VZCZCXRO0897
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1310/01 2411553
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281553Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1743
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 001310 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON 
NSC FOR BPITTMAN AND CHUDSON 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINS KDEM EAID SOCI SU
SUBJECT: BASHIR OFFERS SCOLDING AND CALL FOR UNITY IN JUBA 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In marked contrast with his recent tour of Darfur, 
and indicative of still-strained relations between the NCP and SPLM, 
President Bashir's visit to Juba - his first appearance in the South 
in more than two years and only his second visit to the seat of the 
GOSS Presidency since the CPA's signing - occurred with little pomp 
and circumstance. A heavily stage-managed event for the diplomatic 
corps, ostensibly geared toward illustrating that his presidency 
continues despite a looming ICC indictment, saw Bashir call for 
enhanced GNU/GOSS collaboration  The visit also allowed him to 
inaugurate  Southern-based hydroelectric projects conceived of and 
coordinated in Khartoum with no consultation with any officials in 
Juba.  GOSS Regional Cooperation Minister noted to the CG that the 
GOSS had not even participated in the vetting or selection of the 
multinational corporations that received the awards. 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY CONTINUED: The Sudanese president offered initially 
friendly, but increasingly paternalistic, remarks to the assembled 
Government of Southern Sudan in a public address carried live 
throughout the country.  In a precursor to NCP positioning during 
the upcoming 2009 elections, he chided Juba for rejecting technical 
assistance from Northerners, indirectly made allegations against 
GOSS corruption, and argued responsibility for delays in CPA 
implementation rested equally on the GNU and GOSS. He addressed the 
crisis in Darfur only briefly, blaming his inability to manage the 
conflict on Washington's broken promises over the lifting of 
sanctions, and arguing that Ocampo's actions before the ICC only 
emboldened rebel intransigence against a political settlement. 
Bashir called for the continued unification of Sudan and pledged 
that Sudan's 2009 elections would set a positive, new standard for 
elections in Africa. END SUMAMRY. 
 
------------------------------- 
BASHIR CALLS FOR A UNITED SUDAN 
------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Bashir, in a ranging, notes-free address on August 27 
before the entire Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly and a 
40-person VIP section that included select Southern Governors, the 
Judiciary of Southern Sudan, and senior leadership of the SPLA and 
ConGen and Embassy PolOffs, called for the Government of National 
Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan to jointly redouble their 
efforts to make "voluntary unity attractive" in advance of the 2011 
plebiscite on Southern independence.  He cited his preference for a 
united Sudan, pressing his audience to question whether a separate 
South would necessarily be a better South, indirectly referencing 
the GOSS's weak capacity for decentralized governance, and the slow 
realization of peace dividends.  "Why is the United States of 
America strong today?" he asked. "Because it chose to stay together 
after its war." 
 
¶4. (SBU) The President reminded the assembled officials that he 
dispatched then-First Vice President Ali Osman Taha to the Naivasha 
peace talks to give Southerners the choice of separation, not with 
the intention of dissolving Sudan, but because "I realized after 
fifty years of war this was the only way to secure lasting peace for 
my country."  With three years remaining until 2011, he continued, 
the GNU and GOSS must re-double their efforts to erase Southerner 
resistance to "unity via voluntary decree" - and work harder to do 
away with the "issues that divide us, and the stigma against the 
North that Southerners carry within their heads."  He offered 
lip-service to the 2009 elections, and committed Sudan to stand as a 
model of free and fair elections for "all the world to witness." 
 
--------------------------------- 
JAMES WANI IGGA CRITICIZES OCAMPO 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA) Speaker James 
Wani Igga introduced President Bashir before turning the floor over 
to a highly deferential First Vice President Kiir, who offered warm 
but shallow ad-libbed remarks before the President's address.  In 
contrast, Igga gave  a hospitable but probing welcome to Bashir.  He 
called on the President to speed demarcation of the 1956 North/South 
border, incorrectly linking it to the results of the census, but 
correctly forecasting the challenges it poses for credibly continued 
redeployment of forces, elections, the referendum, and the 
implementation of the CPA's wealth sharing agreement.  Igga 
criticized the "unfortunate indictment by Ocampo," stressing his 
belief that ICC action against President Bashir directly imperiled 
the CPA.  "Only the two partners recognize the delicacy of the 
Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and what is entailed in protecting 
it.  I encourage Ocampo to place peace first in the Sudan," he said. 
 Invoking late SPLM Chairman John Garang de Mabior, Igga reminded 
listeners of Garang's quote that Sudan's problems are often best 
reconciled by the Sudanese themselves, noting "a stranger entering a 
dark room will always break a few pots, while the owner can move 
 
KHARTOUM 00001310  002 OF 003 
 
 
about the entire home with his eyes closed and do no damage."  Igga 
commended Kiir and Bashir for their efforts in finalizing the 
National Elections Act and Abyei Roadmap.  It marked the day's only 
reference to the still-struggling region. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
BASHIR: GOSS CAPACITY DIFFICULTIES STEM FROM RACISM 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) Noting Igga's call for GNU action on the issue, Bashir 
redirected criticism for delays in the CPA's implementation onto the 
GOSS. Equal responsibility rested on the governments in both 
Khartoum and Juba to manage the public's expectations of peace, he 
maintained.  "In particular," he argued, "this required the 
Government of Southern Sudan to make the common man more confident 
that government could respond to its needs."  To an increasingly 
quiet audience, Bashir stressed that Juba needed to be more 
receptive to accepting educated Northern government officials and 
technical specialists in its ranks.  "I recognize that the SPLM has 
strong leaders, but they lost time when they went into the bush, and 
then immediately found themselves in ministerial positions following 
the war.  We must be allowed to help you build a cadre of competent 
civil servants." 
 
