VZCZCXRO9146
OO RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKH #0669/01 1401449
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 201449Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3828
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000669 
 
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 KPKO SOCI ASEC AU UNSC SU ER CM
SUBJECT: BEJA CONGRESS, FREE LIONS ACKNOWLEDGE COLLAPSE OF THE 
EASTERN FRONT 
 
REF: A) KHARTOUM 665 
B) 08 ASMARA 361 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Eastern Front has fallen apart, 
representatives of the Free Lions and Beja Congress conceded to 
poloffs separately on May 18-19.  Implementation of the Eastern 
Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA) was the only hope for keeping it 
together, they said, but the peace dividend promised upon its 
signing failed to materialize.  Hameed Ali Hamid of the Free Lions 
stated that the lack of ESPA implementation is prolonging a dire 
humanitarian situation, and noted that the lack of DDR promised for 
thousands of former Rashaida soldiers has put them at risk of 
involvement with smuggling. He added that while most illicit cross 
border activity in Eastern Sudan involves legal goods, human 
smuggling is a growing problem there. Despite these issues, the Free 
Lions remain united under their leader Mabrouk Mubarak Salim, he 
said, but noted the Beja Congress has splintered into four factions. 
 Al Amin Shingrai of the Beja Congress acknowledged the end of the 
Eastern Front, but downplayed fractures within his party. Both Hamid 
and Shingrai were eager for USG involvement in the East and urged SE 
Gration to visit this beleaguered region.  End Summary. 
 
LACK OF DDR, DEVELOPMENT FOR RASHAIDA 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) On May 18, poloffs met with Hamid Ali Hamid, Chief of Staff 
for Dr. Mabrouk Mubarak Salim, Chairman of the Free Lions Movement. 
Hamid lamented that aside from the appointment of Eastern Front 
members to a series of federal, state and local positions in which 
they have  little power, the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA) 
has done nothing for the Rashaida people in East Sudan.  Almost 
4,000 Rashaida families are still living as IDPs near the Eritrean 
border, he said, as promises of GOS assistance have not 
materialized.  All assistance they have  received thus far has come 
in the form of a personal donation from Free Lions Chairman . 
Mabrouk, he said.   The ESPA has also not provided educational 
opportunities for Rashaida students who halted their studies in 
Eritrea to return to Sudan after the signing of the ESPA, he said. 
He added  that the Eastern Sudan Reconstruction and Development Fund 
(ESRDF) has yet to build any schools. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Hamid continued that the promised Disarmament, 
Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) of the several thousand 
Rashaida former rebels has not materialized, as ongoing DDR programs 
have not included them.  He worried that if these soldiers are 
neither demobilized nor reintegrated soon, they will resort to 
criminality, causing social unrest. Hamid admitted that smugglers 
recruit many of these former soldiers due to  their knowledge of the 
terrain.  (Note: the Rashaida have a well-known reputation for 
smuggling along remote areas of the Red Sea coast.  End Note.) 
Hamid asserted that most such cross border activity involved the 
transport of "perfectly legal" goods and commodities, though he did 
acknowledge a growing problem of human smuggling.  Would-be migrants 
from Kenya, Somalia, and even West Africa pay smugglers a handsome 
sum to get them across the border into Egypt, he said.  Rashaida 
tribesmen are used in the smuggling, he acknowledged, but they were 
not the brains of the operations.  "We don't know who is behind 
this," he said. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Hamid also steadfastly denied the smuggling of weapons was 
taking place in Eastern Sudan, citing  commercial grounds: "You 
can't fit more than 100 Kalashnikovs in a Landcruiser," he said. 
"The smugglers find moving people to be much more lucrative." 
Poloff asked about reported strikes in January by  unidentified 
aircraft  on a convoy of suspected arms smugglers, The attacks had 
been  revealed publicly by Dr. Mabrouk at a March press conference 
in Kassala.  Hamid reported that the GOS had urged Mabrouk to keep 
the incident quiet, but after being approached by numerous families 
of the victims asking for assistance, Mabrouk  felt he had to 
disclose it to the world "for humanitarian reasons." Following the 
announcement, a number of MPs had called on Mabrouk to be summoned 
to parliament to explain himself, said Hamid.  Mabrouk avoided this 
by arguing that if he was to be summoned, so should  the Minister of 
Defense, the Director of National Intelligence and Security Service 
(NISS), and Ministry of Interior to explain how Sudanese airspace 
was so easily violated. 
 
