US State Department cables from places I have served plus items from my time as a UN peacekeeper. To increase public awareness of how diplomacy and peacekeeping are (were) actually done. All cables cleared by USG FOIA procedure. Cables are mostly those sent under my name from my posts but also others in which I was directly involved. UN documents and other items will also include occasional notes and background. Most recent in series on top with cables under the new series of UN documents.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
From My Journal for April 23, 2004: Back From Leave
Went
to work today to start digging out of some 300 plus emails
(classified and un). But this afternoon, I went to the Embassy
picnic for a bit. Completely organized by our local employees.
Location,a farm on the Blue Nile. On the way
there, my caravan of SUV plus follow-car came up behind a heard of
goats completely blocking the dirt road. We all walked slowly for
several minutes until the sheep sort of wandered into a field for
some grass. I was listening to music and enjoying
looking at all the colors and designs sheep come in. Yep, back in
Sudan.
The
picnic was quite nice. Was handed plates of food and played a game
of volleyball. With a cool breeze from the river, it was bearable
despite being way over 100. Volley ball on the shores of the Nile.
Yep, back in Sudan.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
04 Khartoum 0367: April 7, 2004 Meeting with Sudan's Foreign Minister*
* From my journal for April 7: Met
with the foreign minister and tried to find a way forward vis-à-vis
the Chad talks. Maybe found one. Accepted his offer to have someone
from the Embassy travel with him to Darfur. Meanwhile, the talks in
Kenya maybe/maybe not have a breakthrough. Went to dinner on the
Nile despite the heat. The warm breeze carried the smell of animal
waste. Some kind of bug was out flying around the lights. But it
actually wasn’t that bad. And sometimes a slightly cool, fresh
breeze came along (helped by huge fans going at a respectful
distance). Took the opportunity to try a waterpipe. Not bad. The
slightly past full moon rose in the east over the Nile.
Labels:
Al Turabi,
cable,
conflict,
CPMT,
Darfur,
diplomacy,
human rights,
jinjaweed,
rebels,
Sudan,
US,
USAID
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
04 Khartoum 0341: GOS Now Says Sabotage, Not Coup Plot; Turabi's Party Says GOS moves Are Aginst Them*
* Note: On April 4, I met with the Speaker of Parliament, to deliver our relevant standard messages plus noted that we were watching the case of arrested MP. He thanked me for my "frankness."
Labels:
Al Turabi,
cable,
coup,
Darfur,
government,
human rights,
Sudan,
US,
USAID
Friday, September 11, 2015
Friday, August 21, 2015
From my Journal for the end of March 2004: Trying to Set up Talks with Darfur Rebels
March
23:
Had junior officers over for dinner tonight, part of charm offensive
and my new approach to trying to have and encourage fun. Went well I
think but I had two martinis. At ten, USAID Roger arrived and we
chatted and did some business till just late. We get on fine but I
had two martinis. Rest of USAID probably still hates me. Can't
please everyone and still do good. Busy day.
March
24:
It was a crazy day but worked out ok. Chasing Salah [Gosh]. Looks like
the Darfur talks may get off the ground sometime early next week. We
launch our group from here early tomorrow. I have to get up at six
to say goodbye to Roger [Winter]. Janice, our poloff, is going too. I played
a big role in arranging this possibility but few will ever know. But
it'll be good if it works to bring peace.
March
26:
Had a nice dinner last night with my IGAD colleagues -- Kenya,
Uganda, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Kenyan host invited Somalia rep and
South African. I really like the Africans. Stayed later than I
expected cause Elijah, the Kenyan, wanted to talk more about Somalia.
The IGAD countries want US help. Maybe I'll volunteer to do Somalia
after Sudan.
March
27:
Combined work with napping today. Tried to chase down a rebel
leader not yet committed to talks. Also attended a UN reception for
the departing UN chief. Standing for two hours was a killer. Last
night was the excellent Rec Site dance. Sore knees but good time.
March
29:
It seems like the work we did has managed to avoid being derailed by [USAID and French]. Darfur talks look to start
tomorrow in Chad. Last minute efforts made here seem to have gotten
chief rebel holdout to go. Now if the USAID/French crew don't fuck
up the actual talks, there may be hope. But I feel good that the
last month of effort has gotten to this point. Sure too bad that god
isn't keeping score because that'd be all the credit I ever get. I
made this happen in my typical way, mostly invisible but enough
showed to get me more enmity than anything else from the USAID shits.
