SUDAN SANCTIONS DEMARCHE ELICITS MFA REMARKS ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 002587 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/19/2016 TAGS: ETTC PGOV PREL SU FR UNSC SUBJECT: SUDAN SANCTIONS DEMARCHE ELICITS MFA REMARKS ON UNSC PROCEDURES REF: SECSTATE 61650 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Josiah B. Rosenblatt. Reaso ns 1.4b,d ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered reftel points April 19 to IO DAS-Equivalent Jean-Hugues Simon-Michel. In response, Simon-Michel reiterated French support for levying sanctions on the individuals in question, noting French co-sponsorship for the original UK list of names proposed for designation. ¶2. (C) Simon-Michel took advantage of the occasion to observe that Security Council action through a formal resolution and vote would have been unnecessary had the French position on procedures been accepted in the first place. The French concurred, he clarified, that designations are best taken by consensus at the committee level, however, "as a matter of doctrine," the principle of consensus should not become a straitjacket, and a sanctions committee should be allowed to overcome the obstacle of a hold, as in the Chinese/Russian hold over Sudanese names, through a simple procedural vote, without requiring recourse to Security Council deliberations. ¶3. (C) In a separate conversation, AF DAS-Equivalent Helen Le Gal expressed some surprise that the USG would up the ante at the Security Council in the midst of Chinese President Hu Jintao's U.S. visit. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm Stapleton