VZCZCXRO9446
OO RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKH #0240/01 0540633
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 230633Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3041
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 000240 
 
DEPT FOR AF A A/S CARTER, AF/SPG, AF/E, DRL 
NSC FOR CHUDSON 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO KDEM SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: NCP-SPLM DISAGREEMENT ON KEY LEGISLATION PREVENTS NATIONAL 
ASSEMBLY FROM RECONVENING 
 
REFS: A. KHARTOUM 182 
¶B. KHARTOUM 149 
      ¶C. KHARTOUM 060 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  According to GNU State Minister of 
Justice Wek Mamer Kuol (SPLM) the National Congress Party (NCP) and 
the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) are discussing eleven 
pieces of outstanding CPA-related legislation.  While the two 
parties have agreed upon several of the draft bills, there is still 
heated disagreement on others, including the security law, the 
media/press law, and the referendum law.  According to Minister Wek 
and Chairman of the SPLM Caucus on the National Assembly Manoah 
Aligo Donga, the NCP is insisting that the SPLM negotiate with it on 
post-2011 referendum arrangements (particularly regarding 
wealth-sharing, Nile water rights, and North/South border 
demarcation) before it will agree to a Southern Sudan Referendum 
Law.  While in December 2008 the parties had agreed to extend and 
reconvene the previous parliamentary session on February 2, 2009 in 
order to review and ratify pending legislation, this has not 
happened.  Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Atem Garang 
(SPLM) predicted that the Assembly will not reconvene before its 
normal session in April 2009 unless pending legislation has been 
tabled for its action.  END SUMMARY. 
 
ELEVEN CRITICAL LAWS UNDER DISCUSSION 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶2. (SBU) On 9 and 22 February, emboffs met with Government of 
National Unity (GNU) State Minister of Justice Wek Mamer Kuol (SPLM) 
to follow-up on Wek's presentation to the Assessment and Evaluation 
Committee on pending CPA-related legislation (ref A).  Wek said that 
the SPLM and the NCP are now discussing eleven pieces of 
legislation. According to Wek, the two parties have agreed on three 
of these (the Human Rights Commission Law, the Land Commission Law, 
and the Criminal Code), and the agreed drafts are ready for 
parliamentary approval.  The parties had agreed on a draft 
media/press law at the end of 2008, but the bill was never tabled 
for parliamentary review by the Council of Ministers.  There is 
still no agreement on the national security law, a key piece of 
legislation critical to facilitating free and fair elections.  In 
addition, the parties are still discussing the Southern Sudan 
Referendum Act, the Criminal Procedures Act, the Trade Union Act, 
and the Civil Procedures law.  The SPLM also has proposed two 
additional laws: one governing the Abyei Referendum, the other for 
the popular consultations in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan. 
 
THREE LEVELS OF CONSULTATION 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶3.  (SBU) Wek described a three-level process for vetting the laws. 
The SPLM and the NCP first discuss legislation in the Joint Legal 
Committee (JLC), chaired by GNU Minister of Justice Abdel-Basset 
Sabdarat (NCP) and GoSS Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional 
Development Michael Makuei Lueth(SPLM).  Wek said that in the JLC 
the SPLM seeks to ensure that draft legislation complies with the 
provisions of the CPA and Sudan's provisional constitution.  If 
agreement on legislation cannot be reached at this level, it is 
kicked up to the SPLM-NCP Political Executive Committee, which is 
chaired by GNU Vice President Ali Osman Taha and GoSS Vice President 
Riek Machar.  If the parties still cannot agree at the second level 
of deliberation, it is passed to the GNU Presidency for resolution 
(such as happened with the final elements of the national electoral 
law in 2008). 
 
LEGISLATION IN DISPUTE 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶4. (SBU) According to Wek, the biggest gulf between the two parties 
is on the security law, where there is disagreement both on the 
structure and the function of the National Intelligence and Security 
Service (NISS) (ref C).  The SPLM argues that the National 
Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) should not have the 
authority to arrest and detain individuals without consent from the 
Attorney General first.  Secondly, the SPLM argues that the 
selection of the NISS Director and his deputies should be a 
consensus-based decision by the institution of the Presidency.  The 
NCP wants to see NISS keep its unchecked arrest authority and argues 
that the GNU President alone should be able to appoint the NISS 
director and his deputies. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Wek said that the NCP and the SPLM had tentatively agreed 
upon a reformed press/media law at the level of the NCP-SPLM Joint 
Legal Committee in October 2008, but that the item was subsequently 
withdrawn from the Council of Ministers meeting agenda by the NCP 
and therefore never tabled for the National Assembly's review. On 18 
February at the Political Executive Committee meeting, the NCP 
raised new objections to the draft bill and provided these in 
 
