VZCZCXRO5854
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0958/01 1810902
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 290902Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1183
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0255
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000958 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, SE WILLIAMSON 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PHUM KPKO SOCI UNSC SU
SUBJECT: NORTH DARFUR LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL SHOWS POTENTIAL 
 
REF: KHARTOUM 905 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY.  The most recent session of the North Darfur 
Legislative Council officially ended on June 25 following an 
extension to finish all business before a four-month recess. 
Although handicapped by a narrow mandate, and dominated by the 
ruling National Congress Party (NCP), the appointed council members 
continue to test the limits of their powers, calling the North 
Darfur Minister of Education to task over poor performance and 
irregularities within the ministry during this abbreviated session. 
Council members have demonstrated commendable commitment to their 
work, spending long hours poring over reports, questioning poor 
performance by the executive branch, and voluntarily extending their 
session until they were satisfied with their results.  The 
institutional foundation and capacity for local governance is 
clearly strong in North Darfur, and a freely and democratically 
elected legislative council would have much to contribute to local 
stabilization and reconciliation efforts, provided it results from 
legitimate, publicly supported and accepted elections.   END 
SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Legislative Council Authorities 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The North Darfur legislative council was established in its 
current form by Article 180 of the Interim National Constitution of 
2005, and has legislative jurisdiction primarily over the executive 
and administrative matters of the state.  Issues of policy are 
largely concentrated under the "concurrent powers" shared by the 
national and state governments.  In practice, this means that the 
state legislative council is sometimes asked to provide comments on 
policies proposed by the national assembly, but does not have the 
authority to accept or reject those proposals.  In addition, the 
legislative council exercises a monitoring function over the state 
ministries, their budgets and their strategic plans.  State 
ministers are required to submit an annual report to the council, 
which members either discuss or refer to committee.  In North 
Darfur, there are eight permanent technical committees (i.e. 
Education and Health Committee, Local Governance and Public Works 
Committee) that investigate and issue recommendations regarding the 
ministries and their performance. 
 
-------------------------------- 
NCP Dominance Creates Tensions 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) The council is currently comprised of 66 members, selected by 
the Wali in accordance with the power sharing agreement struck by 
the Darfur Peace Agreement (non-NCP members were generally selected 
by movement leaders, and then approved by the Wali).  Current 
members will continue to sit on the council until the next 
elections, which are supposed to take place before the end of 2009. 
While the DPA reserved 12 seats for non-signatories, all seats in 
the next council will be determined by direct election. 
 
¶4. (U) 34 of the current members, or exactly one more than half, 
belong to the ruling NCP and council members from Sudanese 
Liberation Movement/Minni Minawi and Free Will (SLM/MM and SLM/FW) 
have accused this group of "rubber stamping" ministry proposals by 
cutting off discussion and forcing premature votes on contentious 
issues.  In addition, by calling a shortened session and 
distributing proposals less than 24 hours before they are to be 
discussed, SLM/FW reps claim that legislative council leadership 
(all NCP officials) have created an environment in which "nothing 
can be thoroughly studied, the NCP can pass anything, and there is 
effectively no opposition."  Although one member called his NCP 
colleagues "bullies," he conceded that "until now, we, as 
opposition, have been able to express our opinions freely within the 
council and still have our immunity as members be respected outside 
the council."  No members from any party reported threats, 
harassment, or intimidation in connection with their work on the 
council. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Ministry of Education Irregularities Top Agenda 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶5. (U) The most recent session of the North Darfur Legislative 
Council, which began on May 21, officially ended on June 25 
following the re-appointment of the Secretary General.  During the 
session, reports from ten state ministries were submitted and all 
were approved without issue except that of the Ministry of 
Education, which was referred to committee for further scrutiny. 
While originally scheduled to recess on June 16, the legislative 
session was extended in order to address unresolved issues with the 
state Minister of Education's performance and plans.  Concerned by a 
 
KHARTOUM 00000958  002 OF 002 
 
 
sharp decrease in student performance on primary school exams 
(reftel), and reports that a different version of the national 
secondary school test was used exclusively in North Darfur, council 
members questioned the Minister on reasons for the irregularities 
and measures that would be taken to avoid them in the coming 
academic year. 
 
¶6. (U) According to Secretary General Sami Abdulla, council members 
insisted that scheduling conflicts with the Open University (where 
many primary school teachers are taking classes) could not be used 
as an excuse for poor performance, and pressed the minister to make 
the necessary adjustments to the school calendar to ensure adequate 
class time.  The legislative council also disagreed with the 
national Ministry of Education decision to give the students of 
North Darfur a different version of the exam taken by all secondary 
school students in Sudan due to security concerns, and called for a 
substantial increase in teaching staff (NOTE: State Ministry of 
Education staff told FieldOff that this was done in response to a 
past incident in which rebels allegedly stole the exam and 
distributed it across Sudan a week before it was scheduled to be 
given. End Note).  As a result of the council's proactive 
intervention, schools in North Darfur began two weeks early and the 
state Minister of Education, accompanied by the Chairman of the 
Legislative Council, went to Khartoum to further discuss testing and 
staffing issues. 
 
¶7. (U) In addition to ministries' strategic plans, the Legislative 
Council also considered two draft laws during the session.  The 
first, introduced by the Ministry of Culture, Youth Sports and 
Tourism, aimed to license and regulate tourism related businesses, 
to establish a tourism council to promote North Darfur, and to 
establish a Tourism and Archaeology Protection Police Unit.  This 
law was passed and sent to the Wali for signature.  The second, 
sponsored by the Ministry of Health, dealt with environmental 
conservation issues.  As it included provisions relating to 
agriculture, health, urban planning and natural resources, the 
council tabled the proposal until the next session, requesting that 
the relevant ministries work together in the interim to ensure that 
all interests are represented in the bill before it is formally 
introduced.  Before closing the session, the council voted to 
re-appoint Abdulla as Secretary General. 
 
-------- 
Comment 
-------- 
 
¶8. (U) Despite the absence of real opposition, and despite a narrow 
mandate that reserves most substantive policy issues for the central 
government, the Legislative Council turned in a relatively 
impressive performance during the past session.  Members are not 
only reading and studying the proposals presented to the council, 
but they are questioning discrepancies and holding government 
officials accountable for poor performance.  Rather than rushing to 
finish their work, they took additional time to be sure that all 
questions were answered to their satisfaction, and that all possible 
solutions were being explored.  That their efforts included 
coordination with the National Assembly and federal ministries in 
Khartoum also demonstrates the seriousness with which they approach 
state government. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The institutional foundation for local governance appears 
to be good in North Darfur.  Current membership demonstrates that 
some real skills and capacity are also present.  What is lacking is 
the legitimacy conveyed by a freely and democratically elected 
council.  The Legislative Council could make substantial 
contributions towards local stabilization and reconciliation 
efforts.  However, it will likely not be able to accomplish real 
progress until it is composed of representatives elected through a 
fully participatory and publicly accepted process, criteria that 
hastily organized elections held in a climate of insecurity may not 
meet.  The challenges to holding successful elections in Darfur are 
enormous and well known; the international community and the 
Sudanese themselves must work toward creating the conditions that 
will allow elections to occur, with maximum encouragement to IDPs to 
participate, and maximum pressure placed on rebel groups not to 
obstruct. 
 
FERNANDEZ