MALAWI: CONCERNS ABOUT SUDANESE PRESIDENT BASHIR'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L LILONGWE 000033 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/S GABRIELLE MALLORY STATE FOR INR/AA E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2011 TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM MI SUBJECT: MALAWI: CONCERNS ABOUT SUDANESE PRESIDENT BASHIR'S POSSIBLE CANDIDACY FOR AU CHAIR REF: SECSTATE 226663 Classified By: Political Officer Tyler Sparks for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( d). ¶1. (C) On January 12 Ambassador Eastham met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Davies Katsonga, and the issue of next weeks African Union summit arose. Katsonga spoke at length about who the next Chairman might be, unequivocally ruling out President Bashir of the Sudan and President Sassou of Congo-Brazzaville. ¶2. (C) Katsonga stated that neither Bashir nor Sassou would be acceptable as Chairman, as both have problems running their own countries. Katsonga stated that the African Union, as a new organization, needs a leader that can bring respectability to the organization, and which neither Bashir nor Sassou could. He also pointed out that two important voting blocks come into play in selecting a Chair, namely that Christian countries outnumber Muslim countries (which is a roadblock for Bashir) and Anglophone countries outnumber Fracophone (causing the same problems for Sassou). Katsonga instead pointed towards more likely candidates Mozambique, Tunisia (which would also face the Muslim "problem") or South Africa. EASTHAM