Cablegate: El Fasher Dpa Implementation Office Challenges
VZCZCXRO3613
PP RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1613/01 1910813
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 100813Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3603
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001613
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO AMGT AU UN US SU
SUBJECT: EL FASHER DPA IMPLEMENTATION OFFICE CHALLENGES
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The El Fasher DPA Implementation Office is still
two weeks away from opening. While AMIS is engaged in the
logistical aspects of the facility, they have neither the staffing
capabilities nor policy guidance to move the operation forward.
AMIS appears willing to accept support and suggestions from the
ARC/Embassy field presence, and the team has therefore offered AMIS
some initial suggestions on organization and mission orientation.
SLM/Minawi has seen the facility and is eager to move some of his
people into it. Lack of AMIS political capacity in the field may
force the team to engage with AU/AMIS in Khartoum to guide what
should be an El Fasher/Darfur-oriented process. Field officers also
met with UNMIS head of office Niels Scott to make introductions and
discuss DPA implementation. END SUMMARY.
DPA IMPLEMENTATION OFFICE BUILDING NEEDS TWO MORE WEEKS
2. (SBU) ARC Officers visited the future DPA Implementation Office
on several occasions, including once with SLM leader Minawi. Per
discussions with USAID/OTI implementing partner DAI, steps needed to
complete the facility include adding razor wire to the low walls,
installing floodlights, and bringing in a generator from Khartoum.
Once these issues are resolved, DAI can install the furnishings it
already has warehoused and AMIS will post guards. Computers and
AMIS-provided Internet should shortly follow, along with an
air-conditioned meeting tent for large gatherings (100 plus
persons). DAI hopes to receive a final cost estimate and issue the
work order to contractor PAE within the next day, and work, short of
the tent, could be completed within two weeks. ARC Officers hope to
use the building immediately after power is up and guards are in
place.
3. (SBU) Minawi said he was pleased with the site and said his
people needed the office space if they were to start focusing on the
political process. While he did not know who would occupy the
limited space, he directed ARC Officers to engage with SLM/M
Secretary General Mustafa Terab on matters pertaining to DPA
SIPDIS
implementation. ARC Officers had met with Terab earlier, and he
appeared eager to maintain a strong relationship.
NO AMIS CONOPS YET DEVELOPED FOR IMPLEMENTATION OFFICE
4. (SBU) The highest ranking AU/AMIS civilian in El Fasher,
Ambassador Hassan Gibril, has been away on compassionate leave since
the ARC arrived in Sudan. He is not scheduled to return until after
July 15. ARC Officers met briefly with his political staffer,
Elizabeth Mgaya, during their first visit to the AMIS base. Mgaya
had recently arrived and was unaware of plans for a DPA
Implementation Office. She has also since left on leave. There are
no other civilians within AMIS in El Fasher for the team to plug
into with regards to DPA implementation, leaving AMIS military as
the only available interlocutor.
5. (SBU) During meetings on June 25 and June 27 with Acting (Deputy)
Force Commander BG Frank Kamanzi, ARC Officers were able to discuss
some logistics regarding the facility, but were unable to engage BG
Kamanzi in a discussion of the Implementation Office's mission or
staffing. BG Kamanzi said this was a policy matter that would be
decided in Khartoum and worked through Ambassador Gibril. He noted
that the building was unlikely to be completed until Gibril returned
anyway, and therefore we could afford to wait. (NOTE: Several
sources reported that when Force Commander Ihekire, also on leave,
was present, BG Kamanzi was excluded from most meetings and
therefore was often not privy to his superior's thinking and plans,
if any. Moreover, DAI noted that during its first three meetings
with Gibril, Gibril had not yet received word or instructions from
AU headquarters regarding its involvement in the DPA Implementation
Office. END NOTE.)
