GOI "OF ONE MIND" WITH USG ON DARFUR

UNCLAS DUBLIN 001013 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PHUM UNSC SUBJECT: GOI "OF ONE MIND" WITH USG ON DARFUR REF: SECSTATE 145183 ¶1. Summary. Emboff delivered reftel talking points to Don Sexton and Brid McGraw of the DFA. The GOI is strongly committed to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, and promises robust support for USG efforts in the region. The GOI remains politically engaged at both the bilateral and the EU level. Minister of State Tom Kitt will visit the Sudan in the near future, and the GOI will press to keep Darfur on the EU,s foreign policy priority list. Besides remaining politically engaged, the GOI has provided generous humanitarian assistance and anticipates increasing aid levels for 2005. GOI Providing Humanitarian Assistance... -------------- ¶2. Sexton began by summarizing the GOI,s humanitarian efforts in Darfur. To date, the GOI has pledged 2.4 million euro, and plans on disbursing 3.75 million euro in 2004. Because the GOI sees Darfur as a long-term crisis, it will maintain and almost certainly increase its donation for 2005. The GOI has also donated to UNICEF, the ICRC, the World Food Program, Oxfam, and Concern. Finally, the DFA is working hard to obtain visas and cut through the red tape the GOS is throwing up to block aid flows. ... And Keeping Up the Diplomatic Pressure -------------- ¶3. The GOI plans to ratchet up its already strong political efforts and will continue to work both bilaterally and through the EU. Minister of State Tom Kitt will visit the Sudan soon and will challenge the GOS to fulfill its promise to stop blocking aid to Darfur. The GOI hopes his visit will help sustain the pressure brought by recent high-level USG and UN visits to the region. ¶4. Darfur will be a major priority for the GOI at Monday,s GAERC meeting, and the GOI plans to raise the possibility of an EU ministerial visit to the Sudan. Sexton reminded emboff that the Irish Presidency turned Darfur into an EU foreign policy priority. Informally, McGraw told emboff that while the Presidency is over, the GOI plans on using some of the political capital that follows a successful Presidency to push the EU on Darfur. ¶5. The GOI is especially concerned about security in the refugee camps. There has been some talk about the African Union providing peacekeepers to guard the camps, and the GOI plans on raising the possibility during EU-AU consultations. The EU already funds the AU monitoring mission, and the GOI will press for an increase in funding to help the AU take a more active role in managing the crisis. ¶6. Khartoum minimize considered FORT