MOZAMBIQUE: DEMARCHE ON UN HUMAN RIGHTS

UNCLAS MAPUTO 001617 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR DRL:SCHECHTER, AF/RSA:HOUSTON, AND AF/S:TREGER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL MZ UN SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: DEMARCHE ON UN HUMAN RIGHTS RESOLUTIONS IN PLENARY REF: A) STATE 259878, B) STATE 248093 Sensitive but Unclassified - Handle Accordingly ¶1. (SBU) On December 15 Emboff delivered ref A demarche urging the GRM to oppose any potential motions for non- action in the UN plenary session on previously approved resolutions critical of the human rights situation in Iran and Turkmenistan. In the meeting, the MFA Director for UN Affairs, Antonio Macheve, stated that Mozambique would likely abstain from any such motion, but could not give a definitive answer. Such an action would be consistent with Mozambique's action on the original Iran and Turkmenistan resolutions, in which Mozambique abstained on each, he said. ¶2. (SBU) Mr. Macheve said his government believes that UN human rights resolutions are random and overly politicized in nature, and therefore has adopted a default position to abstain from most human rights- related UN resolutions. Mozambique would, however, vote for or against a UN human rights resolution if a "concrete case" were made. In the MFA's opinion, the Sudan and Zimbabwe non-action resolutions earlier this month met such criteria because each government is ostensibly working to solve their problem within regional institutions (such as the African Union) of which Mozambique is a part. Therefore Mozambique voted for the non-action motions of Sudan and Zimbabwe. He added that such a "concrete case" for Iran and Turkmenistan would be harder to make, but did mention that the Organization of the Islamic Conference group would likely approach Mozambique over Iran and Turkmenistan. LA LIME