State Department cables from Cryptome, which got them from Wikileaks 1990-10-11 10:46:00 - 90KHARTOUM10657 DR. MAHGOUB, WHO CLAIMS HE RECEIVED HIS INFORMATION FROM SOURCES SYMPATHETIC TO THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FORUM (NDF), AN UMBRELLA GROUP FOR OPPONENTS OF THE BASHIR GOVERNMENT, TOLD POLOFF THAT A GOS COMMITTEE CALLED THE "NATIONAL DEFENSE COUNCIL" MET SHORTLY BEFORE GEN. OMAR'S RECENT VISIT TO THE U.S. ACCORDING TO MAHGOUB, THIS GROUP DATES FROM BEFORE THE JUNE 30, 1989, COUP AND IS INTENDED TO EXERCISE A GENERAL INFLUENCE OVER NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS. ITS MEMBERS ARE: THE MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, FINANCE, AND INTERIOR; THE ATTORNEY GENERAL; THE STATE MINISTER OF DEFENSE; THE SUDANESE PEOPLE'S ARMED FORCES (SPAF) COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND THREE OF HIS PRINCIPAL COLLEAGUES (INCLUDING THE DEPUTY CHIEFS OF STAFF FOR OPERATIONS AND ADMINISTRATION); AND GEN. OMAR, WHO PRESIDED AT THIS MEETING. HASSAN AL TURABI, LEADER OF THE NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT, WAS PRESENT AT OMAR'S INVITATION. BECAUSE TURABI IS NOT A MEMBER AND THIS GROUP'S DISCUSSIONS ARE CLOSELY HELD, HIS PRESENCE PRODUCED SOME CONCERN AMONG THE REGULAR MEMBERS. ACCORDING TO MAHGOUB, TURABI WAS INVITED BECAUSE OF THE GROWING ROLE OF THE NIF IN SUDANESE SECURITY OPERATIONS. MAHGOUB TOLD POLOFF THAT THE NIF HAS ITS OWN SECURITY ARM (THE "'AMN AL-THAWRA," OR "SECURITY OF THE REVOLUTION"), SEPARATE FROM THE SUDAN SECURITY BUREAU OF THE GOS. ITS OPERATIVES, WHO CARRY SPECIAL IDENTITY CARDS, ARE USUALLY YOUNG AND DRESS IN WESTERN-STYLE CLOTHES TO AVOID BEING IDENTIFIED AS NIF CADRE. MAHGOUB SAID THEY ARE ESPECIALLY ACTIVE AT NIGHT, PATROLLING THE STREETS IN GROUPS ON FOOT OR IN SMALL CARS TO APPREHEND CURFEW VIOLATORS OR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN DRINKING. TURABI ALSO SUPPORTED RENEWED ACTIVITIES TO DESTABILIZE EGYPT BY SENDING AGITATORS, ESPECIALLY STUDENTS, TRAINED IN SUDAN INTO EGYPT TO FOMENT UNREST BY CAUSING DISCORD BETWEEN EGYPTIAN MUSLIMS AND COPTS. OMAR ADDED THAT THE INVASION OF KUWAIT BY IRAQ HAD RESULTED IN THE LOSS OF USDOLS 140 MILLION OF EXPECTED KUWAITI CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ISLAMIC DAW'A IN SUDAN, FROM WHICH MONEY FOR NIF SECURITY FORCES WAS TO HAVE BEEN DRAWN. MAHGOUB CONFIRMED THAT NIF LEADERS OFTEN MEET WITH GEN. OMAR TO DISCUSS GOS POLICY. MAHGOUB SAID THEY ALSO MEET AS A GROUP TO COORDINATE THEIR VIEWS--OFTEN DURING THE CURFEW PERIOD AT NIGHT TO AVOID OBSERVATION. APART FROM TURABI, THEY INCLUDE: - MOHAMMED YOUSIF MOHAMMED, AN ATTORNEY AND FORMER SPEAKER OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY (CA) NOW ACTIVE IN THE ISLAMIC-AFRICAN RELIEF ORGANIZATION; - ALI OSMAN MOHAMMED TAHA, NIF DEPUTY GENERAL SECRETARY; - DR. IBRAHIM AHMED OMER, FORMER NIF DEPUTY IN THE CA AND NOW HEAD OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION; - DR. NAFI ALI NAFI, FORMER AGRICULTURE PROFESSOR AND CURRENTLY A MAJOR