DARFUR: EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT APPROVES INCREASE IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 003482

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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

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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

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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