DARFUR: EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT APPROVES INCREASE IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 003482 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS UNSC EG SU SUBJECT: DARFUR: EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT APPROVES INCREASE IN TROOP CONTRIBUTIONS FOR AFRICAN UNION MISSION, AWAITING RESPONSE FROM AFRICAN UNION SECRETARIAT ON FUNDING REF: A. STATE 91157 ¶B. STATE 3007 ¶C. CAIRO 78589 (NOTAL) Classified by ECPO Counselor John Desrocher for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) During a June 4 meeting, Foreign Ministry Cabinet staff member Ahmed Abul Zeid told poloff that Egyptian President Mubarak had recently approved a recommendation by the Egyptian Cabinet to increase the GOE's contribution of personnel to the African Union's Mission in Sudan (AMIS). Egypt has to date contributed 34 military observers, and 50 civilian police to Darfur/AMIS, and is prepared to increase those numbers to 100 military observers and 100 civilian police (Note: Egypt also maintains a small field hospital in Darfur. End note). The Egyptian Ambassador in Addis Ababa, Abul Zeid said, had been instructed to inform the AU's Secretariat of the GOE offer, and press for its acceptance SIPDIS and implementation. Egyptian Ministry of Defense officials confirmed the GOE offer to increase Egyptian personnel to Darfur in conversations with poloff June 5, but noted that there were some (unspecified) funding issues to be worked out within the AU regarding the increased Egyptian contribution. ¶2. (C) Asked about Egyptian measures to support implementation of the May 5 Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), Abul Zeid said Egypt remained in contact with representatives of Darfur political forces to encourage respect for the agreement and adherence by those parties who had not yet signed on. Abul Zeid confirmed that Egypt had recently transferred five wounded soldiers of Mini Mennawi's Darfur SLA rebel faction to a Cairo hospital from Chad for medical treatment. Egypt had also issued an open invitation for Mennawi to visit Egypt for political consultations, but there were no specific plans for such a visit at this time, Abul Zeid said. ¶3. (C) In a separate conversation June 1 with Arab League Secretariat staffer and Sudan watcher, Zeid Al Sabban, poloff SIPDIS heard that the Arab League had received funding commitments from member states in the neighborhood of USD 200 million for reconstruction projects in the South. Asked about AL funds for Darfur, Sabban referred to the Khartoum Summit decision for the League to provide necessary funds for AMIS following the expiration in September of the AU mandate. While the League sees a transition to a UN operation in Darfur as inevitable, Sabban reported, and is helping to convince the GOS of this view, the transition to a UN operation could not be complete before the early part of next year. In the interim, the League is prepared to cover the entire bill for AMIS, he said, as it pledged to do in Khartoum in March. The League also plans to participate in the upcoming Joint Assessment Mission to Darfur by the UN and AU, and will attend the upcoming Darfur pledging conference in Brussels, he added. The Arab League was also prepared to welcome Mennawi to Cairo to meet with Secretary General Moussa, and one of Mennawi's senior advisors was in regular contact on this point. JONES