VZCZCXRO8593
OO RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKH #0665/01 1400434
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 200434Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3824
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000665 
 
DEPT FOR SE GRATION, S/USSES, AF A/S CARSON, AF/E 
NSC FOR MGAVIN 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PINR KPKO SOCI ASEC AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: AMNA DIRAR FORMS EASTERN DEMOCRATIC PARTY, LAMENTS 
EFFECTIVE DISSOLUTION OF EASTERN FRONT 
 
REF: 08 KHARTOUM 1278 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Eastern Front has effectively dissolved after 
electoral officials denied requests to register it as a political 
party, Dr. Amna Dirar told poloffs in a May 17 meeting.  In response 
to this setback, Dirar formed the Eastern Democratic Party to 
provide an alternative to the tribal- and clan-based politics of the 
Beja Congress and Free Lions movements that make up the Eastern 
Front.  Dirar worried that the de-facto dissolution of the Front, 
which is the sole signatory to the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement 
(ESPA), could in fact invalidate that agreement.  This concern is 
largely mooted, however, by the lack of any progress in ESPA 
implementation.  Dirar also expressed concern about the 
deteriorating humanitarian situation in Eastern Sudan and the 
burgeoning Eritrean refugee population, and expressed hope that SE 
Gration would visit the East on future trips. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Bio Note: Dr. Amna Dirar is the daughter of Mohamed Salih 
Dirar, an intellectual who was among the founders of the Beja 
Congress in 1958. She was a professor at Ahfad University in 
Omdurman when she was elected as Vice Chairman of the Beja Congress 
in 2005. Having engaged in a low-intensity insurrection against the 
GOS for over a decade, the Beja Congress joined forces with another 
erstwhile member of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Free 
Lions movement of Rashaida Arabs, to form the Eastern Front in 2005, 
and Dirar became the Front's Deputy Chairman.  Upon the signing of 
the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA) between the GOS and the 
Eastern Front in 2006, she became a Presidential Advisor.  In 2008, 
Dirar attempted to remove Eastern Front Chairman Musa Mohamed Ahmed 
from the Front's leadership after he organized a separate party 
conference of the Beja Congress, accusing Ahmed of trying to lead 
two political parties simultaneously.  (Note: Since the formation of 
the Eastern Front, there has been a debate on the need for separate 
Beja and Rashaida Organizations, and whether membership in the 
Eastern Front and such organizations is mutually exclusive. End 
Note.)  Musa Mohamed Ahmed responded by expelling Dirar from the 
Beja Congress, but Dirar dismissed this as a meaningless reprisal, 
asserting that she had relinquished membership inthe Beja Congzess 
With"4hd bormatingf Eactern FrolT&QQ+.(SRW) NQe4ilG,wyph8pO|vfs m>$i~ 1 in8Ja2dmQY/P@) 
cQ,tcQ}bQnAh##nHn!dzar-mt|OKjve|aDBo7$ %V&xC34vLQ2qn, the people of the East 
have no 
alternative to the tribal- and clan-based politics embodied by the 
Beja Congress or the Free Lions Movement, she said.  As such, Dirar 
stated she decided to form the Eastern Democratic Party to transcend 
ethnic lines.  Like the Eastern Front, the Eastern Democratic Party 
will focus on achieving development for Eastern Sudan, ESPA 
implementation, and democratic transformation, she said.  "The party 
contains not just Beja but other ethnicities present in the East," 
including Darfuri, Hawsa, and Nubians, she said.  While pleased at 
the existence of an Eastern party not based on tribal affiliation, 
Dirar lamented that her failure to register the Eastern Front name 
will assure dissolution of the Front.  "The Eastern Front is the 
signatory to the ESPA, so if there is no Eastern Front does that 
mean there is no ESPA?" she wondered. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Dirar stated that the breakup of the Front had been s a 
long time in coming as Eastern Front Chairman Musa Mohamed Ahmed and 
Secretary General Mubarak Mabruk Salim had chosen to dedicate 
themselves to the Beja Congress and Free Lions, respectively.  Dirar 
said she has almost "no relationship" with either of them anymore. 
The Beja Congress is foundering, she said, having split into so many 
small units that "it is not even a party."  Under Musa's leadership, 
it has been reduced beyond even a tribal movement to a clan-based 
one, she asserted, noting that all its leadership comes from the 
Garib (phonetic) clan of Hadandowa, a Beja tribe.  Other political 
parties in the East were similarly weak, she said. The SPLM fell 
short of its aspirations in Northern Sudan, having abandoned the 
East to focus on its South-centric platform.  The other traditional 
power in the East, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), is weak 
after the NCP bought-off its strongest supporters there. Despite the 
weakness of opposition parties in northern Sudan relative to the 
NCP, Dirar said the Eastern Democratic Party would like to build 
coalitions or alliances, but harbored little hope that the projected 
2010 election would result in anything but an NCP victory. 
 