FIGURE IN SUDANESE SECURITY; - IBRAHIM SENUSSI, A MAJOR FIGURE IN THE NIF'S MOTHER ORGANIZATION, THE MOSLEM BROTHERS; - AHMED SULEIMAN, FORMER COLUMNIST FOR THE NIF PARTY PAPER "AL RAYA" ("THE PILLAR") AND NOW COLUMNIST IN TWO GOS-CONTROLLED DAILIES; - MOHAMMED MOHAMMED SADIQ AL KARORI, PRESIDENT OF THE HIGHER ADVISORY COUNCIL OF THE NIF; - HAFIZ AS-SHEIKH ZAKI, CURRENTLY DEAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KHARTOUM SCHOOL OF LAW; - AHMAD MAHJOUB HAG NUR, AN INFLUENTIAL LEADER OF THE NIF'S RADICAL WING --------------------------------- 456 - 1991-05-30 10:08:00 - 91KHARTOUM2104 THE NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT EFFECTIVELY CONTROLS INTERNAL SECURITY, THE ECONOMY, AND THE MEDIA, HENCE CONSIDERABLE POLITICAL POWER, BUT NIF HEAD HASSAN AL TURABI AND BASHIR SHARE A COMMUNITY OF INTERESTS GIVING THE IMPRESSION OF PERVASIVE NIF INFLUENCE WHICH MAY NOT BE AS ABSOLUTE AS IT APPEARS. UNLESS AND UNTIL THOSE INTERESTS DIVERGE IT WILL REMAIN DIFFICULT TO ASCERTAIN WHO WIELDS GREATER POWER. --------------------------------- 464 - 1991-07-11 15:16:00 - 91CAIRO12383 FOR YEARS THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD WAS AN UNDERGROUND ORGANIZATION PRONE TO VIOLENCE. IN THEORY, THE BROTHERS RENOUNCED VIOLENCE IN 1987 AND DECIDED TO PLAY BY THE RULES OF THE FORMAL EGYPTIAN POLITICAL GAME. THIS DECISION APPEARS NOT TO HAVE BEEN UNANIMOUS. SOME OF THE MORE MILITANT BROTHERS, MUSTAFA MASHHOUR FOREMOST AMONG THEM, RETAIN AT LEAST A THEORETICAL ATTACHMENT TO THE USE OF VIOLENCE FOR THE SAKE OF ISLAM. INDEED, MANY ESTABLISHMENT ISLAMIC AND SECULAR FIGURES INSIST THAT THE BROTHERHOOD'S DECISION TO PLAY THE POLITICAL GAME WAS A MERE PLOY -- THAT THE BROTHERS ARE STILL INVOLVED IN ISLAMIC VIOLENCE OR AT LEAST KINDLE THE OPTION TO USE FORCE. MUSTAFA MASHHOUR, THEY CLAIM, IS THE HEAD OF THE "AL-JIHAZ AL-SIRRI" ("THE SECRET ORGAN") OF THE GROUP, AND AS SUCH, EITHER DIRECTS OR COOPERATES IN THE ORCHESTRATION OF VIOLENT ACTS. [...] IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS MASHHOUR HAS ATTENDED RADICAL ISLAMIC CONFERENCES IN PAKISTAN AND KHARTOUM, HAS SPURNED HIS OLD FRIENDS IN SAUDI ARABIA, HAS URGED WORLDWIDE JIHAD WITH THE LIKES OF SUDAN'S AL-TURABI AND TUNISIA'S AL-GHANNOUSHI, AND HAS FORMULATED THE BROTHERHOOD'S STATEMENT ON PALESTINE, THE RADICAL CONTENTS AND TONE OF WHICH ARE FAR FROM THE MB'S DOMESTIC FOCUS AND MODERATE RHETORIC OF THE RECENT PAST. [ Note: At the time of Mashour's death in 2002, the New York Times credited him as "the leader" of the Muslim Brotherhood. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/18/obituaries/18MASH.html?