TUNISIA: UN REFORM DEMARCHE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 001438 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/MAG (LAWRENCE) AND NEA/RA E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2015 TAGS: PREL TS UN UNSC SUBJECT: TUNISIA: UN REFORM DEMARCHE REF: A. STATE 119897 ¶B. STATE 114051 Classified By: Ambassador William J. Hudson; reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (C) In a meeting on several topics June 29, the Ambassador offered MFA Director of Americas and Asia Department Hatem Atallah (A/S equivalent) a comprehensive summary of U.S. priorities on UN reform, covering support for the Democracy Fund, management reform, the creation of a Human Rights Council and a Peacebuilding Commission, the adoption of the CCT, and UNSC Reform. ¶2. (C) Atallah focused on UNSC reform, and said that the aim was to achieve some kind of consensus at the AU Summit in Libya on the AU approach; before that, members had agreed not to take public positions on any of the proposals. Atallah said Tunisia wanted the AU to focus not on which countries could be added to the Council, but rather get consensus on the modalities and approach. For instance, Tunisia had not commented publicly on its support for any new members, permanent or non-permanent, although Atallah told us they would support Japan as a permanent member. (NB: Tunisia has a very fruitful development aid relationship with Japan.) Atallah hinted that consensus might be elusive, however, concluding that if there was no agreement at the Summit in Libya, "each country would have to go its own way on the issue." The Ambassador said that we understood that current global realities required a change in the Security Council, and we welcomed African participation, but he repeated our position that the U.S. envisioned "two or so" new permanent members. Atallah made no further comment, but said he would brief us after the AU Summit. ¶3. (C) On the issue of the Democracy Fund, Atallah was predictably non-committal, but did not bring up the fact that Tunisia already supported a UN Solidarity Fund which sought to support development in the most needy nations, principally in Africa. He sought confirmation that contributions to the Fund would be on a voluntary basis. He did not offer substantive comment on other issues. ¶4. (C) Comment: We will follow up with Atallah after the AU Summit, but we add that the Japanese DCM commented at a social function June 30 that the GOT had told Japan it would support permanent seats for Japan and Germany and probably two others, which slightly contradicts Atallah's statement. Atallah made no comment on the creation of a Human Rights Council, but Tunisia will see no interest in supporting the initiative publicly. HUDSON