VZCZCXRO9030
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1708/01 3301125
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 251125Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2398
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 001708 
 
DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG 
NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: SUPPORTING CIVILIAN SECURITY AND RULE OF LAW IN SOUTHERN 
SUDAN 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: As the major portion of the INL bilateral program 
gets underway in Southern Sudan, the INL officer has made several 
significant observations over the last two months (outlined in this 
cable) which will result in adjustments to the INL program.  The 
current fragile condition of the criminal justice system in Southern 
Sudan, coupled with a precarious political and security situation as 
we head into the fourth year of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement 
(CPA), require some adjustments in the implementation of basic 
police assistance and programs supporting the justice sector.  Most 
significant among these adjustments is that while the program had 
originally been envisaged to be focused on the reconstruction of a 
criminal justice system for the South following the long North-South 
civil war, the INL Justice and Law Enforcement program will now also 
direct assistance toward projects that will help maintain civil 
order and aid civilian security forces in preparing for larger-scale 
problems such as riot control and supporting efforts in other areas 
of rule of law that are aimed at mitigating conflict.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Southern Sudan is experiencing one of the most challenging 
periods since the Sudan People's Liberation Movement signed the 
Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005.  Despite extensive 
reform programs being undertaken by the international community and 
local actors, serious problems remain for the Government of Southern 
Sudan (GoSS) in reforming the criminal justice sector.  Some of the 
key elements hindering reform in the administration of justice and 
in insuring the security of civilians are detailed below.  Following 
that is a brief description of INL's planned bilateral program 
activities over the coming year. 
 
Political Situation Affecting Rule of Law 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Elections: The uncertain political situation surrounding 
elections in Southern Sudan is a major source of concern with regard 
to security.  Both the Government of National Unity and the GoSS 
had problems in forming a National Elections Commission and reaching 
an agreement on the timing and specific parameters of the upcoming 
elections.  Frequently, GoSS contacts at the highest levels within 
the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs 
express their strong belief that Southern Sudan should forego 
elections and move straight to a referendum on secession in 2011. 
As INL attempts to navigate this environment and implement a project 
to support an Elections Security Program for Southern Sudan, key 
issues relating to logistics, division of responsibility between the 
police and the military and the sheer scale of activities required 
have not been contemplated to the degree needed.  Indeed, 
international and local actors working in the rule of law sector 
have expressed the belief that Southern Sudan's vision of its own 
development and future is not clear beyond 2011. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Legislation: As the GoSS concentrates efforts on the short 
term, a longer-term view, one that extends beyond the deadlines of 
the next two years, takes a back seat.  For example, the Ministry of 
Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development have been pushing 
legislation through the system as quickly as possible before the 
Legislative Assembly breaks at the end of November, without enough 
regard for content.  In some instances, including with the Police 
Bill, legislation has been submitted to the Legislative Assembly 
only to be rejected.  Key legislation within the criminal justice 
field, such as the Criminal Procedure Code, does not undergo the 
kind of consultation necessary to ensure proper due process, 
protection of human rights or support of the balance of power.  The 
current Code grants overarching authority to prosecutors to issue 
arrest warrants, direct investigations and dismiss cases.  Caught in 
the middle of this are the international advisors placed in the 
Ministry assigned to provide mentoring assistance in areas of 
legislative drafting.  Due to the minimal capacity of many staff to 
undertake their functions, especially at the lower levels, there has 
been a tendency by international advisors and very senior GoSS 
officials to undertake many jobs, such a the drafting and 
proofreading of laws, on their own in order to meet tight deadlines. 
 As a result, those at the higher levels are not able to delegate 
work, leaving them overburdened and unable to focus on policy and 
reform and leaving lower level staff out of any substantive process 
of mentoring or training to improve their skills. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Decentralization: Another problem created by the uncertain 
political situation is the push by the GoSS to move forward with 
efforts at decentralization and devolution of power to the States 
under the CPA without a clear concept of what the consequences of 
this will mean in practice, particularly in the area of civilian 
security and administration of justice.  There is currently a 
serious need for the Southern Sudan Police Service to adopt a basic 
and universal police training program, one that is geared to a force 
 
