VZCZCXRO2729
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0368/01 0721349
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 121349Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0181
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000368 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON 
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: ABEL ALIER SUSPICIOUS OF NORTHERN POLITICIANS, BUT ALSO 
URGES GREATER SPLM PARTICPATION ON COMMISSIONS 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Too many agreements have been dishonored, and northern 
political parties are eager to open the CPA and block agreement on 
Abyei, according to former Vice President and current co-chairman of 
the National Constitutional Review Commission Abel Alier.  CDA 
Fernandez met with the elder statesman of Sudanese politics and 
Dinka leader March 9 at Alier's home in Khartoum. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Alier expressed frustration with the lack of agreement on 
Abyei, noting that the solution for Abyei is obvious if northern 
politicians decide to resolve the issue.  Alier said the outlines of 
the Ngok Dinka kingdom in 1905 are well known based on the transfer 
of this territory to Southern Kordofan by the British at that time. 
Even today Dinka names are used for towns in the area.  As late as 
1977 local councils and senior Misseriya officials in Southern 
Kordofan developed maps for use by local administrators in Abyei, 
which he said were derived directly from historic outlines of Abyei. 
 Alier related the story (which we have heard from senior leaders in 
the SPLM such as GOSS Minister of the Presidency Luka Biong Deng) of 
the discovery of several of these maps from 1977, following the 
release of the ABC report, which he claimed had been intentionally 
hidden from the Abyei Boundary Commission (ABC).  (Reportedly the 
maps were discovered behind a file cabinet in a local 
administrator's office in El Obeid.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to Alier, the maps prove the northern boundary of 
Abyei to be even further north than the findings of the ABC report. 
Alier claimed GOSS Vice President Riek Machar brought this to the 
attention of GNU Vice President Ali Osman Taha, but that the NCP 
still refuses to allow a negotiating team unfettered access to the 
area to compare the newly discovered maps with the actual towns. 
Alier also placed the Abyei dispute in the context of northern party 
politics, and implied that the NCP is using its ongoing talks with 
the Umma party to delay resolution on the issue.  "Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi 
doesn't accept the CPA - and Abyei has most of the oil - so the 
people in power whisper to the people in Abyei to prevent an 
agreement."  (Comment: In addition to expressing a common 
misconception that Abyei has most of the oil, Alier seemed to imply 
there may be a northern plot between the NCP and Umma parties to 
deny the South - and the Dinka - access to all the oil they are 
entitled to in Abyei. End Comment.) 
 
¶4. (SBU) Alier said there are Misseriya who know it's in their 
interests to keep the peace, but that the NCP are provoking them and 
stirring up emotions on the issues of land and oil.  Ominously, 
Alier pointed out several times that "naked force is no longer the 
monopoly of any particular group," implying that the SPLA is now 
capable of military solutions as well.  Alier was somewhat 
optimistic about the deployment of the Joint Inspection Units (JIUs) 
along the North-South border.  "It looks like the two parties have 
chosen to be level-headed on this issue." However, Alier alleged 
that the government had embarked on a campaign to "re-draw the 1956 
borders" and had "carved" areas of northern Unity State and Upper 
Nile into northern Sudan.  Alier lamented the perennial weakness of 
the South, the lack of qualified individuals to participate on the 
AEC and other CPA-mandated commissions which has led to South Sudan 
being tricked by better prepared Northerners. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Asked how the U.S. can improve its relations with Sudan, 
Alier urged the U.S. to provide "credible advice about the situation 
in Darfur" and to "be concerned about elections."  Alier noted that 
the elections law has been pending for over a year and said that all 
parties must accept free and fair elections as principles.  "We want 
a law that passes with minimum marks so that if someone plays with 
the elections, what is the punishment?"  Alier said the debate 
regarding direct vs. proportional percentages continued, despite the 
fact that over a year ago all parties including the SPLM had 
accepted the 60/40 split.  "We hope the SPLM will come along," said 
Alier.  He lamented that when the SPLM does not have something to 
offer they "adopt a policy of absenteeism" on the commissions. 
Alier urged that the SPLM engage more actively in the AEC 
commissions, but acknowledged that a "tough group of qualities" is 
required to be successful on the commissions.  He said the SPLA 
needs to find savvy educated negotiators who are tacticians as well 
as subject matter experts. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Despite the many challenges facing Sudan, Alier expressed 
optimism about the future of the CPA and peace in Sudan - "otherwise 
I would not be involved."  CDA Fernandez pointed out that many of 
the problems at the periphery (Darfur and the South) are caused by 
or related to problems at the center - weaknesses in leadership and 
administration of the country at the political level in Khartoum. 
Alier agreed fully and urged that the U.S. remain engaged in 
addressing the problems and ensuring especially that there are free 
and fair elections. 
 
 
KHARTOUM 00000368  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment: Alier's main concern is that northern politicians 
are conspiring to take Abyei and its oil away from the South (and 
the Dinka in particular).  He is undoubtedly correct, as he has been 
around long enough to know how politics works in Sudan - with 
Southerners constantly exposed to northern manipulation.  Alier's 
comment that if the North wanted to solve the Abyei issue they could 
do so immediately rings especially true - and we should remind the 
GNU of this in our interactions with them.  Proving his balanced 
views (and likely due to his frustration leading the NCRC) Alier 
also highlighted a significant problem facing the SPLM - the lack of 
depth in qualified and trusted interlocutors to speak and negotiate 
on behalf of the party at the AEC and other commissions.  Part of 
this is due to capacity (a small number of capable leaders in the 
party stretched very thin) but also appears to be due to trust and 
command/control issues within the party.  The SPLM will need to 
continue to develop a second tier of capable envoys and negotiators 
if it is to grow and develop as a political party.  Addressing this 
gap would help the SPLM deal more effectively with the NCP, which 
seeks to tie the SPLM (and the international community) in knots by 
focusing constantly on process and legalistic issues - rather than 
forthrightly on implementing the CPA, including acceptance of the 
ABC report. 
 
FERNANDEZ