VZCZCXRO5004
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0739 1361031
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 151031Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0821
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000739 
 
DEPT A/S FRAZER, S/E WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG, AF/C, AF/E 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINS PHUM MARR MOPS SU
SUBJECT: PAULINO MATIEP ON SPLM POLITICS AND THE SPLA 
 
¶1. (SBU) Deputy Commander in Chief for the SPLA and ex-SSDF 
Commander Paulino Matiep claims that his involvement in the SPLM 
Unity State Congress fallout has been overstated.  In a May 13 
conversation with Acting CG, the aging Nuer military strategist was 
emphatic that rumors linking him with GOSS Vice President Riek 
Machar were false.  "Politicians would be well-advised to consult 
with me," the tight-lipped Matiep said cryptically, "but I am 
neutral."  As an example he said he has repeatedly given unheeded 
advice to Unity Governor Taban Deng Gai, and claimed that Gai is 
"overly stubborn" to listen but did not elaborate further.  Should 
current GOSS Health Minister Joseph Monytiel Wiejang stand for 
gubernatorial election in 2009, Matiep plans to serve as an informal 
advisor to Weijang in his capacity as a Nuer elder.  Pressed as to 
whether he has offered similar counsel to Machar, Matiep hesitated, 
and then explained that he views the GOSS Vice President as "one who 
operates at a different level."  (NOTE: Matiep's translator then 
explained the remark, indicating that the General speaks to Machar 
on "national security issues." END NOTE.) 
 
¶2. (SBU) Matiep's lengthy praise for the newly-elected SPLM state 
chairman, current GOSS Health Minister Joseph Monytiel Wiejang was 
in sharp contrast to his discussion of Gai.  Unlike Gai, Wiejang was 
able to deliver services and salaries to the community when he was 
last governor.  His performance as GOSS Health Minister, Matiep 
maintained, has been similarly impressive, citing upgrades in 
medical care and the overall facility at Juba Teaching Hospital - 
this despite its administrative and operational transfer from the 
ICRC to GOSS. Matiep offered little on the forthcoming SPLM National 
Convention, preferring not to pre-judge its outcome.  He offered 
less on potential replacements for the late SPLA Affairs Minister, 
noting only that Kiir had not convened a meeting to discuss the 
matter.  He did, however, complain about ongoing difficulties with 
the integration of members of his (former) Southern Sudan Defense 
Forces into the SPLA 
 
¶3. (SBU) Matiep claimed to Acting CG that he had a 57,000-strong 
militia, not all of whom were brought into the SPLA immediately 
following the 2006 Juba Accord.  Over the past month, two large 
factions of ex-SSDF arrived in Juba for integration, only to be 
rejected by the SPLA.  This came on top of Kiir's directive to 
Matiep to disarm his estimated 1,500-strong militia force in Juba, 
an order the general refused.  Matiep has been in "near constant" 
talks with the SPLA since April 7, pressing for an increase of 
ex-SSDF soldiers in the SPLA military ranks.  Matiep allowed that 
the discussions have been decidedly negative, and had broken off as 
a result of the May 2 air crash which killed SPLA Affairs Minister 
Dominic Dim Deng.  Matiep stressed he would not accept a continuous 
no answer from SPLA Chief of Staff Oyai Deng Ajak on further ex-SSDF 
integration, and would take the issue to Kiir "or others" as 
necessary. 
 
¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: Matiep, due to travel shortly to the U.S. for 
medical treatment, is a far shrewder operator than he shows on first 
greeting, and is clearly comfortable engaging in the cut-throat 
state-level politics of Unity State.  Less-than-perfect harmony 
between Matiep and a still-distrustful SPLA, and Matiep's continued 
defiance of Kiir on militia disarmament, make Matiep a worrisome 
force amidst the fluid, heavily-tribal evolutions currently underway 
within the SPLM.  Matiep's occasional gullibility - SPLM lore has it 
that the illiterate Matiep reportedly accepted hundreds of pounds of 
paper from Khartoum during the North/South civil war believing they 
were Sudanese dinar payouts - makes him an easy target for VP 
Machar's machinations.  We continue to monitor him closely, as does 
the GOSS. 
 
FERNANDEZ