_r=1 ] --------------------------------- 527 - 1992-07-02 12:25:00 - 92KHARTOUM5035 - [IBRAHIM] AL SANUSSI IS A CLOSE ASSOCIATE AND FRIEND OF HASSAN AL TURABI AND IS CONSIDERED THE NUMBER THREE IN THE NIF BY MOST OBSERVERS. [...] HE WAS ONE OF THOSE WHOM TURABI ASKED TO MEET HIM IMMEDIATELY UPON HIS ARRIVAL FROM AN OTTAWA HOSPITAL WHERE HE HAD BEEN UNDER CARE AFTER BEEN ATTACKED THERE. SANUSSI ACTS AS TURABI'S "MIDDLEMAN" IN ARRANGING MEETINGS, PASSING MESSAGES AND SEEING THAT INSTRUCTIONS ARE CARRIED OUT. IN PUBLIC WHERE TURABI IS, SANUSSI IS USUALLY NEARBY. --------------------------------- 539 - 1992-09-23 08:09:00 - 92KHARTOUM7039 THE LEADER OF SUDAN'S NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT SPELLED OUT TO THOUSANDS OF HIS FOLLOWERS HERE SEPTEMBER 14TH, THE INTERNATIONAL CHARACTER OF ISLAM AND, IN PARTICULAR, THE NEED FOR MUSLIMS TO USE THE RELIGION AS A SHIELD AGAINST THE POWER OF THE WEST. [...] TAKING ON THE NEW WORLD ORDER, TURABI TOLD HIS AUDIENCE THAT MUSLIMS SHOULD BE MOTIVATED TO ESTABLISH AN "ISLAMIC SYSTEM" IN THEIR COUNTRIES BECAUSE OF ATTEMPTS BY THE WEST TO "IMPOSE" THE NEW WORLD ORDER, ITS OWN SYSTEM, ON THEM. THE WEST, HE SAID, INTENDED TO EXTEND THE NEW WORLD ORDER UNIVERSALLY. [...] AS HE HAS OFTEN DONE BEFORE, TURABI HEAPED SCORN UPON LEADERS OF MUSLIM COUNTRIES WHO "SURRENDER" TO THE WEST AND "ABANDON ISLAMIC GUIDANCE." [...] ON THE 20TH, TO A QURAN FESTIVAL, AL BASHIR CALLED FOR "STRENGTHENING TIES BETWEEN ISLAMIC PEOPLES SO AS TO SPOIL THE INTRIGUES PLANNED AGAINST THE ISLAMIC PEOPLES BY THE POWERS OF AGGRESSION AND ATHEISM." CITING THE WEST'S INDIFFERENCE TO THE SUFFERING OF MUSLIMS IN BOSNIA AND HERCEGOVINA, IRAQ, LIBYA AND SOMALIA, HE SAID THESE COUNTRIES' SITUATIONS REVEAL "INTRIGUES AGAINST ISLAM AND THE MUSLIMS," ALL BEING "WITNESSED BY THE NEW WORLD ORDER." [...] --------------------------------- 548 - 1992-10-29 15:42:00 - 92ALEXANDRIA751 [...] THIRTY-ONE SUSPECTED ISLAMIC JIHAD MEMBERS [...] COULD FACE THE DEATH PENALTY IF FOUND GUILTY OF THE CHARGES OF SUBVERSION AND LOTTING ASSASSINATIONS [...] LOCAL SECURITY SOURCES DESCRIBED THE BOMBINGS OF ALCOHOL SHOPS IN ALEXANDRIA LAST WINTER AS "KIDS STUFF" COMPARED TO WHAT WAS BEING PLANNED BY THE SUSPECTED JIHAD MEMBERS. [...] SOME OF THE MEMBERS REPORTEDLY HAD RECEIVED MILITARY TRAINING IN OTHER COUNTRIES (I.E. AFGHANISTAN). THOSE ARRESTED INCLUDED A FEW FOREIGNERS (JORDANIAN, SUDANESE) [...] GENERAL ABDUL GAFFAR HELAL ALSO SAID THAT THE TRIAL WILL TAKE PLACE IN ALEXANDRIA BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE MOST OF THE GROUPS ACTIVITIES WERE CENTERED. STATE SECURITY REPORTEDLY HAD TRACKED SOME OF THE MEMBERS MOVEMENT TO ALEXANDRIA FROM UPPER EGYPT FOLLOWING DISTURBANCES THERE LAST SPRING. THE INVESTIGATION ALSO REPORTEDLY REVEALED THAT THE MEMBERS USED TO HOLD MEETINGS AT THE IBRAHIM MOSQUE OF SHEIKH AHMED EL-MEHALLAWY AT RAMLEH STATION (DOWNTOWN ALEXANDRIA) AND THAT THEY BELONG TO AN INTERNATIONAL FUNDAMENTALIST MOVEMENT LED BY OMAR ABDURRAHMAN [of Egypt and later the United States of America], RASHED GHANOUSHI OF TUNISIA, ABBAS MIDANI OF ALGERIA, AND HASSAN EL-TURABI OF SUDAN. [NOTE: According to Adam Robinson's Bin Laden: Behind the Mask, this international movement is what we now know as al-Qaeda. Abdur-Rahman is in jail for bombing the World Trade Center. ] --------------------------------- 604 - 1993-06-10 16:02:00 - 93STATE176000 Quoting John Esposito calling for granting the right