VZCZCXRO0144
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKH #0425/01 0850523
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 260523Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3370
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000425 
 
DEPT FOR AF A A/S CARTER, SE GRATION, AF/SPG, AF/C 
NSC FOR MGAVIN AND CHUDSON 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: SOUTH DARFUR SECURITY UPDATE, MARCH 2009 
 
REF: A) KHARTOUM 418 
      B) KHARTOUM 409 
      C) 2008 KHARTOUM 1745 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Sudanese authorities have arrested three men in 
connection with the March 17 ambush and killing of one Nigerian 
UNAMID peacekeeper in Nyala.  A spate of daylight attacks within the 
city has alarmed UN security, while at the same time it copes with 
reduced visibility in the restive state of South Darfur.  Conflict 
between pro-regime Arab tribes continues sporadically near Tulus, 
and SLA/MM representatives lament that their movement now holds no 
territory in South Darfur following the fighting in Muhajeriya 
earlier this year.  Civil society advocates have reported death 
threats and a tense environment for independent local activists in 
South Darfur.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) UN Department of Security and Safety (UNDSS) reported on 
March 25 that Sudanese authorities have arrested three individuals 
in connection with the March 17 killing of a UNAMID peacekeeper in 
Nyala.  According to Will Mulders, acting head of UNDSS in Nyala, 
UNAMID has already begun its own investigation conducted parallel to 
the government efforts, with an investigation team sent from UNAMID 
HQ in El Fasher.  Mulders reported that Sudanese police in Nyala 
have informed UNAMID that the three individuals are allegedly from 
Otash IDP camp, but have not provided any additional information. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Sydia Blackmon of the UN Department of Security and Safety 
(UNDSS) in Nyala told poloff on March 18 that since the departure of 
INGOs from South Darfur, her office is now tracking more isolated, 
random security incidents than before, including ambushes and 
violent carjackings.  Previous carjackings in and around the South 
Darfur capital involved warning shots and a set of signals to the 
driver to relinquish control of the vehicle, but the March 18 
carjacking occurred in broad daylight, near a UN facility, with no 
warning shots fired.  The March 17 ambush of the peacekeepers, which 
occurred as 8 Nigerian peacekeepers were returning from the forward 
operating base with lunch for their colleagues, also marks an 
alarming development because of the brazenness of the attack. 
Blackmon said that UNDSS will continue to review safety and security 
procedures for INGOs still operating in Nyala itself. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Within the restive state of South Darfur, UNDSS has had 
reduced visibility on security incidents over the month of March. 
Following the January 2009 clashes in South Darfur between the 
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudanese Liberation 
Army/Minni Minnawi (SLA/MM), UNDSS reported that neither rebel 
movement has a presence in the once-contested towns of Muhajeriya, 
Labado and Gereida, now in the grip of the Khartoum regime after 
many years.  However, some rebel elements are still active in East 
Jebel Marra, in areas still held by SLA/Abdul Wahid, and the GOS has 
informed the INGO community in South Darfur that the Sudanese Armed 
Forces are conducting ongoing operations in the area near Faina, 
close to the intersection of the three states of Darfur.  Security 
concerns and the capricious nature of the GOS bureaucracy has kept 
UNDSS limited to one assessment trip during March 2009, to the town 
of Gereida, south of Nyala. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Conflict erupted in March near Tulus, southwest of Nyala, 
between the heavily armed, pro-regime Habaniya and Falata tribes 
(while the Habaniya are Arabs and Falata are often considered 
"Africans," both have been on the Government's side during the 
conflict in Darfur).  On March 19, one source in Nyala reported that 
19 people had  been killed since the conflict erupted in early 
March, but was unable to indicate how many of those killed were 
civilians, or from which tribe.  On March 23, a representative of 
the Habaniya tribe told the Khartoum newspaper Al-Rai Al-Aam that 28 
Habaniya were killed in a Falata attack on March 23.  UNAMID has not 
been able to confirm accounts of the fighting due to decreased 
access and fewer points of information available in the area because 
of NGO expulsions. 
 
¶6. (SBU) An anonymous campaign in South Darfur targeting independent 
local activists began in early March, according to two contacts who 
spoke with poloff on March 19 in Nyala.  Osman Abdelmawla (protect), 
a lawyer with the independent Darfur Bar Association, said that 
following the ICC announcement on March 4, he began receiving death 
threats over his telephone, threatening that if he stayed in Darfur, 
he would be killed.  Abdelmawla believes that South Darfur 
authorities have targeted him because he previously provided 
assistance to the 2005 UN Commission of Inquiry in Darfur, and met 
abroad in 2007 with other individuals investigating crimes in 
Darfur.  Osman Ibrahim Abdalla (protect), coordinator for 
gender-based violence (GBV) programs with UNFPA in South Darfur 
since 2008, also reported similar telephone threats.  Abdalla 
intends to depart Darfur within a month for other reasons in 
 
KHARTOUM 00000425  002 OF 002 
 
 
addition to the telephoned death threats, as he predicts that the 
authorities in Nyala intend to eliminate all GBV programs operating 
in South Darfur. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Representatives of SLA/MM admitted to poloff at a March 18 
meeting in Nyala that following fighting earlier this year between 
SLA/MM and JEM, military elements of the DPA-signatory rebel 
movement no longer have a presence in South Darfur.  Suleiman 
Nourain, president of the South Darfur chapter of SLA/MM said that 
his office now sees their movement's potential in terms of political 
opposition that could counter the NCP in Nyala.  Nourain continued 
to claim that JEM and the GOS conspired in January to displace 
SLA/MM from Muhajeriya and hand over the areas to the Sudanese Armed 
Forces.  According to Nourain, his movement graciously spared 
Darfuris continued bloodshed by deciding not to counterattack. 
Nourain said the movement still maintains its offices in towns in 
South Darfur, and added that while the authorities tolerate the 
presence of the political arm of SLA/MM, opposition parties are 
generally suffering in Darfur and authorities allow no room for 
public assembly. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment: Sudanese authorities are fortunate that Kalma IDP 
camp remains calm for the moment (ref A), but the brazen daylight 
attacks in Nyala signal an unexpected shift in a large city 
previously considered secure and safe.  As was evident in a Post 
visit to Nyala in November of last year (ref C), Darfuris resident 
in Nyala continue to remain discouraged and demoralized in regard to 
security.  Post is encouraged that Sudanese authorities have 
arrested three suspects in the March 17 ambush on the peacekeeping 
unit, as previous perpetrators of major violence in Darfur have gone 
unpunished.  But we will wait to see if the perpetrators are brought 
to a free and fair trial before we celebrate the long-delayed 
renaissance of any sort of legal accountability in Darfur - for 
example, no one has ever been arrested for the August 2008 massacre 
in Kalma IDP camp by government forces. 
 
FERNANDEZ