GOF UNLIKELY TO MAKE SIZABLE CONTRIBUTION TO UNRWA

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 002765

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR PRM/ANE-ROBERT WARD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2015
TAGS: PREF KPAL FR
SUBJECT: GOF UNLIKELY TO MAKE SIZABLE CONTRIBUTION TO UNRWA
EMERGENCY APPEAL

REF: A. STATE 69083

B. PARIS 2483

C. STATE 65023

Classified By: A/DCM Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

(C) We conveyed ref (A) guidance on the U.S. position on the
next UNRWA Commissioner-General (CG) to MFA UN/Middle East
issues action officer Alice Guitton April 20, reiterating the
need for a strong French contribution to the 2005 UNRWA
emergency appeal. Guitton welcomed our clarification of U.S.
views, and stressed the GoF hope that SYG Annan would move
quickly to name a new CG. On a potential French contribution
to the 2005 emergency appeal, she stressed her earlier
assertion (ref b) that the near-doubling in the French
contribution to UNRWA's 2005 general budget (to 5 million
euros) made it unlikely that France would have a sizable
contribution for this year's emergency appeal. She clarified
that the timing of the UNRWA emergency appeal was not so much
a factor as were the budgetary limitations of the GoF.
Guitton concluded that the GoF was looking for available
humanitarian funding resources to respond to the 2005
emergency appeal, but its overriding objective was to
maintain the increase in the French regular budget
contribution to UNRWA into 2006 and beyond.
WOLFF