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