Met
with leaders of chief opposition parties today including useful lunch
with Sadiq El Mahdi in his pavilion in his back garden. Janice
called from N’djamena to say that the arrival of the rebels was a
scene out of Lawrence of Arabia. Ah what times we live in here along
the margins of the Sahara.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Thursday, August 13, 2015
From my Journal for March 20, 2004
Got up early for tennis today and then to work. But this afternoon,
I visited the new and first-ever shopping mall in Sudan. Walked
through the metal detectors into a space not yet full of shops. But
there was a Payless Shoe Store and a hypermarket. Bought some
lentils, spices and olives. But what I really came for was to try
the bowling alley. It's run -- as I think everything is -- by the
Turks. There are maybe 10 lanes and they have electronic scoring and
appear regulation. I bowled three games -- one for free from the
manager -- and on the last reached my high score for the day, 102.
The lane had a wicked curve and desperately needs polishing. It was
impossible to hook left and anything from the right really hooked
right. But
I was bowling in Sudan!
Note: I should add that the spectacle of the American Charge at such an typically American activity grew a bit of a crowd. A local bowling hustler -- just learning his tricks -- bowled with me for a game. As I remember it, it was competition that helped me reach the heights of 102.
Monday, August 10, 2015
From my Journal for March 17 & 19: Dealing with Government treatment of darfur IDPs in Mayo Camp, Khartoum
March
17:
Shit is getting pretty near hitting the fan here. Spent the evening
hearing reports of police violence against Darfur displaced persons
at a camp near Khartoum. We made plans to be part of a dip convoy to
the camp first thing tomorrow morning. Then we hear that eight have
been killed and the violence is continuing. Tried to reach someone
in GOS to ask them to intercede. Nothing accomplished. Tomorrow, at
nine, off we go. The thugs are out of the closet and daring us not
to dance with them.
March
19:
Been an interesting 24 hours. Began yesterday with meeting a group
of Western diplomatic colleagues at the Dutch embassy. We
rendezvoused and set off for Mayo Camp to see if there was anything
we could do to help the Darfur refugees there. We heard that some
were being taken elsewhere and that the violence had continued
through the night. The government now admitted to three killed, two
women and a man. But we had reports that 15 had been killed and more
wounded. The government was clearly trying to get rid of the camp
before it attracted any more attention to the war in Darfur. We –
US, French, British, Dutch and others – wanted to get there before
they could do any more harm or erase the evidence. We failed. A
couple of miles or so from the camp, near a market on a road full of
traffic, we ran into a police roadblock, laid just for us. Not
waiting for the usual bullshit explanations, I jumped from the car
and started walking down the road. The police caught up to me. They
tried to tell me that I could not go on, that I did not have
permission. As the others caught up to me – I also had my
bodyguards – I explained that we did not need permission. I said I
would continue walking down the road. They said they could not allow
that. I said they would have to detain me to stop me and continued
walking. The police began to threaten and I paused to allow my
security to explain to them that they could not impede or touch a
diplomat. Things got heated. I made some calls to government people
who eventually told me that I had permission. I also took a picture
of the police block. This led to the police seeking to take my
camera away from me. I eventually agreed to erase the picture and
before being physically assaulted by a plainclothes policeman who was
threatening me – he was a thug – I gave the police a memory chip
that I had switched for the real one. A police general arrived with
a pickup full of plainclothes thugs. He explained that the police
were carrying out an “operation” at the camp and needed more time
to “clean up.” They could not allow us to go any further for our
own security. He assured me everything would be okay in a few hours
and we could return then. We then agreed to turn back. As we were
doing this, a UN team got a bit closer to the camp via another route
and smelled tear gas and saw people fleeing. Later, a team did reach
the camp but found it by that time deserted. Also latter, the
foreign minister passed a message saying he was angry with me for
trying to force the police to let us through. I rejected his
position and instead said that we were protesting our treatment by
the police.
Labels:
Bashir,
Darfur,
diplomacy,
France,
government,
human rights,
Khartoum,
Netherlands,
Sudan,
UK,
UN,
US
Friday, July 31, 2015
04 Khartoum 0271: Sudanese Exporting "Moderate" Islam?
Labels:
cable,
diplomacy,
government,
Islam,
Netherlands,
Saudi Arabia,
Sudan,
Sufi,
UK,
Wahhabism
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