6. (SBU) ARC Officers later learned that BG Kamanzi has been
appointed "Chairperson" for developing an AMIS DPA implementation
plan and that his deputy, LTC Washington, is the POC and DAI
interlocutor for matters pertaining to the DPA Implementation
Office. ARC Officers held a friendly meeting on July 4 with LTC
Washington on AMIS staffing plans and other thinking vis-a-vis the
DPA Implementation Office. LTC Washington freely admitted that
while AMIS realized the Office required high-level political
leadership, they simply do not have anyone. Nor had they given much
thought to the Office's function, capabilities, or possible
activities. For now, BG Kamanzi had assigned several officers to
man desks copying their current limited civil affairs functions,
including an IDP and NGO desk. The Office and these military
officers would be managed for the time being by a Major. On other
aspects of DPA implementation, Kamanzi called a meeting of his
sector commanders to instruct them to develop security and
verification SOPs for various DPA provisions. The commanders are to
return for another meeting soon (NFI) to present their plans.
7. (SBU) ARC Officers briefed LTC Washington on the support they
hoped to provide AMIS and the Implementation Office. He expressed
willingness to work closely with the team, and take any suggestions
for staffing and activities under advisement. ARC officers
presented Washington with a proposed organizational plan that would
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mirror the six commissions/committees established under the DPA and
that form the basis of the (future) Transitional Darfur Regional
Authority. In addition, the team suggested the Office include space
for an information/public affairs unit. Finally, space should be
set aside to represent current and future non-signatory ascendants
to the DPA. Washington agreed and promised to present these ideas
to the Commander. ARC Officers also offered LTC Washington a
notional mission statement for the Office, outlining the following
possible functions:
-- Venue, planning, and production facilities for public outreach
activities to explain and promote the DPA to the signatories,
adherents, Darfur constituency, and other interested parties;
-- Facilitation of dialogue and coordination among the signatories
on implementation issues;
-- Meeting space for signatories, ascendants and key stakeholders,
including civil society groups and community leaders;
-- Limited office space for the AU, signatories, and adherents;
-- Monitoring, reporting, and analysis of DPA implementation
activities through "desks" mirroring the structure of the
Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA); and,
-- A Darfur planning and coordination headquarters for the
Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation (DDDC).
DPA IMPLEMENTATION IN KHARTOUM LIKELY TO GUIDE EL FASHER
8. (SBU) Because AU/AMIS, as well as the UN, leaves policy decisions
to headquarters in Khartoum, and because SLM/M appears to initially
be moving much of its political operation to the capital, guidance
for the El Fasher Implementation Office will probably be guided by
developments of the office in Khartoum. Therefore AU DPA
Implementation lead Ambassador Sam Ibok, recently returned to Sudan
from yet another consultation with AU headquarters in Addis, will
continue to be the lynchpin for DPA implementation. Until the
Khartoum DPA Implementation Office is leased and is opened, Ibok
will lack office space and a focus point for implementation
activities and donated/seconded support staff. While AU Khartoum is
wealthier in terms of political/civilian staffing for
implementation, thus far it is only by a magnitude of one. As a
result, ARC officers will work with the Embassy to engage and
support Ibok's office as quickly as possible.
TOUCHING BASE WITH HEAD OF UNMIS REGIONAL OFFICE
9. (SBU) ARC officers and Tod Wilson also met with head of UNMIS
regional office Niels Scott on July 3 to make introductions and
discuss UN efforts to date to support the DPA. Scott noted that the
UN is only providing "technical assistance" at the moment to AMIS in
connection with the DPA, as opposed to direct political support. He
noted, however, that the UN had formed a DPA Implementation Team
(DPAT) that would visit El Fasher beginning July 5. Scott only
vaguely described the DPAT as an entity to support AMIS in
implementation and track roadmap progress. (NOTE: ARC officers are
seeking a meeting with DPAT and have sent the roadmap document via
email to Embassy Khartoum and Department. END NOTE.) Scott also
mentioned that he was in contact with SLM leader Minni Minawi on
issues related to the delivery of humanitarian goods and
specifically noted both Minawi's interest in humanitarian supply
routes and his appointment of Adam Ali War as the SLM/M Humanitarian
Coordinator.
HUME