UK AGREES TO LIMITED LOBBYING FOR GUATEMALA'S UNSC

C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 006591 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR: EUR/PGI (ELDRIDGE),IO/UNP (HARRIS) E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2016 TAGS: PREL UNSC GT VE UK SUBJECT: UK AGREES TO LIMITED LOBBYING FOR GUATEMALA'S UNSC BID REF: A. STATE 142876 ¶B. SINDLE-HARRIS EMAILS ¶C. LONDON 6547 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission David T. Johnson, reasons 1.4 (b & d). ¶1. (C) The FCO agreed to our request to lobby Ghana, Kenya, Namibia and Singapore in support of Guatemala's bid for the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) seat on the UN Security Council. FCO Director for International Security Stephen Pattison told DCM September 9 that the UK supported Guatemala, but noted HMG was thinking ahead to the possibility that neither Guatemala nor Venezuela might be able to win the necessary two-thirds vote. In such a scenario, Pattison said the Dominican Republic - as it informed the UK last week - intends to put itself forward as a candidate to avoid a prolonged debate, and the UK would support the Dominican Republic's bid. ¶2. (C) Our demarche was timely, according to Pattison, who informed us he has been encouraging the Foreign Office leadership to be more aggressive in supporting Guatemala given the stakes. Pattison and several others at the FCO have told us the idea of Venezuela on the Council would be "ghastly." Pattison was unsure, however, if his pleas for aggressive support to Guatemala would resonate with Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett. ¶3. (C) Comment: Pattison's comments reinforced the position we heard earlier last week from the FCO's International Organizations Office - that the UK's willingness to engage in across the board lobbying for Guatemala is limited by the UK's policy of not revealing its voting position and the UK preferred to quietly engage a few selected countries (ref C). Although ref A only requested UK assistance with Ghana, our earlier meetings with FCO suggested that the UK was willing to lobby a few additional countries where HMG has some influence. We expanded our demarche to include Kenya, Namibia and Singapore with the Department's approval per ref ¶B. While ref B also requested UK lobbying of India and Cyprus, Pattison and the DCM agreed such an effort was highly likely to lead to a preverse result. We will follow up at FCO for any readout of these UK lobbying efforts. Visit London's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm Tuttle