MOZAMBIQUE: GRM PERSPECTIVE ON AU CHAIRMANSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L MAPUTO 000077 SIPDIS SIPDIS AF/FO AND AF/S FOR HTREGER, ALSO FOR AF/RSA NSC FOR COURVILLE E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2016 TAGS: PREL SU PHUM AU MZ SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: GRM PERSPECTIVE ON AU CHAIRMANSHIP REF: A. ADDIS ABBA 46 ¶B. STATE 1351 Classified By: Ambassador Helen La Lime for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) During a January 17 meeting between Ambassador and acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Henrique Banze to discuss UN reform and other issues (septels),Banze gave the GRM's perspective on Sudanese President Bashir's bid for African Union (AU) chairmanship. Banze said that while historically AU chairmanships had gone to the leaders of countries in which the summits were held, he believed that there may be a stipulation in the AU charter that stated countries in conflict could not serve as chair. ¶2. (C) Banze acknowledged that Bashir's bid for the AU chairmanship was very sensitive, adding that it was still under debate within the AU. He said the GRM would continue to seek consensus, doing its best to avoid a split among its AU partners. Though he stated he had not heard of any government supporting Bashir, Banze also said it was still too early to guess the outcome of the AU debate. He thought the issue would be discussed further during the ministerial preparatory meetings to begin on January 20 in Khartoum. La Lime