VZCZCXRO7842
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0584/01 1061218
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151218Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0568
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0159
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0029
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000584 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, DRL 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: SPLM DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL OPENS DARFUR OFFICES 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: SPLM Deputy Secretary General Yassir Arman 
announced the establishment of a SPLM political office for North 
Darfur on April 12.  Local government leaders, including the Wali of 
North Darfur, opposition parties' representatives, NCP members, and 
rebel groups such as JEM/Peace Wing and SLA/Minni Minawi were 
present.  Yassir touted the SPLM's "New Sudan" vision and promised 
the SPLM would bring economic development to Darfur. He carried out 
similar outreach in West Darfur.  END SUMMARY. 
 
SPLM OFFERS DARFURIANS A NEW SUDAN 
---------------------------------- 
¶2. (U) During a well-received 45-minute address in El Fasher, Yassir 
commented on both regional and local issues.  He emphasized that the 
Chad-Sudan conflict must be permanently solved to ensure stability 
in Darfur.  Yassir also announced the SPLM's plans for a national 
convention in May and invited all Darfurians to attend the 
conference and present their views. 
 
¶3. (U) Championing SPLM's vision of a "New Sudan", Yassir explained 
that the SPLM proposes to use oil revenues to develop pastoral and 
agricultural sectors of Darfur's economy and fund protection of 
IDPs.  On the health front, he said that the SPLM will work with 
local organizations to eradicate HIV/AIDS through seminars, 
workshops and awareness campaigns. He stated that the SPLM is 
committed to the CPA and will work to build upon it as part of the 
New Sudan. He emphasized that both the NCP and the SPLM have a 
responsibility to work together on developing solutions to the 
Darfur conflict and have developed a joint NCP-SPLM working group on 
the issue. 
 
¶4. (U) Noting that Darfur has suffered cultural, economic and 
political marginalization, Yassir charged that the NCP should 
respect past agreements and consider re-establishing Darfur as one 
region.  He criticized the NCP for not being realistic about IDP 
voluntary returns, noting that "this cannot take place without 
security and stability in the area." 
 
 
SPLM ON THE CENSUS IN DARFUR AND OTHER PLANS 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶5. (SBU) In response to poloff's question whether he would attempt 
to convince Darfurians to support the upcoming census, Yassir blamed 
the NCP for lying about the census, which he claimed has led many 
IDPs to reject it.  Asked whether the SPLM would directly appeal to 
Darfurians to participate in the census, Yassir said that a direct 
statement of support will do little good, as it will take time for 
the SPLM to undo the lies that the NCP has spread about the census. 
(NOTE: At the time of this dedication, the SPLM had not yet 
announced its suspension of the census in the South.  The SPLM and 
the NCP have worked out their differences over the census and both 
parties will move forward with the census on 22 April. END NOTE.) 
 
¶6. (SBU) Yassir told poloff that while in Darfur he would press both 
signatory and non-signatory groups to 
advance the Darfur peace process and make preparations 
for a Juba II meeting.  He pointed to the attendance of 
JEM/Peace Wing and SLM/Minni Minawi at the ceremony as evidence of 
rebel support for the SPLM's effort to promote peace in Darfur. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Arman told CDA Fernandez in Khartoum on April 15 that he 
had also visited the West Darfur capital of El-Geneina. He had found 
a very receptive audience (including the local Fur Governor, who 
heads an SLM former rebel splinter group), had held a mass rally, 
and had sworn in new local leaders. Yassir said that even pro-NCP 
figures are chafing at the lack of security, the rumors of Arab 
refugees from Chad and Niger being resettled in the state (which he 
believes may be overstated), and just the general difficulty of life 
in West Darfur. He described one pro-NCP tribal leader who quoted 
the Arab proverb "the husband of my mother is my father" to show 
that most leaders in the area are not enamored of the regime but 
feel they have to go along with it in order to survive. 
 
¶8. (SBU) COMMENT: It is a positive development that the SPLM is 
beginning to regularly send someone of Yassir's stature in the SPLM 
to Darfur and these visits should occur more frequently (his last 
trip there was over a year ago).  The SPLM needs to include Darfur 
in its pro-active strategy to pressure the Khartoum regime, and 
build wider coalitions, and should reach out more regularly to the 
movements and the people in Darfur.  A Jaalayn from River Nile State 
and former Communist in his youth (he also hails from the same tribe 
as President Bashir, with whom Yassir has a distant family 
connection) Yassir represents an alternative viewpoint of opposition 
within the North, which appeals to Darfurians and which the SPLM 
should take advantage of more regularly. 
 
¶9. (U) Tripoli minimize considered. 
 
KHARTOUM 00000584  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
FERNANDEZ