------------------------------------------- 
CHIDES GOSS MISMANAGEMENT OF NON-OIL REVENUE 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) With Kiir visibly stiffening at his side, Bashir then 
chided the GOSS for its alleged mismanagement of tax revenue, 
calling on the SSLA to trace where taxes collected by Juba "have 
gone," noting that the revenue amounted to "almost one billion 
pounds - nearly as much of the South's oil revenues shares - and yet 
there was no proof this money was reaching the people or the 
government."   "Imagine what could have been done for development 
had the Government of Southern Sudan's revenue been doubled?" 
Whereas the GNU economy was strained by the imposition of 
international sanctions, Bashir opined, , GOSS officials had 
constrained the South's economy through their own mismanagement of 
it.In a backhanded attempt to soften his implication of GOSS 
corruption, Bashir returned to his push for more involvement by 
educated Northern technocrats in Southern affairs, stressing that 
the GNU was prepared to lend experienced managers to the GOSS so as 
to better maintain and manage revenue collection. (COMMENT: While 
indicative of the continued tension over North/South non-oil revenue 
transfers (reftel) the tenor of Bashir's remarks may forecast an NCP 
campaign strategy to emphasize GOSS, and thereby SPLM, incompetence 
and corruption. END COMMENT.) 
 
------------------------------------------- 
BORDER DEMARCATION DELAYS: THE SPLM's FAULT 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Responding to Igga's calls for swifter action on 
demarcation of the North/South 1956 border, Bashir turned his 
criticism to the alleged fickle attitude of Southern technical 
experts, arguing delays were not the fault of the GNU alone.  In the 
face of a vocal, mid-speech rebuttal by GOSS Vice President Riek 
Machar, Bashir claimed that the latest Southern technical expert had 
arrived in Khartoum and, dissatisfied with the work of his 
predecessors, argued that the entire project be restarted.  Machar, 
seated in the Assembly benches directly across from Bashir, 
displayed a visceral and fairly exaggerated reaction to President's 
allegations in full view of the entire audience, twisting around to 
colleagues behind him and at either side to mock and criticize the 
President's rendition of events. Bashir continued with his remarks, 
uninterested and undeterred by Machar's posturing. Staring directly 
into the bank of television cameras, Bashir warned that the 
forthcoming demarcation of the 1956 North/South border would be "a 
challenging, painful experience after which Southerners and 
Northerners alike would be unhappy." 
 
--------------------------------- 
DARFUR: APPROPRIATING CREDIT . . . 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) In remarks that strained the patience of his audience, 
Bashir addressed the conflict in Darfur only briefly, citing 
Khartoum's support for 2007 rebel consolidation as proof of his 
commitment to peace.  Strikingly, he gave no credit to President 
Kiir or the SPLM for their efforts in this regard, yet cited 
(without offering specifics) a new, Sudanese-driven initiative for 
peace and calling upon all stakeholders "North and South" to bring 
lasting peace to the war-torn region. "There will be plots against 
our success," he argued, referencing recent ICC action. "We must 
move forward, as there can be no development in Darfur without 
 
KHARTOUM 00001310  003 OF 003 
 
 
peace." 
 
-------------------- 
AND BLAMING AMERICA 
-------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Bashir maintained that all of Sudan suffered as a result 
of the international community's uneven response to the crisis, and 
that his own efforts to bring peace to Darfur were constrained by 
Western back-peddling on promises to Khartoum made during 
negotiations on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and Darfur Peace 
Agreement. Bashir criticized the U.S. directly, not only arguing 
that Washington inexplicably abandoned promises made during the 
Naivasha peace process linked to sanctions' reprieves and Sudan's 
removal from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list, but  also 
detailing  his fifteen minute conversation with President Bush on 
the margins  of the Darfur Peace Agreement's signing, noting "and 
yet not even a percentage point of those promises have 
materialized."  "Instead," he argued, "the rebels were given two 
more weeks, then one more month, then one more year to sign the DPA 
- and now despite my government's readiness for peace, the 
international community has turned against us!" In his sole 
reference to the looming ICC indictment, he cautioned that ICC 
Prosecutor Ocampo is now emboldening the rebels' resistance to a 
political settlement by threatening to punish Sudan. 
 
------------------------ 
SO LET'S LOOK TO BEIJING 
------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Bashir insisted that international sanctions, not 
government inaction, posed the largest threat to nationwide 
development, but Khartoum was committed to overcoming such obstacles 
through cooperation with more apolitical allies. China would be 
funding a "peace road" connecting Kosti, Malakal, Bor, and Juba, and 
initiating other projects aimed at increasing the South's road 
connections with both the East and Darfur. (NOTE: The Chinese 
Ambassador in Khartoum was in attendance for most of the day's 
event, including Bashir's speech. END NOTE.) Bashir called upon the 
entire country to fight harder for mutual development in the lead-up 
to 2011 than they did against each other during the North/South 
civil war. "Sudan has entered a new war - one for peace and 
development." Citing the forthcoming hydro-electric projects that 
had brought him to Juba , the President noted that he wanted to 
utilize the same technical experts who had  built the Merowe dam on 
the four projects slated for the South.  "Sudan needs to look for 
alternative, sustainable energy sources outside of oil, and if we 
harness the power of hydroelectricity, we can service the entirety 
of the Horn." 
 
¶12. (SBU) Comment: Southerners generally viewed this visit by Bashir 
with great skepticism, casting it as little more than a publicity 
tour for the GNU President to show he is the beneficent leader of 
all Sudan, sharing the wealth and extending his hand in friendship 
to all, as he faces "unjustified" ICC indictments.  His reception by 
GOSS leaders was respectful, but far short of warm.  Many told 
ConGen Juba they would have preferred that Bashir  not come at all. 
 
 
ASQUINO