VZCZCXRO8769
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0411 0790424
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 190424Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0259
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000411 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KSCA OTRA EAID CDC SU
SUBJECT: FISCAL MONITORING CHAIRMAN REPORTS PROGRESS WITH GNU AND 
GOSS 
 
REF: 07 KHARTOUM 1696 
 
----------------------------------------- 
PROGRESS IN DEALING WITH FINANCE MINISTRY 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  (U) In contrast to his October 24, 2007 briefing for the 
Assessment and Evaluation Commission (AEC) (reftel), Fiscal and 
Financial Allocation and Monitoring Commission (FFAMC) Chairman 
Mohammed Osman Ibrahim told Poloff on March 13 that he is now 
optimistic on cooperation with the Ministry of Finance.  He said the 
FFAMC has worked out a draft protocol for cooperation with the 
Ministry of Finance.  While the agreement had stalled with the last 
Finance Minister (the incompetent Al-Zubeir) Ibrahim anticipates 
increased coordination with the new Finance Minister, Awad Ahmed Al 
Jaz.  Referring to a previous discussion about the campaign 
watchwords of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, he smiled 
and said, "Let us wish for hope and change!" 
 
----------------------------------- 
SOUTHERN STATES WELCOME COOPERATION 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) PolOff invited Ibrahim to brief the AEC as it prepares its 
Mid-Term Evaluation of the CPA process, and Ibrahim tentatively 
accepted for the third week of April.  Poloff predicted that the NCP 
would question Ibrahim about the level of cooperation the FFAMC is 
receiving from the GOSS.   Ibrahim said that his office has good 
working relations with the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) and 
that his staff had just returned from presenting a technical 
training workshop in Juba for officials from the finance ministries 
of the various southern states.  (Note:  At the last meeting of the 
Wealth Sharing Working Group, or WSWG, the NCP characterized Dr. 
Ibrahim as having complained of a lack of cooperation from the GOSS. 
 In fact, Dr. Ibrahim had seemed much more concerned by stonewalling 
from the GNU Finance Ministry.  End note.) 
 
SOUTHERN STATES WANT BIGGER SLICE OF THE PIE 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Dr. Ibrahim noted that Southern state finance officials were 
"astonished" to learn that the Southern States do not receive the 
same percentage of income from the GOSS as northern states receive 
from the Khartoum government.  Under terms of the CPA, he said, the 
southern states receive a total of nine percent of the funds 
distributed by Khartoum to the GoSS.  In contrast, the northern 
states receive 33 percent of the funds retained by the Khartoum 
government.  This revelation provoked complaints from Southern state 
officials that they were being treated unfairly, he said, despite 
that fact that this is stipulated in the CPA.  (Comment: Lack of 
understanding of the CPA is nothing new, and the different 
allocations to state governments in the South versus the North 
presumably were negotiated this way due to the relative capacity of 
state governments to spend the money. End comment.) 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) We look forward to Dr. Ibrahim's appearance before the AEC 
Plenary.  Based on his previous experience, we expect he will give a 
candid and objective view of the levels of cooperation and the 
quality of the information his agency is receiving.  His testimony 
will be an important part of the AEC's Mid-Term Evaluation document, 
to be presented to the Sudanese Presidency by July 9, since the 
FFAMC is one of the key institutions providing transparency to the 
CPA process.  Embassy Khartoum will be drafting the report on 
evaluation of Wealth Sharing. 
 
FERNANDEZ