UPDATE ON SECRET CONSTITUTIONAL TALKS

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001891 SIPDIS NOFORN DEPT. FOR AF/KANSTEINER, AF/S/DELISI NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER PRETORIA FOR AMBASSADOR HUME E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2013 TAGS: PGOV PREL ZI SUBJECT: UPDATE ON SECRET CONSTITUTIONAL TALKS REF: HARARE 1719 Classified By: Political Officer Win Dayton under Sections 1.5(b)(d) ¶1. CONFIDENTIAL/NOFORN -- PLEASE DO NOT DIVULGE TO OFFICIALS OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. ¶2. (C) In a meeting in his law office September 16, MDC Secretary General Welshman Ncube told Ambassador Sullivan SIPDIS that he was scheduled to meet with Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa September 21-24, after Chinamasa returned from WTO meetings in Cancun and before he left town again on the 25th. He said they intended to go over the latest draft of the Constitution, transitional issues, and confidence-building measures (combatting violence, reining in militias, etc.). Ncube's comments at the meeting on the MDC's SADC outreach, the bishops' intitiative, The Daily News, and a Harvard negotiating workshop are reported septel. ¶3. (C) COMMENT: The interparty constitutional talks remain largely outside the public eye, although reports of the talks are growing in circulation among selected interested parties. Nonetheless, confidentiality will remain a sine qua non of the talk's chances for any success as the prinicipals continue to engage constructively on significant issues. As related reftel, the fragile discussions have come far but have a long way to go, and may be entering a particularly precarious phase as the parties begin to delve into more controversial issues. In particular, "confidence-building measures" would appear to depart from a strictly legal agenda and drift into potentially more parlous political waters heretofore carefully avoided. SULLIVAN