US embassy cable - 05ABUJA1178

UNCLAS ABUJA 001178 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KAWC, KCRS, SU, NI, DARFUR 
SUBJECT: DARFUR PEACE TALKS UPDATE: OBASANJO MEETS WITH 
REBEL MOVEMENTS 
 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  President Olusegun Obasanjo met 
with the leaders of the Darfur rebel movements on June 
30 and urged them to be flexible over the remaining 
points of contention on the Declaration of Principles. 
He also encouraged them to continue the negotiations, 
and above all, be patient.  A well-briefed Obasanjo 
pointed out to the movements that the international 
community and the people of Darfur are waiting for a 
positive outcome as a sign of good faith.  Rebel 
leaders were pleased that Obasanjo took the time to 
meet with them.  We will judge how far the goodwill 
goes later on July 1 when the parties are presented 
with compromise language on some of the outstanding 
issues.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) President Olusegun Obasanjo met with a small 
group of leaders from the Sudan Liberation Movement 
(SLM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on June 
30.  The meeting included Abduljabar Dosa, the leader 
of SLM's delegation, and four other members of SLM's 
negotiating team and Dr. Khalil Ibrahim, Ahmed Togud, 
and several other JEM members.  The meeting lasted only 
twenty minutes, but Obasanjo was well-versed on the key 
sticking points of the DOP, according to Togud, and 
stated that the main issues of disagreement could be 
overcome.  Obasanjo's overall argument was that the 
parties need to be patient.  He encouraged them to 
continue their discussions because many of the 
obstacles now in the way can be negotiated in future 
sessions when the core political, economic, and social 
issues will be discussed.  Obasanjo did not meet with 
the Government of Sudan. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Obasanjo told the movements that Nigerians 
are very familiar with the issues at stake, such as 
unity and religious freedom.  Obasanjo stated that the 
current language providing for "non-discrimination 
based on religion" is sufficient and provides enough 
protection to move the DOP forward.  Obasanjo said that 
this issue needs to be tackled at length in the 
political discussions, not in the DOP.  According to 
Obasanjo, Nigeria was able to work out issues of 
religious freedom, while protecting the rights of non- 
Muslims, and recognizing the secular nature of 
governmental affairs. 
 
4.  (SBU) Obasanjo met with the movements at the 
request of Dr. Salim Salim, who briefed the President 
prior to the meeting.  For its part, Togud said that 
JEM was pleased that Obasanjo took the time to meet 
with them. SLM described the meeting with President 
Obasanjo as coming at a good time, according to 
Abduljabar Dosa, SLM's head of delegation, and Bahar 
Arabie.  Bahar felt confident that the newly-appointed 
technical committee is empowered enough to work through 
some of the DOP's final sticking points.  (Comment: All 
of the SLM members in Abuja met on June 29 and 
reportedly came to agreement on a few issues, such as 
delegation representation and the assignment of the 
DOP's contentious issues to individual SLM members. 
Deeper leadership issues remain.  End Comment.) 
 
5.  (SBU) Comment:  Obasanjo's words of encouragement 
were welcome development.  The rebel movements' 
flexibility will be tested on July 1, when another 
version of the DOP's with compromise language on the 
remaining issues of unity, religion, land rights, and 
impunity. 
 
CAMPBELL