KHARTOUM 00001708  002 OF 003 
 
 
with a low level of literacy and that focuses on turning 
military-style thinking into an emphasis on civilian service, is an 
example of a program that could potentially fall apart under a 
decentralized model.  Discussions on creating a national police 
force capable of properly dealing with problems that will arise in 
the course of elections and a referendum have not been a part of the 
GoSS interagency dialogue. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Return to Conflict: The final and probably most critical 
factor in the current political and security climate in Southern 
Sudan is the fear by many in the South that there will be a return 
to conflict with the North.  This expectation has dramatically 
increased as a result of such events as the fighting in Abyei in May 
2008, the ongoing disagreement over hard currency reserves and the 
expected ICC indictment against President Bashir.,  Heightened 
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) tensions along the Ugandan and DRC 
borders also increase the potential for conflict.  At the same time, 
the SPLA is under considerable pressure to downsize its numbers. 
These pressures have led the GoSS to: 1) spend massive resources on 
building up the SPLA, including the military police, at the expense 
of support to a nascent and beleaguered civilian police force and 2) 
adopt a system of "transferring" SPLA and other armed groups to the 
SSPS, the Prisons Service and other security forces such as the 
Wildlife Service, rather than demobilize them.  Over the last eight 
months nearly 7,000 military personnel have been transferred to the 
SSPS and the Prisons Service, where they are readily available to 
take up arms again in the event of conflict.  The Ministry of 
Internal Affairs (MIA) has essentially taken on these personnel in 
an effort to avoid the kind of internal conflict that might 
accompany the release of these soldiers into civil society, where 
most of them would probably not be able to find jobs.  Many of these 
"demobilized" troops are well-paid officers rather than lower paid 
non-commissioned officers, thereby forcing the MIA to expend almost 
90% of its budget on salaries rather than on severely needed 
training and infrastructure support for the SSPS.  The SSPS and 
Prison Service have now been flooded with people whose loyalties are 
uncertain and who are not dedicated to the development of a 
democratic police and prison system.  In what seems to be an attempt 
to come to terms with this problem, a major element in draft 
legislation for the police and prison systems has included a 
requirement that these services create internal "courts" with the 
power to pass death sentences on their own personnel.  It is hoped 
that this will serve as a strong deterrent to police and others who 
carry weapons from participating in conflict and committing serious 
offences. 
 
INL Program in Southern Sudan 
----------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) In this environment, it is critical that criminal justice 
assistance programs be highly focused.  Broad initiatives aimed at 
changing institutions and attitudes may not receive GoSS buy-in due 
to a lack of political will and in the face of political uncertainty 
over the next two years. INL programming, as designed, will continue 
to support democratic legal institutions as envisaged in the Interim 
Constitution of Southern Sudan.  However, programs will focus on 
minimizing the potential for conflict while seeking to demonstrate 
what can be achieved for police reform in times of peace. 
 
¶8. (U) INL programs, over the next year, will focus on four major 
areas: basic law enforcement assistance; support to the police for 
the acceptance of democratic administration of justice; basic 
support to the corrections system and development of alternatives to 
incarceration; and aiding the GoSS in developing an elections and 
referendum security plan that will provide a key division of 
responsibilities between the military and the police. 
 
¶9. (U) INL's main contractor, PAE, will implement a basic police 
training and support program as part of its Comprehensive Criminal 
Justice Sector Development Program.  International Police Advisors 
have already begun to support the SSPS in drafting a new basic 
curriculum that will standardize training across the region and 
embody democratic concepts and respect for human rights as well as 
one that includes basic English language training as a way of 
building internal capacity.  Once the SSPS has finalized the 
training concepts and produced lesson plans, the program will 
undertake a major effort to support instructor development and build 
a cadre of Sudanese mid-level police who will train non-commissioned 
officers across the region.  The literacy program will draw on 
support from the Ministry of Education of Southern Sudan to employ, 
when possible, Sudanese English language teachers as part of the 
training. 
 