¶5. (SBU) With regard to the implementation of the ESPA, Dirar stated 
that there has been "no progress at all," contending that even 
recently touted progress on Disarmament, Demobilization and 
Reintegration (DDR) is overstated. The last of the supposedly 
 
KHARTOUM 00000665  002 OF 002 
 
 
monthly meetings of the executive committee on ESPA Implementation 
chaired by Vice President Taha took place in November, she said. 
Furthermore, she noted that money credited to the Eastern Sudan 
Reconstruction and Development Fund was actually part of the regular 
development budget for each of the three Eastern States and thus 
controlled by the Wali of each. Dirar did note that after several 
months of trying, she succeeded in obtaining some funding for the 
promotion of women's livelihood activities, but other income 
generating projects are needed. 
 
¶6. (SBU) According to Dirar, the humanitarian situation in Eastern 
Sudan continues to be dire.  Three of the thirteen expelled NGOs 
were active in East Sudan, she said, and restricted access for 
existing NGOs remains a significant obstacle.  She said tuberculosis 
is a growing problem and is on the verge of wiping out thirteen 
tribes in remote areas with no hospitals or clinics.  The East also 
must deal with a growing number of Eritrean refugees.  Dirar stated 
that as of last year, at least 40 new arrivals came daily via Port 
Sudan, and even more through the porous border between Kassala and 
Tessenei.  (Note:  UNHCR officials in Kassala assess that the new 
arrivals are mostly young men and women in their twenties, 
predominately urban and educated, who are fleeing forcible 
recruitment or arrest for desertion from the army or National 
Service. Among the new arrivals are also a significant number of 
unaccompanied minors (UAM). UNHCR has registered 8,454 new Eritrean 
refugee arrivals thus far in 2009, compared to only 4,040 during the 
same period last year.  Nearly 20,000 new Eritrean refugees entered 
eastern Sudan in 2008, and given current trends, UNHCR expects over 
45,000 to enter this year. 1172 Eritrean UAMs have been registered 
by UNHCR since January 2008. End note.)  She estimated there are 
more than  100,000 Eritreans in East Sudan. (Note: UNHCR estimates 
90,000. End note. )  The Government of Sudan (GOS) has made no move 
to grant citizenship to those with a long-time presence in Sudan, 
she continued.  Simultaneously, the GOS does not provide mechanisms 
for Eritreans to return home, effectively stranding them as 
stateless. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment: With the Eastern Front in disarray politically and 
with no leverage to implement the ESPA, prospects for development in 
the East remain as gloomy as ever. The calls for a return to war are 
not realistic, as the Eastern Front was never a significant military 
force.  Guerillas from both the Beja Congress and the Free Lions 
relied almost completely on small arms during the years of the 
struggle, with the heavy weapons used in attacks on Hamish Koreib 
and Kassala remaining exclusively in the hands of the Eritrean Army 
or the SPLA.  Neither of these patrons currently supports the 
marginalized peoples of the East as a result of Eritrea's 
rapprochement with the GOS and the SPLM's South-centric focus. 
Thus, there is little prospect or danger of renewed fighting in the 
East, though the humanitarian situation continues to be dire. 
 
ASQUINO