/01 3380828
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 040828Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9426

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001908 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/SPG, AF/E 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID SU
SUBJECT: BEJA CONGRESS: WE NEED INVESTMENT IN THE EAST 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: In an introductory call with CDA on December 3, 
Beja Congress president and Presidential Advisor Dr. Amna Dirar 
stressed the need for investment in the eastern states of Kassala, 
Gedarif and Red Sea to promote development in the impoverished 
region ("Now, it's just us and the sun"). CDA concurred with the 
need to increase awareness of the region, noting that issues in 
Darfur and the south absorbed virtually all international attention. 
Dr. Dirar also discussed the relatively positive status of ESPA 
implementation during the meeting. End summary. 
 
----------------------- 
ESPA GENERALLY ON TRACK 
----------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Dr. Dirar characterized implementation of the Eastern Sudan 
Peace Agreement (ESPA) in generally positive terms, saying that the 
three broad protocols agreed to were largely on track. The ESPA, 
signed in October 2006 and the most recent of Sudan's peace 
agreements, calls for cooperation in power-sharing, economic/social 
and security arrangements. She said that the integration of former 
Eastern Front combatants into the Sudanese armed forces and military 
academies was proceeding, though development and reconstruction 
plans had only been completed the day before. (Note: In previous 
meetings with poloffs, presidential assistant and Eastern Front 
chairperson Mousa Ahmed expressed similar views. End note.) 
 
------------------------------------- 
INVESTMENT CRITICAL FOR EAST'S FUTURE 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The ESPA also called for US 100 million in development 
funding in 2007 (US 600 million in total through 2011), she said, 
which was slowly forthcoming. Development priorities were being 
decided by local administrators in the three states; key priorities 
included primary healthcare, access to education and clean drinking 
water. Dr. Dirar emphasized how barren and poor the region was, 
quoting the late John Garang as telling her, "You don't even have 
trees!" Women still died in childbirth, she said, and the mortality 
rate for children under five was the highest in the country. CDA 
agreed that it was essential to address basic economic needs in the 
east, an area in many ways more destitute and marginalized than 
Darfur. Noting Red Sea State's long coastline, Dr. Dirar said the 
area was ripe for investment in fisheries, agriculture and even 
tourism. She also thought that a free trade zone could be developed 
there. 
 
¶4. (SBU) CDA asked if U.S. sanctions in Sudan affected investment in 
the east.  Dr. Dirar said that sanctions had scared off potential 
investors, and told CDA that the east should be exempt from 
sanctions as were Darfur and the south. She admitted that Port Sudan 
has seen development but that city "is really part of Khartoum" not 
the east, especially the desperately impoverished rural east.  She 
compared Chinese investment in the area to a "giant rat that eats 
everything." The east needs factories, skills/capacity building and 
greater access to education, she said, adding that the east had the 
potential to rival the Gulf. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The lack of infrastructure and basic necessities had also 
prevented many refugees from returning after the ESPA was signed, 
she told CDA. Port Sudan was an exception to the poverty prevalent 
in the region, she added. CDA noted that while the US provided 
support in the east through NGOs, there was no direct funding. The 
US should view the east as a distinct entity, like the south and 
Darfur, and not just part of the "rest" of Sudan, he said, telling 
Dr. Dirar that he hoped the US would develop special programs 
targeted at the east although Darfur and the South would remain as 
main concerns of the U.S. 
 
----------------------------------- 
FROM ARMED GROUP TO POLITICAL PARTY 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) On the Eastern Front coalition of the Rashaida Free Lions 
and the Beja Congress, Dr. Dirar said that it was very difficult to 
make the transition from an armed group to a political party. She 
said that the Eastern Front differed from other movements (like the 
SLM and SPLM) in Sudan in that it was truly comprehensive; the party 
included all the tribes of the east, she said, and not just Rashaida 
or Beja. Both parties wanted to change their names so as to be more 
inclusive to other eastern ethnic groups. When CDA asked whether the 
Eastern Front had participated in any political party training, Dr. 
Dirar said that it had been tried in Asmara, but "people were 
afraid." This is a sensitive subject, she noted, but Eritrea is not 
a good model for us because it is a one-party state. Eritrea had 
played an influential role in the Beja Congress, she said; when the 
CDA asked her about the Hadendewa tribe, she said that Eritrean 
pressure had led them to be expelled from the congress in 1994 
because they were seen as too Islamist. Islamism didn't depend on 
ethnicity, CDA noted, but on ideology. Dr. Dirar agreed, saying 
"We're proud of our democratic minds in the east." 
¶7. (SBU) Comment: The most recent of Sudan's three peace agreements, 
the ESPA seems not to have been plagued by the acrimony and distrust 
associated with the CPA and DPA. This may be because the ESPA hasn't 
benefited - or suffered - from the same international and domestic 
scrutiny. While implementation has been slow, Eastern Front 
representatives have taken up their allocated positions in local and 
national government. The region is arguably the most underdeveloped 
in the country, and it is critical that we begin to look at how we 
can support its development.  Post will reach out to additional 
contacts in/from the east to deepen our reporting on this region, 
which often gets sidelined due to Darfur and CPA reporting, while 
realizing that our main focus will remain elsewhere. End comment. 
 
FERNANDEZ