KHARTOUM 00000240  002 OF 003 
 
 
writing to the SPLM on 22 February.  On 22 February, State Minister 
Wek told poloff that the SPLM was reviewing these objections, most 
of which center around the proposed press/media code of conduct in 
the draft law. The Joint Legal Committee will meet again on 24 
February to review the press/media law. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Wek said that there is also disagreement on the 
SPLM-proposed southern Sudan Referendum Bill.  According to Wek and 
SPLM Parliamentary Caucus Chairman Manoah Aligo Donga, the NCP wants 
to first negotiate post-2011 arrangements such as wealth-sharing, 
nationality and rights, national debt and assets, Nile water 
agreements, joint integrated units (JIUs), and North/South border 
demarcation, before agreeing to a Southern Sudan Referendum Law. 
Ideally for the NCP, these arrangements would be included in the law 
(ref A). The SPLM argues that post-2011 political arrangements 
should be handled separately from the legal development of the 
southern Sudan referendum bill.  Wek and Manoah also stated that the 
NCP has procedural objections to the SPLM's draft referendum bill, 
particularly regarding the referendum's registration rules and the 
definition of who will be eligible to participate in the referendum 
vote.  A draft of the bill provided to emboffs by Manoah Aligo Donga 
defines eligible voters as those: 
 
(a) "whose either parent or grandparent is or was a member of any 
indigenous community existing in Southern Sudan before or on January 
1, 1956; or whose ancestry can be traced through agnatic or male 
line to any one of the ethnic communities of Southern Sudan; or 
(b) Who has been permanently residing or whose mother and/or father 
or any grandparent have been permanently residing, uninterrupted, in 
Southern Sudan as of January 1, 1956" 
 
The NCP argues that a wider number of citizens should be defined as 
"Southerners," including Sudanese citizens who have lived in the 
South for a shorter period of time or whose distant ancestors are 
from the region.  Wek told emboffs on 9 February that the NCP had 
claimed the bill was "drafted by the Americans." 
 
¶7. (SBU) The SPLM has proposed two draft laws that the NCP is 
reluctant to discuss: an Abyei Referendum Law and a law that governs 
the popular consultations in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan. 
According to Wek, the NCP deems these two laws unnecessary since 
they are not specifically called for in the interim national 
constitution or the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) (ref A). 
The SPLM counters that a more specific legal framework is needed for 
these critical CPA processes to be conducted.  On 22 February, Wek 
said that the NCP finally agreed that the laws could be discussed, 
but said that it prefers to wait for the Abyei arbitration results 
to be released before discussing the Abyei Referendum Bill.  The 
SPLM argued that the arbitration results and the bill have no 
bearing on one another. 
 
WHERE IS THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY? 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶8. (SBU) In December 2008, the NCP and the SPLM agreed to extend the 
National Assembly (NA) parliamentary session in order to address 
pending legislation before national elections.  According to the 
informal agreement between the parties, the NA was supposed to 
resume on February 2.  NA Deputy Speaker Atem Garang (SPLM) told 
poloff on 16 February that because pending legislation has not been 
tabled by the Council of Ministers for the NA's review and 
ratification, the NA Parliamentary Affairs Committee, chaired by the 
NA Speaker Ibrahim Tahir (NCP), determined that Parliament should 
not reconvene until there is "substantial" legislation for the 
assembly members to discuss.  Garang expressed concern that if 
legislation is not tabled by the Council of Ministers or the 
Presidency for the National Assembly's review and approval soon, 
there will be little time left for the body to pass key legislation 
before elections are held.  According to Garang, the next regular 
session of Parliament is to begin in April and end in June.  In 
poloffs' February 9th meeting with State Minister Wek, Wek also 
expressed concern that the National Assembly session agreed upon by 
the parties has not yet reconvened. 
 
COMMENT 
- - - - 
¶9. (SBU) The SPLM and the NCP continue to disagree on important 
legislation that needs reform prior to national elections. Not 
surprisingly, the NCP continues to play "hardball," willing to 
discuss all issues and tantalize with a vision of real progress but 
always looking to extract the maximum price from its peace partner. 
We understand from contacts in both parties that they are engaged in 
negotiations on a package deal regarding the elections and 
referendum (the SPLM allows the election to go forward, which the 
NCP needs to gain much needed legitimacy for President Bashir, in 
 
KHARTOUM 00000240  003 OF 003 
 
 
exchange for guarantees on the South's referendum.)  While the SPLM 
was successful in extracting a small concession from the NCP to 
extend the October 2008 parliamentary session into 2009, a 
parliamentary extension doesn't do much good if the members of 
parliament do not have legislation to debate and ratify.  We will 
continue to urge the parties to reach agreement on key legislation, 
specifically the media/press, the security, and referendum laws, 
through the Assessment and Evaluation Commission (AEC) and directly. 
It needs to be constantly made clear to the NCP that full 
implementation of the CPA, in a constructive, positive spirit (which 
has often been lacking), remains a basic demand of the United States 
in its relations with the Khartoum regime.  We will also continue to 
encourage the parties to draw up post-2011 arrangements in order to 
be prepared for separation or unity as a result of the southern 
referendum vote, but will urge that any political agreements are 
conducted separately from a legal discussion of the southern Sudan 
referendum law. The biggest challenges for the CPA are immediate, 
even before we reach 2011. End Comment. 
 
FERNANDEZ