EU INCREASES FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR AU MISSION IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 004602

SIPDIS

NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/25/2014
TAGS: EAID MOPS PGOV PHUM PREF PREL SU SO XA EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EU INCREASES FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR AU MISSION IN
DARFUR

REF: BRUSSELS 4410

Classified By: PRMOFF MARC J. MEZNAR. REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) Summary. The European Commission is set to approve
80 million euros from its Africa Peace Facility (APF) to
support an expanded deployment of the African Union (AU)
mission in Darfur, Sudan. EU financial support for the
mission will exceed fifty percent of the total. Although the
decision will become final on October 25, administrative
procedures will delay disbursement for several weeks. Most
EU Member States have given strong support for using the APF
to fund the AU expansion in Darfur. Only France has been
reluctant to endorse the decision. Solana is concerned that
increasing the AU protection force without also enlarging the
number of observers may be a mistaken approach, and also
expressed concern that the APF funds may be tapped out soon.
End Summary.

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Commission to approve over $100 million for peacekeeping
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2. (SBU) EU Member States have until 5:00 p.m., October 25,
to object to Commission plans to disburse 80 million euros
from its Africa Peace Facility (AFP) to support the expansion
of the AU force in Darfur. Given the near unanimity among
the EU States to fund the full amount requested by the AU,
the Commission and EU Council both expect this decision to go
forward. EU Council Sudan policy officer Christian Manahl
calculates the value of this decision in dollars to be
100,604,795.

3. (C) Ever since the international community began
discussing the expansion of the AU force in Darfur, the EU
has expressed a willingness to fund up to one half of the
operation. Most recently, the Commission communicated
support for this level of funding to the Department,s senior
Sudan advisor Charles Snyder (reftel). HiRep Javier Solana
told visiting NEA A/S Burns that he was concerned that by
deploying additional military forces without a corresponding
increase in ceasefire observers, the international community
may have adopted a mistaken approach. Still, he said he was
committed to supporting the AU's efforts, and would commit to
helping fund it.

4. (C) According to DG DEV Pan-African Affairs officer
Ranieri Sabatucci, only France signaled reservations about
this funding decision. Sabatucci told PRMOff that France had
never been an enthusiastic supporter of the APF; France also
indicated it might not be able to pay its third assessed
tranche to the European Development Fund (EDF),which is used
to finance the APF. EuropeAid APF Desk Officer Theodorus
Kaspers told PRMOff that a failure by France to contribute
its assessed contribution to the EDF could precipitate a cash
flow problem that would delay disbursement of funds for the
AU force in Darfur. Kaspers said that the paperwork would
require several weeks before money could actually start
flowing to the AU. He mentioned that internal political
pressure to get the money moving would make this project his
highest priority. USEU Development Counselor spoke with
Dutch Development Counselor Paul Ymkers who indicated France
and Germany have both informed the EC they will not be able
to pay into the third tranche of EDF due to cash problems.

5. (C) Both Sabatucci and Kaspers are of the opinion that the
political imperative of this decision could force France to
cede to the pressure of the other Member States and deposit
its third tranche into the EDF. In fact, EU High
Representative Javier Solana has already announced the 80
million euro contribution while on an official visit to Addis
Ababa over the weekend. France would need additional support
from other EU government to override the qualifying majority
vote (the basis for decisions within the EDF group) to block
APF funds for the AU. According to Ymkers, France's
opposition to the use of EDF for APF is quite worrisome for
the Council, which seeks maximum consensus as much as
possible. While it is true that qualified majority voting
is the basis for decision making on this instrument when
using this "silent procedure" they normally make sure the
large member states are on board.

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Council to provide technical support
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6. (C/NF) Manahl told PRMOff that although the PSC had given
its basic agreement to the decision at a political level, it
stated its desire to &follow closely8 the implementation of
the plan by the AU. This line reflects the Council,s desire
to be actively engaged in helping the AU plan the deployment
and providing logistical support for the operation. Solana
has nominated Brigadier General Brauss, the ACOS OPS of the
EU Military Staff, as the Brussels-based point of contact for
Darfur. The EU will replace British Colonel Peter Stamps
with Colonel Linz of the German army as the EU senior
military planner on the ground in Darfur. Polmiloffs were
told by EUMS staffers closely involved with the Darfur
planning that Linz was not an especially capable military
planner, and that the short tdy rotations of officers were
hampering effectiveness of the Partners' Technical Support
Group just as a spike in accelerated deployment activity was
beginning. The AU task force expected to plan and control
the deployments is not yet functional, and could require from
3 months to a year to establish the necessary infrastructure
-- human and technical -- to operate effectively. The EU
planners urged the creation of a coherent joint
EU-US-Canadian "bank" of highly-qualified planners within the
Partners' Technical Support Group, to provide discrete
assistance to the AU from a politically palatable distance.

7. (C) The Commission, which does not have military
expertise, has never shown enthusiasm to connect its use of
the APF with influence in directing the deployment of the
mission. An overriding purpose of the Commission-funded APF
is to help the AU build capacity to handle peacekeeping
operations. Many in the Commission feel capacity building of
AU institutions like the Peace and Security Council is more
important than the AU peacekeeping deployments themselves.

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Comment
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8. (C) With this latest disbursement, the EU has spent a
total of 92 million euros on Darfur. The Commission is now
considering another AU proposal for a peacekeeping operation
in Somalia and expects to respond favorably. At this rate of
disbursement, the 250 million euro total allocated to the APF
in 2004 will run out long before 2007 (its expected
duration). Solana told us he was concerned the fund will be
"tapped out" soon, and the EU would have no other options
once this current expanded AU mission is deployed. Some
Member States are already calling for additional development
funds to be poured into the APF. This may revive the
internal EU debate over the use of development funds for
peacekeeping, as well as the internal EU debate on
budgetizing EDF, which is based on voluntary national
contributions. The strongest opposition to the Commission's
proposal to budgetize EDF comes from UK's DFID, which would
have to significantly increase its contributions for an
instrument they view as inconsistent with a poverty reduction
focus. The UK FCO is reportedly less concerned about the use
of EDF than DFID. Spain has been vocal in its opposition in
hopes of extracting something else as part of the
negotiations. Incoming DG Development Commissioner Louis
Michel has stated the need to find more appropriate funding
lines to meet this important need in the new budget, come

2007. Reinforcement of DG RELEX,s &rapid reaction
mechanism8 and an expansion of the scope of this budget line
is one alternative being considered. This would expand the
EU,s ability to fund peacekeeping operations worldwide, not
just in Africa.

Minimize considered.

Schnabel