VZCZCXRO2138
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKH #0265 0561337
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 251337Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3093
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000265 
 
DEPT FOR AF A A/S CARTER, AF/SPG, AF/C 
NSC FOR MGAVIN AND CHUDSON 
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: GOS-JEM "DETAINEE EXCHANGE" A ONE-SIDED AFFAIR 
 
REF: A) KHARTOUM 245 
B) KHARTOUM 236 
 
¶1. (SBU) As a "goodwill gesture" to the rebel Justice and Equality 
Movement (JEM) following the Doha talks, the GOS released 24 
detainees on February 22 who it claimed were members of JEM.  JEM 
Spokesman Ahmed Hussein was unable to immediately confirm if the 
detainees - whose names were published in government-controlled 
newspapers - were members of JEM.  He told  the Sudanese Media 
Center:  "We are going to verify that because they just released the 
names and maybe they released these people, but we don't know 
whether they are members of JEM or not."  JEM later claimed that 
none of the detainees was from the movement. 
 
¶2. (SBU)  UNMIS Human Rights confirmed with the families of some, 
but not all, of the detainees that they had been released from GOS 
custody that week.  According to UNMIS Human Rights officer Mary 
Kalemkarian, four of the detainees had been arrested in April, prior 
to the May 10 JEM assault on Omdurman, and the rest were swept up in 
the massive GOS dragnet conducted in the days following the attacks. 
 Approximately 350 Darfuris whose arrests were reported in April, 
May and June 2008 remain unaccounted for. Many of those arrested 
then were Zaghawa, the tribe from where most of Darfur's rebel 
fighters come from.  However,  UNMIS Human Rights has yet to receive 
cooperation from Sudanese authorities in providing details on whom 
the latter originally detained, and whom they have since released. 
ICRC stated it had no contact with any of the supposed detainees, 
and the independent Darfur Bar Association, which had publicly 
defended detainees arrested following the May 10 JEM attacks, was 
unable to confirm the release of any detainees. 
 
¶3. (SBU) On February 23, a UNAMID delegation and representatives 
from the Joint Mediation Support Team (JMST) met with Sudanese 
Minister of Justice Abdul-Bassit Sabdarat, to be briefed about the 
release of 24 persons detained for allegedly taking part in the 
Omdurman incident of 10 May 2008. According to UNAMID, Sabdarat 
explained that this action was a goodwill gesture from the 
Government of Sudan, in honor of the Emir of Qatar's recent visit, 
and that the release constituted one of the confidence-building 
measures in the recently-signed Doha Goodwill Agreement between the 
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Government of Sudan. 
Sabdarat also expressed the hope that this action would lead to 
positive developments in future talks between the two parties. 
 
¶4. (SBU) For its part, JEM is still vacillating on whether to 
release its GOS prisoners, as some sources indicate that JEM still 
holds a significant number of GOS fighters. On February 23, Ahmed 
Hussein cryptically commented to Sudan Radio Service, "The decision 
about these people has been taken, but now we are looking for the 
right mechanism actually to hand them over to the Government of 
Sudan. There is an offer now from the ICRC; they would like to play 
a role on this. But until now we haven't finalized any kind of 
agreement with them on this, but we are looking forward to seeking 
their help and also the help of UNAMID as well."  He added that at 
this point JEM intends to hand over 21 prisoners, but did not offer 
a date of release. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Comment: The substance behind this month's "goodwill 
gesture" between JEM and the GOS reveals how little each side is 
interested in genuine negotiations and peace-building in Darfur.  If 
the Doha agreement was truly a step toward ending the conflict 
between the two warring Islamist groups, neither side would still be 
clutching to such an important bargaining chip as its opponent's 
fighters.  Sadly, this unfulfilled promise from Doha shows how 
little both sides are willing to do to create the right conditions 
for further progress in upcoming talks.  Given the impending ICC 
indictment, the GOS may be willing to do more on this score than 
JEM, as we have seen from the release of Zaghawa Darfuris from 
prisons in Khartoum.  However, Khalil Ibrahim's half-brother remains 
in jail pending further progress between the parties.  Most likely, 
Khartoum would like to hold onto Khalil's brother until it sees 
whether JEM mounts another military offensive following the ICC 
announcement next week, as JEM has already threatened it will do or 
whether it can be enticed to offer something more substantive in 
Doha in the form of a cessation of hostilities. 
 
FERNANDEZ