Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PARIS3611
2006-05-31 10:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Paris
Cable title:  

FRENCH URGE FURTHER GROUNDWORK ON BURMA DRAFT

Tags:  PREL PHUM UNSC BM FR 
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VZCZCXYZ0003
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHFR #3611/01 1511056
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 311056Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7897
INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON IMMEDIATE 0052
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA IMMEDIATE 2376
C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 003611 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/31/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM UNSC BM FR
SUBJECT: FRENCH URGE FURTHER GROUNDWORK ON BURMA DRAFT

REF: A. STATE 83693 B. 2005 PARIS 7392 C. 2005 PARIS
7953

Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Bruce Turner.
Reasons 1.4b,d

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 003611

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/31/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM UNSC BM FR
SUBJECT: FRENCH URGE FURTHER GROUNDWORK ON BURMA DRAFT

REF: A. STATE 83693 B. 2005 PARIS 7392 C. 2005 PARIS
7953

Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Bruce Turner.
Reasons 1.4b,d


1. (C) Summary: Embassy reviewed the draft resolution and
talking points with French MFA, which confirmed its backing
for the USG initiative to raise Burma within the Security
Council (Ref A). IO DAS-Equivalent Jean-Hugues Simon-Michel
observed May 26 that it was imperative to capitalize on the
Burma visit of U/SYG Gambari. IO Desk Officer Benoit Guidee
contacted poloff May 30 to temper the French message of
support with a warning that there was a need for further
groundwork among Council members, particularly Latin
Americans, before actually circulating the draft text.
Better to have the nine votes in hand first, which did not
yet seem the case. External pressures would determine
African positions in the Council, he noted, while warning
that the French embassy in Beijing believed Chinese views on
the subject remained inflexible despite recently more muted
rhetoric. End Summary.


2. (C) IO DAS-Equivalent Jean-Hugues Simon-Michel on May 26
observed it was imperative to capitalize on the Burma visit
of U/SYG Gambari. He underscored the necessity to name a
successor to former UN Envoy Raizali as soon as possible --
the key element France sought in any draft resolution.
Simon-Michel added that the MFA had shared this view directly
with Gambari during the latter's stop-over in Paris earlier
last week. Simon-Michel added that Political Director
Laboulaye had hosted a dinner for Gambari, who also met
separately with Christopphe Farnaud, the diplomatic advisor
to PM Villepin.


3. (C) IO Desk Officer Benoit Guidee contacted poloff May 30
to temper the French message of support with a warning that
there was a need for further groundwork among Council
members, particularly Latin Americans, before actually
circulating the draft text. Better to have the nine votes in
hand first, which did not yet seem the case, he advised.
Asked about where African UNSC members now stood on Burma,
Guidee recalled how France had intervened at USG request in
October 2005 to try to solidify Benin's position in the face
of Algerian and other pressure (Refs B, C). African SC
members, he observed, had "no religion on the subject of
Burma" and would chart their positions according to external
factors. China, moreover, remained inflexible, despite what
the French embassy in Beijing considered to be a somewhat
more muted tone in its declarations on Burma. (Bio Note:
Guidee's last overseas tour was in Beijing.)


4. (C) Praising USG leadership in pushing SC review of
Burma, Guidee nonetheless asked what the current objective
was now that Gambari would deliver his briefing? Talking at
the SC was not a goal by itself, he offered. He suggested
the need to a) ratchet up pressure on Burma's protectors
(including not only China but also ASEAN members, even
Japan),and b) to expedite appointment of a successor to
former UN Special Envoy Razali.

--------------
Nuts and Bolts Drafting Advice
--------------


5. (C) Guidee welcomed the initial draft but suggested it
would be better if limited in scope to "indisputable
subjects," for instance human rights violations, the refugee
problem, lack of cooperation with the United Nations, the
rebuff of UN Human Rights Rapporteur Pinheiro, the naming of
a new UN Special Envoy, and the role for Asean. He
questioned the appropriateness of the stock preambular
reference to resolution 1308 on HIV/AIDs, which properly
addresses HIV/AIDs in relation to UN peacekeepers and not the
calamity generally. Guidee also relayed a personal request
from MFA IO DAS-Equivalent for Human Rights Beatrice Le
Fraper for explicit condemnation in the first draft
circulated of Burma's refusal to meet with Human Rights
Rapporteur Pinheiro, even if such language was unlikely to
survive during Council negotiations.


6. (C) Comment: The extension of Aung San Suu Kyi's
detention intervened between the conversations with
DAS-Equivalent Simon-Michel and Desk Officer Guidee. The MFA
IO bureau remains supportive, in principle, of advancing the
issue of Burma in the Council, but with an evident caveat,
after the latest development, that precipitating a
confrontation without the votes in hand may only hurt the
cause.


Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm

STAPLETON