more power and not arresting them when they commit crimes: WHAT MAKES ISLAMISTS APPEAR TO BE A THREAT IN WESTERN EYES IS THEIR MODERNITY [...] ATTEMPTS TO REPRESS ISLAMIST MOVEMENTS, SUCH AS NASSER'S "DECAPITATION" OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, WILL STRENGTHEN AND RADICALIZE THEM. ALTERNATIVELY, IF POLITICAL SYSTEMS BECOME MORE COMPETITIVE, SOME ISLAMISTS MIGHT SELF-DESTRUCT, BUT OTHERS MIGHT BECOME MORE PRAGMATIC AND RESPOND TO BROADER CONSTITUENCIES [...] [...] A REFERENCE WAS MADE TO CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER'S RECENT ARTICLE LABELING POLITICAL ISLAM THE "NEW COMINTERN." ESPOSITO AND OTHER ACADEMICS ARGUED THAT THE CAPABILITIES OF THE SUDANESE AND IRANIAN REGIMES HAVE BEEN OVERESTIMATED. --------------------------------- 698 - 1994-12-09 18:03:00 - 94PARIS34022 QUAI DIRECTOR FOR CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICAN AFFAIRS BERNADETTE LE FORT AND SUDAN DESKOFF RAJA RABIA TOLD VISITING INR TERRORISM ANALYST GINA BENNETT DECEMBER 8 THAT THE FRENCH BELIEVE THE SUDANESE LACK THE FINANCIAL MEANS TO SUPPORT TERRORISM. LE FORT MENTIONED THAT IN THE PAST, TERRORIST GROUPS HAVE TYPICALLY HAD SUBSTANTIAL SUPPORT FROM A STATE, SUCH AS IRAN OR LIBYA, AND THAT SUDAN QUITE SIMPLY LACKED THE SAME SORT OF RESOURCES THAT THOSE COUNTRIES HAVE. 4. LE FORT SAID THE FRENCH HAVE BEEN TOLD THERE ARE UPWARDS OF 23 CAMPS AROUND KHARTOUM. THEY ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT BIN LADEN, A SAUDI STRIPPED OF HIS CITIZENSHIP WHO IS STILL A PATRON TO SOME TERRORIST GROUPS, HAS A NUMBER OF SO-CALLED FARMS IN SOUTHERN SUDAN. SHE ADDED THAT THE FRENCH DO NOT BELIEVE ANY SERIOUS "MILITARY" TRAINING WAS TAKING PLACE IN SUDAN. FRENCH FEEL SUDAN NOT AN "ACTIVE" SUPPORTER OF TERRORISM. --------------------------------- 700 - 1994-12-14 13:49:00 - 94KHARTOUM6366 SINCE THE GOS/NIF SEIZED POWER IN 1989 IT HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY CLEAR THAT THIS OSTENSIBLY MILITARY GOVERNMENT IS A TOOL OF SUDAN'S NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT (NIF). SPEAKING TO U.S. OFFICIALS, SENIOR OFFICIALS OF THE GOS AND THE NIF THAT CONTROLS IT OFTEN PORTRAY THEMSELVES AS "MODERATE" ISLAMISTS. THEY SAY THEY BEAR NO FUNDAMENTAL HOSTILITY TO THE WEST OR TO THE U.S., AND BLAME STRAINED U.S- SUDANESE RELATIONS ON AN ALLEGED U.S. BIAS AGAINST ISLAM. [...] THEIR PROTESTATIONS, HOWEVER, ARE BELIED BY THE EXTREMIST MESSAGE THE REGIME PROPOUNDS TO THE SUDANESE. [...] ALTHOUGH SUDANESE BELONG TO A VARIETY OF CREEDS, OFFICIAL RHETORIC TREATS ISLAM AS THE DE FACTO STATE RELIGION AND ADVOCATES INFUSING ALL OF SOCIETY WITH ITS VALUES. OFFICIAL PROPAGANDA EXTOLS THE WAR IN THE SOUTH AS A "JIHAD" (HOLY WAR) AGAINST UNBELIEVERS. [...] NOR DOES THE GOS/NIF MERELY PEACEFULLY PEDDLE ITS VIEWS ABROAD. IT IS NOT LOATHE TO EXPORTING POLITICAL CHANGE BY FORCE. GOS/NIF SUPPORT FOR THE ERITREAN ISLAMIC JIHAD, AN ISLAMIST MOVEMENT THAT SEEKS THE VIOLENT OVERTHROW OF THE ERITREAN GOVERNMENT, LED ASMARA TO BREAK DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH KHARTOUM RECENTLY. [...] THERE IS ALSO CONVINCING EVIDENCE THE GOS/NIF IS MATERIALLY ASSISTING THE INSURGENT LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY (LRA) IN NORTHERN UGANDA. 