SUDAN: EGYPT RELUCTANT TO PRESS BASHIR ON UN FORCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 005123 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/16/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID UNSC PHUM EG SU SUBJECT: SUDAN: EGYPT RELUCTANT TO PRESS BASHIR ON UN FORCE REF: A. STATE 133250 (NOTAL) ¶B. KHARTOUM 1935 (NOTAL) ¶C. USUN 1538 (NOTAL) ¶D. CAIRO 4829 (NOTAL) Classified by DCM Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) The Ambassador spoke August 15 with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and August 16 with Presidential Spokesman and Senior Advisor Soliman Awad to request that Egyptian President Mubarak press Sudanese President Bashir to accept a transition to a UN force in Darfur. Drawing from ref A background and talking points, the Ambassador explained USG positions on the vetted UNMIS expansion and clarified what compromises had already been reached to soften draft UNSC resolution language under discussion in New York. Aboul Gheit shared little enthusiasm for the request and suggested that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan should be the one to contact Bashir in this regard. Aboul Gheit said he would share the U.S. message within the GOE, but sought additional working-level consultations between his staff and the Embassy on the status of talks in New York over a draft UNSC Darfur resolution. ¶2. (C) Presidential Spokesman and Senior Advisor Soliman Awad also responded hesitantly to the Ambassador's request that President Mubarak call Sudanese President Bashir to press for acceptance of a UN force for Darfur. Awad replied that "it would help" if the UN Secretary General Kofi Anan were to phone Mubarak directly on this topic. The Ambassador noted that the USG was considering sending a senior U.S. envoy to Khartoum to raise the issue with the GOS directly (refs B and C). Awad strongly endorsed the idea of a visit to Bashir by a UN Security Council delegation, suggesting that such a move would offer Bashir good political cover as it would show that the UN was willing to listen to his concerns. ¶3. (C) Comment: Post strongly endorses refs B/C proposals to send a senior envoy to the region. Should that happen, it would make sense for the envoy to stop in Cairo to brief Mubarak afterwards on the conversation with Bashir, and to seek his assistance in pressing the case for the UN Darfur transition. End comment. RICCIARDONE