VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKH #0340 0691240
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 091240Z MAR 08  ZDK PER UR REQUEST
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0141
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000340 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF SU
SUBJECT: SLM/ABDUL WAHID TO LAUNCH OFFICE IN ISRAEL 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary: Abdul Wahid Al Nur has announced that the SLM will 
open an office in Tel Aviv and praised the Israeli government for 
giving refuge to Darfur to protect them from genocide.  While NCP 
officials and much of the Sudanese media condemned Al Nur's 
statements, reaction in Darfur is largely positive given wide-spread 
resentment against both the regime in Khartoum and Arabs in general. 
 End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) In a February 26 announcement, Sudan Liberation Movement 
(SLM) leader Abdulwahid Al Nur confirmed earlier press reports that 
the SLM had opened an office in Israel.  "The office was created by 
some SLM members who sought refuge in Israel from the killings by 
the Sudanese Government."  He further praised Israel for "protecting 
Darfur's youth from genocide."  Al-Nur maintains that the new office 
is consistent with the SLM's attempts to remain active outside 
Sudan. 
 
¶3. (U) "Now we have an office in Israel like we do in Egypt, Libya, 
Kenya, USA, Britain and other countries," said Nur.  Regarding the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Al-Nur stated that "according to the 
precepts of the SLM, the two peoples, Israelis and Palestinians, 
should recognize each other and peacefully co-exist as neighbors." 
Al-Nur emphasized that he is not afraid of repercussions among Arab 
or Islamist constituencies, affirming that he is a Muslim who knows 
the Quran.  The "revolution" in Darfur will change Sudan's internal 
and external policies, said Al Nur, including the prohibition on 
relations with Israel. 
 
¶4.  (U) In response to the announcement of the SLM office in Israel, 
the National Congress Party (NCP) launched an aggressive, 
large-scale media campaign to discredit Al Nur, asserting that his 
relationship with Tel Aviv will lead to the rejection of his 
leadership and his "political death."  One NCP official stated that 
the SLM's ties with Israel conflicted with Darfur's Islamic values. 
Senior Presidential Advisor Nafie Ali Nafie, the hardline NCP 
Sec retary for Political Affairs who holds the Darfur portfolio 
within the Sudanese Government, accused Al Nur of planting Sudanese 
in Israel to convert them to Judaism and to effect a normalization 
of relations between Khartoum and Jerusalem.  "Opening an office in 
Israel is material proof that the Darfur crisis is manipulated by 
foreign hands and the Jewish lobby," said Nafie.  State Minister of 
Information and NCP Secretary of Information Kamal Obeid said that 
Al Nur's move targets Sudan's "unity and faith."  Pro-NCP 
journalists and columnists wrote articles describing Al Nur's step 
as the beginning of his political end. Sudanese television featured 
Al-Nur's image backed by the Israeli flag and pictures of the 
Palestinian suffering in Gaza in some reports.  Some reports claimed 
that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have captured arms and 
ammunition from rebel-controlled areas that is manufactured in 
Israel. 
 
¶5.  (U) Osman Muhammad Yousif Kibir, the Wali of North Darfur State, 
condemned Al Nur's announcement during a February 3 protest in El 
Fasher against Danish cartoons criticizing Islam.  Kibir called on 
the international community and the Sudanese Government to bypass Al 
Nur in future peace negotiations.  He described Al Nur as a 
communist and a secularist who "would gain nothing from Israel 
except a few cents and then will be thrown away." The pro-government 
Fur Shura (Consultative) Council also said in a press release that 
Abdul Wahid does not represent them and that this move was not 
endorsed by them. 
 
¶6.  (U) Hussein Abu-Sharati, a prominent IDP leader and head of the 
indigenous Fur native administration that is opposed to Khartoum, 
said in a public statement that Darfur IDPs support the inauguration 
of an SLM office in Tel Aviv and are happy to see a country like 
Israel opening its doors to ease the suffering of the people of 
Darfur. Abu-Sharati told Sudan Tribune that after five years of 
atrocities and suffering caused by "the so-called brothers in Islam, 
we understood where that hatred can lead.  Why did these people not 
demonstrate against the killings and rape of Darfur's people?  What 
is more important, these atrocities or the opening of an office in 
Israel?" 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment: Al Nur's popularity in Darfur, particularly among 
the Fur, and the vehement resentment of Darfur's African tribes 
against perceived exploitation by Arab groups provides some 
political cover for Al Nur to open an office in Israel.  While the 
utility of the SLM office in Israel is minimal, Al Nur's 
announcement is yet another example of his deft manipulation of the 
Darfurian body politic and ability to antagonize the regime. The 
move also feeds into the ruling NCP's well-developed paranoia that 
events in Darfur are the work of well-organized foreign players, the 
"Zionist Lobby" being one of the most prominent of these alleged 
entities. 
 
FERNANDEZ