VZCZCXRO5513
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1627/01 3121030
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 071030Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2257
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001627 
 
DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG, DRL 
NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC MCAP KPAO SU
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Pro-government and independent press here featured 
front-page photos of the president-elect and reported the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs'(MFA) statement congratulating the United States 
on Senator Obama's election, with Foreign Minister (FM) Deng Alor 
hoping for "positive contributions" from the new administration. 
Editorial writers and columnists in a range of papers took turns in 
commending American democracy for Obama's selection, but also 
criticizing the past policies of the Democratic party toward Sudan. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Sudanese FM and Southerner Deng Alor expressed unbridled 
optimism at the prospect of an Obama administration through a press 
release on November 5, in which he noted the Government of Sudan 
(GoS) intends to open a "new chapter" with the United States.  Alor 
claimed to have spoken with U.S. officials close to Obama who had 
promised they would make progress on normalizing U.S.-Sudanese 
relations, and even concluded that Obama has Sudanese blood, as his 
ancestors are descendents of the Luo tribes, Nilotic cattle herders 
such as Alor's own Dinka, which migrated from southern Sudan to 
Kenya centuries ago.  The official spokesman of the MFA, northerner 
Ali al-Sadiq, was comparatively less enthusiastic, but still strove 
to contrast an Obama administration to GoS perceptions of the Bush 
administration. "We would hope that the slogan of President Obama - 
'change' - would be reflected in the foreign policy in the United 
States, especially towards Sudan and oppressed countries, the 
Palestinians, the Iraqis and the Somalis.  We would like to see some 
real change between Sudan and the United States." 
 
¶3. (SBU) Editorial columnists differed in their analysis of the 
elections.  El Hindi Izzedin, writing in the pro-government Akher 
Lahza, commended the U.S. for its elections, and encouraged other 
countries of the world to follow suit.  Osman Mirghani, writing in 
the independent, non-Islamist paper Al-Sudani, interpreted the 
results by praising what he saw as American meritocracy, and 
criticizing Sudan's obsession with racial and tribal differences. 
Mirghani asks rhetorically: "Which would have been better - to bomb 
several buildings with planes on September 11, or to invest in its 
flexible political system, as Obama did? Which would have been 
better - to kill over three thousand Americans in the World Trade 
Center or convert three thousand Americans to Islam?" 
 
¶4.  (SBU) In his commentary article "I Have a Dream," in the 
independent daily Al Ayam, Al-Sadig Mahdi al-Sherief cautions 
Sudanese against hoping that an Obama presidency will improve 
relations with Sudan: "Do not dream of a happy world!  As soon as a 
Caesar dies a new Caesar is born."  Awkwardly paraphrasing Martin 
Luther King, Jr., he continues, "We, as generations who inherited 
this situation, have a dream too! Our dream is that Obama's America 
should balance and discern between its interests and our interests." 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Pro-government writer Mohamed Abdel Gadir, who recently 
accompanied GoS Vice President Ali Osman Taha on a trip to the UN, 
reiterated a common Sudanese fear that the incoming Democratic 
administration intends to follow a much harsher policy towards Sudan 
than its predecessor.  In pro-government Al-Rai Al-Aam, he writes, 
"Even though the Sudanese street is happy due to the new president's 
African roots, emotions should not distract us from the essential 
facts in review of the future of relations between Khartoum and 
Washington under the new Democratic administration."  While calling 
the U.S. "the country of opportunities and miracles," he 
simultaneously warns that Senator Obama is prepared to embrace Susan 
Rice and John Prendergast, both former Clinton administration 
officials feared and despised by the Islamist regime, and so 
Sudanese should "not dream of a happy world... Khartoum and Obama's 
administration, what is coming is even worse!" 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The gold medal for hyperbole in the Sudanese press 
following the election of Senator Obama goes to Mekki al-Maghribi, 
in Al-Sudani, with an article entitled, "I Support McCain!" 
Al-Maghribi tells the Sudanese of his concerns about the Democractic 
Party by reminding them of the 1998 missile strike on al-Shifa 
pharmaceutical plant, and then veers far afield to imply that Obama 
intends the worst in Africa.  "The modern Democratic Party has 
nominated a powerful knight called Barack Hussein Obama to implement 
the white man's interests easily!  In fact, Democrats are wicked 
even more than the Republicans!  Mr. Obama will infect the third 
world and the Islamic world ... to prove his impartiality!" 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment: Today's positive press reflects general Sudanese 
interest in the U.S. election and a local twist on the pan-African 
pride regarding Senator Obama.  In fact, had two local  independent 
newspapers not taken the drastic step to stop the presses for three 
days (with Ajras Al-Hurriya personnel observing a one-day hunger 
strike) to protest government censorship, Post expects that articles 
in a similar vein would have been even more plentiful.  Editorials 
 
KHARTOUM 00001627  002 OF 002 
 
 
critical of the U.S. are nothing new in the Sudanese press, but 
today's criticism reveals a deep abiding fear within Khartoum's 
National Congress Party of President Bashir that a Democratic 
administration will pursue a tougher policy of confrontation and 
destabilization. This is in contrast with giddy congratulatory phone 
calls Charge Fernandez has received from several Darfuri rebels, 
opposition party leaders and an enthused Foreign Minister Alor.  End 
Comment. 
 
FERNANDEZ