VZCZCXRO0369
OO RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKH #1063/01 2641113
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 211113Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4430
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001063 
 
NSC FOR MGAVIN, LETIM 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM SU
SUBJECT: NCP Tells Staffdel that South to Blame for CPA Shortfalls 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In an August 25 meeting with U.S. House of 
Representatives Foreign Relations Committee Staffdel Doran, Dr. 
Idris Muhammad 'Abd-al-Qadr, State Minister of the Presidency, and 
Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar Hassan, Office of the Presidency, acknowledged 
delays in implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). 
Both, however, blamed the bulk of those delays on the SPLM.  The NCP 
representatives pointed to SPLM failures to appoint representatives 
to committees, to take a consistent position on the census, to 
demobilize SPLA troops in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, and to curb 
corruption.  END SUMMARY 
 
CPA Delays Continue 
------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Dr. Muhammad Hassan, staff assistant to Dr. Idris, and an 
established NCP technical expert on the terms of the CPA, welcomed 
Staffdel Doran.   On behalf of State Minister Idris, Hassan 
delivered a detailed PowerPoint presentation on the terms and 
implementation of the CPA.  In this briefing, Hassan blamed the SPLM 
for the Unity Government's frequent failures to meet CPA benchmarks. 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) Dr. Hassan called the pre-interim period a "mad scramble" 
to "set up a government, arrive at a consensus on how things should 
be run, and appoint people to positions."  According to Dr. Hassan, 
the NCP achieved ninety-percent compliance with the CPA during this 
time period, and that the failure to achieve full implementation was 
the result of the SPLM's repeated delays in nominating people for 
government positions. Appointments for both the Human Rights 
Commission and the National Land Commission still have not been 
made, he noted, because the SPLM still has not submitted nominees. 
However, Hassan acknowledged that at least part of the delay was due 
to funding problems in Khartoum.  Hassan did not provide details on 
the lack of funding, but claimed that these issues would soon be 
resolved. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Border demarcation is a technical, not a political issue, 
according to Hassan.  The NCP is still waiting for the South to send 
representatives for all its states.  Hassan noted that one 
Southerner resigned his post on the demarcation committee, and was 
not replaced for six months, holding up the entire demarcation 
process during that period.  Dr. Hassan also accused the South of 
quibbling over non-substantive issues. 
 
Census Debate Remains a Touchy Subject for North 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Dr. Hassan defended the integrity of the 2008 census.  He 
said that one high-ranking Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS), whom 
he did not name, sent him a letter stating that the Southern 
government would accept the census.  This same minister later raised 
several issues disputing the census results.  Hassan went on to 
claim that Salva Kiir and all other Southern leaders had endorsed 
the census results soon after they were released, but later changed 
their stories. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Dr. Hassan added that an International Monetary Fund 
officer from South Africa, whom he also did not name, "issued a 
clean bill of health" for the census.  According to Hassan, certain 
objections raised by the South, including questions regarding 
male-female ratios, tribal migration issues etc., had been presented 
to a technical working group, investigated, and resolved, before the 
working group signed off on the census results. 
 
Government of Sudan Wary of U.N. Election Assistance 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Dr. Hassan briefly described how seats in the National 
Assembly would be decided.  A group of 450 seats are available, with 
sixty-percent to be elected from geographical constituencies, and 
the remaining forty-percent to be elected via proportional 
representation.  Proportional representation will be applied at both 
the national and local assembly levels. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Citing the 1956 and 1986 elections to support his claim 
that the Government is able to run its own elections without outside 
help, Hassan remarked that the U.N. had offered to transport 
completed voter registration forms via U.N. planes, an offer he said 
the government was reluctant to accept because the process left open 
the possibility that the forms could be subject to tampering if 
outside GOS control. 
 
Census, Wealth-Sharing, DDR Complaints 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Dr. Hassan dismissed SPLM arguments that Southern 
 
KHARTOUM 00001063  002 OF 002 
 
 
representation should be increased from twenty-one percent to thirty 
percent.  Any such increase, according to Hassan, would come at the 
expense of the Northern population, which would have to give up 
seats in order to accommodate the south. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Hassan also claimed that the NCP has complied completely 
with the wealth-sharing requirements of the CPA, and blamed rampant 
corruption within the GOSS as an explanation for continued 
wealth-sharing disputes.  According to Hassan, the eight billion 
dollars sent from the North to the South has gone to line the 
pockets of Southern politicians, rather than to build 
infrastructure.  "Forty-percent of the GOSS budget goes to the SPLA; 
the rest goes to corruption," he told the group. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Despite the fact that only three North-South violations of 
the ceasefire have occurred since 2002, the NCP complains that the 
SPLA is still only one-quarter redeployed out of South Kordofan and 
Blue Nile States.  The Sudanese Armed Forces, by comparison, is 100 
percent redeployed out of these areas, he claimed.  The Charge 
pointed out that one reason that SPLA soldiers are present in the 
area is that they live there.  The problem, he said, is that they 
are still armed and still wearing their uniforms. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Comment:  The NCP worked hard to make its case to the 
Foreign Relations Committee staff.  Dr. Hassan spoke from and handed 
out copies of his elaborate power point presentation.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶13. (U) Staffdel Doran did not have the opportunity to clear this 
cable before departing post. 
 
WHITEHEAD