16. GIVEN THE SECRETIVE NATURE OF GOS/NIF LINKS TO MANY ISLAMIST GROUPS, IT PROBABLE BUT NOT PROVEN THAT IT IS SUPPORTING DESTABILIZATION EFFORTS ELSEWHERE AS WELL. IN THE PAST SIX MONTHS, HOWEVER, SUDANESE ISLAMISTS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED FOR SUBVERSION AS FAR AFIELD AS MAURITANIA AND TAJIKSTAN (REFS A AND B). --------------------------------- 772 - 1995-09-20 16:28:00 - 95LONDON13048 REGARDING TERRORIST ACTIVITY, [AL-SAYED] EL-MERGHANI SAID HE IS SURE THE NOTORIOUS BIN LADEN REMAINS IN SUDAN. HE ACCUSED THE GOS OF COMPLICITY IN THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON PRESIDENT MUBARAK. -- EL-MERGHANI NOTED EVIDENCE OF SUPPORT FROM BOTH IRAN AND IRAQ FOR THE NIF, CITING NIF LEADER TURABI'S PARTICULARLY CLOSE ASSOCIATION WITH SADDAM HUSSEIN. [...] AT THE CENTER OF THE NIF REGIME IS TURABI, EL-MERGHANI CONTINUED, WHO HAS CLOSE TIES TO IRAN AND IRAQ. THE NIF RECEIVES MANY DONATIONS FROM IRANIAN FRONT ORGANIZATIONS, PARTICULARLY THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH, MANY OF WHICH EARN LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY THROUGH THEIR OPERATION OF HOTELS IN TEHRAN. THESE ORGANIZATIONS HAVE RECENTLY BEGUN TO ANNOUNCE "A GREAT LEAP," WHICH EL-MERGHANI BELIEVES MUST REFER TO PLANNED ATTACKS ON FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS AND THEIR OFFICIALS. [Notes: I could find no other evidence of a connection between Turabi and Saddam. It is possible that Merghani invented the connection knowing that the USA considered Saddam an enemy. ] --------------------------------- 818 - 1996-03-05 07:37:00 - 96ADDISABABA1545 SUMMARY. RETIRED SOMALI GENERAL JAMA ISSA MOHAMUD (AKA JAMA "GREEN") DISCUSSED RISING ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALIST ACTIVITY IN ETHIOPIA'S SOMALI REGIONAL STATE AND OFFERED POSSIBLE METHODS TO COUNTER THE THREAT TO REGIONAL STABILITY. THE GENERAL WARNED THAT ETHIOPIAN MILITARY AUTHORITIES ARE WRONG TO ASSUME THAT THEY HAVE THE SITUATION UNDER CONTROL. HE SUGGESTED THAT ONLY A REGIONAL EFFORT, COORDINATED BEHIND THE SCENES BY THE UNITED STATES, CAN DEFEAT THE WELL-FINANCED, HIGHLY DISCIPLINED GUERRILLAS. GENERAL JAMA SAID AL'ITTIHAD IS NOW REGROUPING IN THE SOMALI REGIONAL STATE AND THAT THE EXTREMISTS ARE BEING TRAINED IN THE REGION BY INSTRUCTORS FROM YEMEN, AFGHANISTAN, AND IRAQ (NFI). OTHER AL'ITTIHAD MEMBERS ARE RECEIVING TRAINING IN LIBYA, SUDAN, IRAN. A FEW ARE IN MOMBASA, KENYA. THE GENERAL SAID HE HAS HEARD, BUT CANNOT CONFIRM, THAT SOME ARE IN IRAQ. [...] JAMA DESCRIBED SUDANESE LEADER AL TURABI AS THE SPIRITUAL LEADER OF THE EFFORT TO CREATE AN ISLAMIC STATE, AND SAID AL'ITTIHAD RECEIVES ASSISTANCE FROM SUDAN, IRAN, IRAQ, AND LIBYA. HE SAID THEIR CURRENT METHOD OF OPERATION IS TO FUNNEL AID THROUGH SOMALI STRONGMAN MOHAMMED FARAH AIDEED [...]