¶10. (U) As has been the case in other, similar INL programs, this 
 
KHARTOUM 00001708  003 OF 003 
 
 
light-footprint approach seeks buy-in from the host government and 
allows for international advisors to be free to aid in other areas 
of organizational restructuring and support where needed.  In this 
case, the advisors can help design a program for dealing with 
"transferred" military officers who will need a place within the 
system that utilizes them but does not threaten vulnerable 
populations.  Another area where INL will be focused includes 
building an asset management control system to both assess needs and 
build a system that will better track scarce resources.  Over the 
coming months, as INL future funding levels become clearer, it will 
be necessary to utilize additional resources on a field officer 
training and mentoring program and on developing a basic 
communications system that builds on a project begun by the Germans 
at the state level.  Focus will be on organizing command and 
control, understanding reporting procedures and increasing mobility 
of the police to ensure that they can respond during emergencies and 
protect civilians during times of conflict. 
 
¶11. (U) Closely connected to the program above, the rule of law 
program, carried out under the direction of the INL Criminal Justice 
Advisor, will focus on developing key legislation that provides 
targeted training on criminal laws and international fair trial 
standards with core groups of police, prosecutors and judges.  Legal 
training of police will be a major focus of the program, as well as 
developing networks between the statutory criminal courts system and 
traditional leaders administering customary law, with a focus on 
conflict mitigation, particularly in the area of violent crime.  INL 
is providing a print service management system to the Ministry of 
Legal Affairs as a basic capability to print and disseminate laws to 
the citizenry across the region.  As police undergo basic training 
and become more aware of laws and their responsibilities, their 
ability to interact more effectively with the general population 
increases exponentially, thereby improving essential relations 
between the police and the public. 
 
¶11. (U) To address the larger problems associated with protecting 
the civilian population during periods of instability, INL will 
undertake a major effort aimed at supporting elections security.  A 
senior advisor will work with GoSS military and police entities to 
build a longer-term strategy for managing major events such as 
elections with an aim toward helping the GoSS focus on the need to 
remove the military from its current major role of providing 
civilian security.  Beyond policy, the program will provide specific 
training and assistance to police units who will fulfill rapid 
response functions such as riot and civil disorder management. 
 
¶12. (U) Finally, INL is funding the United Nations Office on Drugs 
and Crime to support a basic corrections reform program.  Funds are 
aimed at institutionalizing prison management procedures that 
promote security and the well being of prisoners, with an emphasis 
on the needs of vulnerable populations such as women and children. 
One of the most significant aspects of this program so far has been 
INL's involvement in the draft legislation of the Prisons Bill which 
involved a multi-agency working group to hash out key aspects of the 
rights of prisoners.  The other main area of support is in helping 
reduce the burden of prisoners within the system, almost 60% of whom 
have not been arraigned due to the lack of capacity within the 
statutory courts.  Alternatives to incarceration such as instituting 
probation and parole systems and decriminalizing adultery are some 
aspects of the strategic plan that was drafted by a senior GoSS 
working group last summer.  Implementing this strategy will continue 
through INL funding in the coming months. 
 
¶13. (U) COMMENT: As Southern Sudan approaches key milestones such as 
the 2009 elections and the 2011 referendum, the threat of armed 
conflict increases and the need to contain conflict where possible 
will rise.  As CPA implementation progresses (in fits and starts), 
critical and practical support to the police and administrators of 
justice through targeted training, the provision of some equipment, 
and key interventions with the GOSS on justice and law enforcement 
will become a primary focus of the INL program.  Continued and 
increased funding to the INL program in Southern Sudan is now and 
will become an even more vital piece of the U.S. contribution to 
preserving stability in Southern Sudan and implementing US foreign 
policy objectives in seeing the CPA survive. 
 
FERNANDEZ