VZCZCXRO7663
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0049 0151239
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 151239Z JAN 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2686
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000049 
 
DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG, DRL 
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: TURABI ARRESTED AFTER CALLING BASHIR "CULPABLE" FOR DARFUR 
 
REF: 08 KHARTOUM 1523 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Dr. Hassan Abdalla al-Turabi, a founding father of 
the current Sudanese regime but now the leader of the opposition 
Peoples' Congress Party (PCP) and bitter opponent to the regime, was 
arrested at his home on the evening of January 14, following remarks 
calling on Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir to assume 
responsibility for death and destruction in Darfur and leave office. 
 Officers with the National Intelligence and Security Services 
(NISS) arrested Turabi and a PCP colleague late the evening of 
January 14.  According to Turabi's son, both the family and the PCP 
intend to remain defiant through his indefinite detention. End 
summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) A founding member of the National Islamic Front (NIF), 
predecessor of the current National Congress Party (NCP) regime, 
Turabi told reporters on January 11 that Bashir is ultimately 
responsible for Darfur.  "Politically we think he is culpable - he 
should assume responsibility for whatever is happening in Darfur - 
displacement, burning all the villages, rapes, I mean systematic 
rapes, continuously, I mean on a wide scale and the killing." 
Turabi's comments follow his October 2008 public condemnation of the 
NCP's much touted Sudan People's Initiative.  At the time, he said 
of the International Criminal Court's (ICC) pending arrest warrant 
for Bashir that "Nothing can protect the president and the NCP from 
the ICC, not even the Sudan People's Initiative." (Reftel) 
 
¶3. (SBU) Turabi's son Siddiq al-Turabi told poloff on January 15 
that NISS officers summoned Turabi at 11 p.m., after he had gone to 
bed.  Arrested along with Turabi was the PCP's secretary of foreign 
relations Dr. Bashir Adam Rahma. During the arrest the family 
received no indication of how long NISS intends to hold him.  "We 
have a feeling now that they don't know what to do with him.  What 
they do depends on circumstances inside the regime," he said, 
adding, "He is now in his 77th year, and he is not in perfect 
condition, so we are concerned for his health."  Turabi said his 
family intends to issue a statement requesting his immediate 
release, and will appeal to international organizations and 
embassies in Khartoum to apply pressure as well, "because it is in 
the best interests of the government to release him."  Following 
that, he said, the PCP will plan its party-wide response in the 
coming days. 
 
¶4. (SBU) When queried as to why his father would adopt such 
inflammatory (in the local context) rhetoric at such a sensitive 
time, Turabi took the arrest as proof that the statement resonated 
powerfully within the regime.  "He understood the need to make an 
impact.  He said it because he is very proud to make the first 
statement to move things along.  He has been doing this since the 
sixties."  Addressing the rumors swirling in Sudan that the PCP is 
directly engaging with Khalil Ibrahim's Justice and Equality 
Movement (JEM), Turabi was less forthcoming.  "It is the PCP's 
intention to talk to all parties, and it is appropriate to talk to 
the Darfur rebels."  Additionally, he indicated that Turabi may have 
intended to travel to London to meet with JEM, as Rahma did 
recently: "If we have the chance and the freedom, we will negotiate 
with all parties in the interests of peace." 
 
¶5. (SBU) Comment: As demonstrated by his periodic arrests, Turabi's 
influence on the regime is significant - many of his former protgs 
are now senior leaders in the NCP regime and they both scorn and 
fear their former mentor.  Additionally, it is widely assumed in 
Khartoum that Turabi's popular support among Islamists and students 
would render him untouchable, so while the regime can arrest him 
again, they would not dare to harm him or permanently imprison him. 
It is worth noting that there is a significant difference between 
Turabi's public and private comments; while in private he sometimes 
counsels the US toward constructive engagement with Bashir, Turabi 
showed no similar reserve this week in publicly calling Sudan's 
president a war criminal. He has always been scathing about the 
moral and intellectual qualities of his former pupils.  This raises 
Turabi's profile among opposition parties and forces the NCP regime 
to deal with him.  Turabi certainly knew that the regime would 
arrest him (the ICC issue is the regime's Achilles heel at this 
point) and probably hopes to gain some attention in what is a very 
personal blood feud with a regime he created, which then turned 
against him a decade ago. 
 
FERNANDEZ