END OF THE EASTERN FRONT 
------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) Hamid told poloffs that without implementation of the ESPA, 
the Eastern Front had little chance of remaining a cohesive body. It 
is now effectively dissolved, he said, having splintered along 
ethnic lines into a myriad of factions.  The Rashaida of the Free 
 
KHARTOUM 00000669  002 OF 002 
 
 
Lions Movement led by Mabrouk Mubarak Salim constitute one movement 
, while the Beni Amer have followed Dr. Amna Dirar and her newly 
formed Eastern Democratic Party (Ref A). The Beja Congress, 
meanwhile, has splintered, as several prominent party figures broke 
ranks with Beja Congress Chairman Musa Mohamed Ahmed.  In addition, 
Shiva Dirar, Abdallah Musa, and Abdallah Kunna have each formed his 
own Beja Congress faction, according to Hamid. He accused some 
former Eastern Front leaders of lying about ESPA implementation and 
understating the humanitarian situation in order to gain regime 
favor, singling out Musa Mohamed Ahmed and Amna Dirar. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Al Amin Shingrai, head of External Relations for the Beja 
Congress, admitted that the Eastern Front is finished as a result of 
Dirar's establishment of the Eastern Democratic Party.  He denied 
any fractures in the Beja Congress, although he admitted that Deputy 
Chairman Shiva Dirar had been removed from his position by the 
Central Committee following several inflammatory statements about 
returning to war, as well as his inability to work in "an 
institutional way."  The decision to remove Shiva Dirar from his 
leadership position was made after a vote, said Shingrai, 
highlighting the democratic process within the committee. 
 
CHINA'S GROWING ROLE IN SUDAN 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Shingrai, a U.S. citizen who returned to Sudan following 
the signing of the ESPA, noted that China is increasing its 
political and economic presence in Sudan, particularly in the East. 
China recently donated USD 36 million to the Eastern Sudan 
Reconstruction and Development Fund (ESRDF), with the stipulation 
that the 12 projects to be implemented with this money be awarded to 
 Chinese companies.  (Note: Chinese oil interests are also 
reportedly conducting exploration in the Tokar Delta area of Kassala 
State. End Note.)  China has also recently invited a delegation of 
representatives from all of Sudan's political parties, including the 
Beja Congress, to Beijing for a conference on democracy and human 
rights, he said.  He urged that the USG exert its political and 
economic influence in the East as the Chinese have, noting that 
unless counterbalanced, China will continue "rooting itself" in 
Sudan.  Shingrai also noted that as the Beja Congress' Head of 
External Relations, he was recruited to be a part of the 
soon-to-be-announced Sudanese Council for Foreign Affairs, a 
semi-official policy advisory body whose membership includes 
Presidential Advisors Dr. Ghazi Salaheddin and Mustafa Osman Ismail, 
as well as several ex-Foreign Ministers and prominent businessmen. 
 
USG FUNDED TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Despite the admitted fragmentation of the Eastern Front, 
both Hamid and Shingrai were eager to have their constituents 
involved in any USG-funded training opportunities available, 
particularly for up-and-coming leaders within the organizations. 
They were excited about the potential to participate in 
capacity-building workshops sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Asmara 
(Ref B).  Shingrai noted that Kassala or Khartoum would be 
preferable venues, citing GOS suspicion of any gatherings of 
Sudanese abroad. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) From the beginning, the Eastern Front was a shaky alliance 
between two ethnic groups with little in common; the Rashaida are a 
relatively wealthy Arab tribe that  migrated from the Arabian Gulf 
to Sudan in the mid -19th century, while the Beja are African, poor 
and indigenous to the region.  The armed struggle against Khartoum 
was enough to bring them together, but the meager results of ESPA 
implementation have not been enough to keep them united.  Without a 
unified Eastern political body, members of the former Eastern Front 
have lost what little leverage they had in pushing for 
implementation of the ESPA. 
 
ASQUINO