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O 201358Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4599
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001183 
 
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 PREL KDEM SU
SUBJECT: Assessment and Evaluation Committee's 48th Plenary Session 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: The Assessment and Evaluation Commission (AEC) held 
its 48th Plenary Session on October 6 at AEC Headquarters in 
Khartoum.  AEC Chairman, Sir Derek Plumbly, noted that the time for 
national elections and Southern referenda is quickly approaching; 
however, he does not see implementation of the Comprehensive Peace 
Agreement as "in crisis" unless the parties fail to resolve the 
issue of the census as it relates to the elections, and agreement on 
a referendum law within the next two months.  The ruling National 
Congress Party (NCP) representative said that, with respect to the 
census, the NCP had proposed a way forward to the Sudan People's 
Liberation Movement (SPLM) and was waiting for a reply.  Regarding 
border demarcation, Vice President Taha and GoSS Vice President 
Machar were meeting on the issue, the NCP representative said. 
Donor nations welcomed news of the upcoming tripartite talks in 
Kenya and the facilitation of negotiations by U.S. Special Envoy to 
Sudan, Gen. Scott Gration.  Recognizing the continuing violence in 
the South and rejection by Misseriya leaders of the Abyei Permanent 
Court of Arbitration (PCA's) border demarcation decision, AEC 
members and the parties nonetheless vowed to redouble their efforts 
to quickly come to terms on remaining CPA issues.  End Summary 
 
-------------------------------------- 
DCM Updates AEC on Points of Agreement 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U)  AEC Chairman, Sir Derek Plumbly, asked donor nations to 
think strategically about ways to settle the ongoing, unresolved CPA 
issues.  Three papers were presented for discussion: (1) The AU 
communiqu of 22 September on attacks in Southern Sudan, with its 
message for the AEC; (2) A letter from Misseriya leaders regarding 
the Permanent Court of Arbitration decision on Abyei; and (3) the 
AEC 2010 draft budget.  Sir Derek noted that several deadlines in 
the NCP/SPLM points of agreement had passed, including those on the 
Referendum law, the popular consultation process, JIU review and the 
report of the North South Border Committee. 
 
¶3.  Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) Mark Asquino thanked the AEC 
secretariat for its help in providing information with which to 
update the stoplight chart reflecting the status of agreed-upon CPA 
implementation issues.  He noted the latest version would be ready 
soon.  He said that despite progress, the parties were behind 
schedule on delimitation of the North/South border.  To assist the 
committee, the United States offered to make available the technical 
expertise of its border demarcation expert, John Gates, at short 
notice.  In addition, the Central Bank of Sudan had now sent a 
request to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asking it to 
conduct a review of the banking system.  Because the deadline for 
this action had been August 15, the United States encouraged the IMF 
to work expeditiously on this request.  The DCM welcomed the 
official announcement at the previous day's opening session of the 
National Assembly that the National Security Act and other 
legislation would be considered during the current session. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Trilateral Talks to Continue in Kenya 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U)  The DCM also reminded the parties of the urgent need for 
further discussions on the issues of the referendum and the census, 
and informed AEC members of a proposal by the Office of the Special 
Envoy for Sudan (S/USSES) to hold trilateral talks with the parties 
in Nairobi, with tentative, proposed dates of  October 26-30. 
S/USSES staff will arrive on or about October 19 to work with the 
parties to prepare for the meeting.  In response to a question from 
the Chairman, the United States confirmed that the dates of October 
26-30 had not yet been formally agreed to by the parties.  Italy 
welcomed the policy of "balanced engagement" being pursued by the 
U.S. Special Envoy.  Kenya urged the parties to move expeditiously 
to resolve their differences through the tripartite process.  The 
representative of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development 
(IGAD) offered assistance in supporting the discussions, and 
repeated its offer, made at the June CPA witnesses conference in 
Washington, to arrange a heads-of-state-level summit on CPA 
implementation. 
 
---------------------------- 
Italy Supplements AEC Budget 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U)  AEC Chairman Plumbly introduced the AEC budget for 2010, 
and thanked the Government of Italy for its generous level of 
program funding.  As a result, he said, the AEC was in a position to 
offer support for the functioning of the local AECs as they carry 
out their important work.  Italy called on the parties to engage in 
discussion on post-2011 issues. 
 
KHARTOUM 00001183  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
------------------------------------ 
NCP: Remaining Disagreements are Few 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  (U)  The NCP agreed with the Chairman that time was very tight 
as the parties were now in the last part of the interim period, and 
must pay special regard to the limited number of issues remaining. 
With respect to the census, the NCP had offered a proposal to the 
SPLM outlining a political way forward, and had further elaborated 
on the proposal two weeks earlier.  The NCP added that the 
high-level executive and political committee continued to meet on a 
regular basis, and was deliberating on the referendum law with the 
assistance of lawyers.  There had been some progress, and the 
remaining points of disagreement were few, he said.  With regard to 
the demarcation and delimitation of the North-South border, the NCP 
noted that a high-level meeting had taken place between Vice 
President Taha and Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) Vice 
President Machar together with the full membership of the technical 
committee.  The committee had explained to the principals the 
parties' differences and the reasons why they had not been able to 
agree, most of which were administrative in nature according to the 
NCP representative .  The meeting had ended with some directives 
from the principals to the committee, which led to the resumption of 
work.  On this item, the NCP assured members that the Presidency was 
applying very heavy pressure on the committee to complete its work 
as quickly as possible. 
 
--------------------- 
Working Group Updates 
--------------------- 
 
¶7.  (U)  Italy, which chairs the Power-Sharing Working Group, 
announced it would organize a working group meeting at the end of 
October with the ad hoc North South border committee.  The United 
States, which chairs the Wealth Sharing Working Group, said that the 
next session of the latter was scheduled for October 13.  The main 
item on the agenda was an update on the functioning of the Wealth 
Sharing protocol with State Minister Lual Deng and Under Secretary 
Fatih Siddiq.  The working group would pay particular attention to 
the planned National Petroleum Commission audit of the oil sector 
and to the IMF review of the banking system, both of which were 
contained in the Points of Agreement.  The Netherlands, which chairs 
the Security Working Group, reported that it was endeavoring to 
reschedule the postponed working group visit to Muglad; 
conversations with the Governor of Southern Kordofan suggested that 
sometime after October 30 would now be feasible. 
 
¶8.  (U)  The Netherlands also noted that the seasonal migration of 
the Misseriya tribe had started earlier than usual this year, and 
said that this may have implications for security in light of the 
fact that this was the first migration since the Permanent Court of 
Arbitration (PCA) ruling on Abyei borders.  Unfortunately, no 
conference on the ruling had as yet taken place between the Ngoc 
Dinka and Misseriya.  The Misseriya leadership had rejected the PCA 
decision and would make an announcement following a tribal 
conference currently underway.  AEC Chairman Plumbly presented to 
the members a letter received from Misseriya tribal leaders, and 
stated that he would draft a reply affirming the AEC's support for 
the PCA decision and expressing concern for the rights of all 
persons and communities in the area.  Finally, the Netherlands noted 
that the working group visit to Blue Nile on October 13-14 would 
take place as scheduled. 
 
¶9.  (U)  The representative of the African Union described the 
group's growing concerns with respect to the overall security 
situation in the South.  The AU believed that discussions on this 
issue needed to take place between the Government of National Unity 
(GoNU, GoSS and the international community about how best to 
address the situation. The AU proposed that the Security Affairs 
Working Group consider this issue. 
 
Whitehead