VZCZCXRO9723
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0787/01 1421347
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 211347Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0892
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000787 
 
DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG 
NSC FOR HUDSON AND PITTMAN 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF EAID MOPS KPKO SU
SUBJECT: SPLM ANGER FOLLOWING MAY 20 BATTLE IN ABYEI 
 
REFS: A. KHARTOUM 782 
 
¶B. KHARTOUM 774 
¶C. KHARTOUM 772 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The SPLM remains divided over Kiir's decision to 
limit SPLA forces from Abyei, and senior leadership, including 
Foreign Minister Deng Alor, are among a faction  favoring a more 
aggressive response.  Outrage over SAF conduct intensified following 
May 19 SAF interference with the reentry of SPLA JIU forces into the 
town and significant SPLA units, backed by armor, are still dug in 
nearby.  SPLM Political Bureau meeting is tentatively scheduled for 
May 22 to decide the SPLM's "final course of action on Darfur, 
Abyei, and the NCP/SPLM partnership.  Calls for international action 
continue.  END SUMMARY. 
 
----------------------- 
SPLA DUG IN, WITH TANKS 
----------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) SPLA JIU and regular SPLA forces under the command of MG 
Piang have now fortified defensive positions south of the town, and 
possibly North of the Kiir River. Piang is not a member of the Abyei 
JIU, however, he was a member of the joint patrol conducting by the 
Joint Defense Board and AJMC patrol that sustained direct fire from 
SAF forces on May 17.  ConGen sources report that elements from the 
SPLA's 3rd and 7th Divisions have been deployed south and east of 
Abyei since May 16.  The SPLA established an early warning force on 
the northern side of the Kiir River and placed a flanking force 
south of the river which observers believe is to be used to maintain 
positive control of strategic points along the river.  SPLA MG Piang 
(brother of GOSS Minister for Presidential Affairs Luka Bing Deng) 
commands the 7TH Division and, like Luka, is a local Ngok Dinka from 
Abyei descended from a famed local chief. 
 
---------------------------------- 
EMBITTERED FONMIN READY FOR BATTLE 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) ConGen staff discussed with GNU Foreign Minister Deng Alor 
shortly following Al Jazeera's initial reports that fighting had 
resumed.  A fuming Alor, in the midst of directing staff to get 
additional updates, claimed unprovoked SAF reinforcements had 
attacked SPLA JIU forces along the Kiir river.    Following the 
repulse of the SAF attack, SPLA units mortared the SAF garrison in 
Abyei town.  Deng asserted this was a targeted SPLA attack against a 
known SAF target conducted so as  to minimize collateral damage and 
prevent further SAF incursions out of Abyei town. "Can you imagine 
if the SAF had crossed the river into the area now filled with the 
displaced?  It would have been disastrous." 
 
------------------------------------ 
ALOR: NO JOINT TALKS WITH WILLIAMSON 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) Pressed on whether Kiir's order for restraint had been 
reversed, Alor said no, but debated why it should stand in the face 
of SAF belligerence.  "For years the NCP and SAF do things like this 
on Abyei and no one does anything. We should just move the SPLA in 
now and accept the risk should there be blame," he argued.  CG staff 
countered that the SPLM needed to remain vigilant in its actions, 
and not make any moves that would complicate U.S. efforts to assist 
in expediting a comprehensive solution for Abyei. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Alor stated there was no possibility that the SPLM would 
join the NCP at the table.  "We will meet America one-on-one, but 
there is no more space for compromise in the partnership." In tones 
that evoked the Fall 2007 SPLM ministerial-level boycott of the GNU, 
Alor noted that the SPLM will have its inaugural post-Convention 
Political Bureau meeting on May 22 to determine a path on Abyei and 
"fine-tune our position on Darfur."    (NOTE: Alor's comments on the 
Special Envoy's visit do not match those of GOSS Presidential 
Affairs Minister Luka Biong Deng.  Undoubtedly, this will have to be 
discussed further among Kiir's inner circle as Abyei continues to 
unfold. END NOTE.) There is no consensus party position right now on 
dialogue with the NCP. 
 
-------------- 
A DIVIDED SPLM 
-------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Alor  said that Kiir's decision to restrain the SPLA is 
dividing the party, and delegates at SPLM National Convention point 
out that while the convention was delayed for events in Omdurman, 
Kiir has not taken similar steps in Abyei's wake.    CG staff 
emphasized USG understanding with Kiir's difficult position, and 
requested that  the SPLM closely coordinate with the USG as 
 
KHARTOUM 00000787  002 OF 002 
 
 
decisions are made over the coming days.  Alor was decidedly 
non-committal, allowing that while space for dialogue existed at the 
political level, "we won't waste time talking about military issues, 
we will just take action."  Despite this, the Foreign Minister was 
nonetheless grateful for the American audience, saying he had just 
complained to the UK Ambassador that "only America was active on 
Abyei through sanctions and like."    Returning to the subject of 
Williamson's visit, Alor called U.S. assistance in restraining SAF 
reinforcements, and making the case to Khartoum that it should not 
regard the River Kiir as a buffer zone between combatants, but Abyei 
town itself.  "The CPA clearly states there are to be no forces in 
Abyei town but the Joint Integrated Units," he said. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
DISILLUSIONMENT WITH THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶7. (SBU) SPLM Abyei Administrator Edward Lino was similarly 
enervated, pausing to talk amidst radio interviews.  "The focus 
cannot be on today," he stressed, "but on the larger problem."  Lino 
maintained that SAF reinforcements entered Abyei town one hour after 
fighting began, emphasizing that their proximity to the conflict was 
a CPA violation in itself.  Heglig is part of the ceasefire zone 
established by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement - SAF troops are 
not permitted to be there. "Yet the world watches the build up, and 
watches delays in redeployment, and says nothing."  Acting CG 
reiterated USG efforts to date and request Lino's assistance in 
securing additional time for action despite building pressures for 
an outright military confrontation.  "We watch who comes to us 
first," he replied, "and your request will be passed on." 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) May 10 of this year saw the SAF and SPLA making common 
cause to defend Khartoum from a JEM rebel raid.  That sense of 
unity, no matter how uncomfortable for the NCP, has been erased by 
the events in Abyei.  The impatience of key elements of the SPLM 
with the international community's perceived failure to act on the 
drawn-out Abyei issue and on what the SPLM sees as the NCP's 
flagrant and continuing violations of the CPA is growing.  SPLM and 
SPLA officials complain that the SAF 31st Brigade has been in Abyei 
for over 30 years and remains there in violation of the CPA, and ask 
why the presence (in compliance with the CPA) of the SPLA JIU 
contingent is an issue.  Additional work will be required to rebuild 
SPLM faith in bilateral negotiations slated for May 30-June 2, and 
keeping the SPLM in the GNU will remain a constant challenge. Even 
before this confrontation, the inexorable inertia towards separation 
methodically builds year after year. 
 
FERNANDEZ