DISCUSSION WITH YEMANE GHEBREAB ON DARFUR

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000600 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/SPG, AF/E AND SE NATSIOS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2017 TAGS: PREL SU ER SUBJECT: DISCUSSION WITH YEMANE GHEBREAB ON DARFUR COORDINATION REF: A. 7/6 AF/SPG E-MAIL ¶B. ASMARA 542 Classified By: CDA Jennifer A. McIntyre, for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (U) Charge and Poloff met on July 9 with Yemane Ghebreab, People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) Political Chief and lead Sudan negotiator for the Government of the State of Eritrea (GSE),to relay points in Reftel A. This meeting follows on the GSE's request for closer coordination with the USG in working toward a Darfur mediation (Reftel B). ¶2. (C) Charge said that post had briefed Washington and Khartoum on the previous meeting with Ghebreab. All agreed with the Eritreans that greater cooperation between the international and regional players under a UN/AU roadmap was vital to moving forward the Darfur mediation process. She highlighted the USG's warm response to the GSE's overture to share more information and maintain on-going communication on Darfur. Charge stated that in line with the current UN/AU roadmap, the U.S. supports both a Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (CHD) meeting to bring together non-signatories from the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM),followed by a conference sponsored by the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) to assemble all non-signatories in preparation for a mediation. She hoped that Ghebreab and the GSE would encourage those Darfur non-signatories in-country to attend both, as applicable. ¶3. (C) Ghebreab confirmed that he and fellow GSE negotiator Abdalla Jabir planned to attend the July 15-16 Tripoli meetings. He relayed that without consulting the GSE that the Libyan Charge in Asmara proffered invitations to each of the Darfur non-signatories in town to attend as well. Ghebreab noted that the GSE did not support their attendance at the Tripoli meeting explaining that he did not feel they were ready. Moreover, he questioned the purpose of their attendance. Having just returned from meeting in Juba with Salva Kiir of the SPLM, Ghebreab re-emphasized the GSE's support for the SPLM conference, and indicated the meeting was tentatively rescheduled for early August with a possible venue of Rumbek in Southern Sudan. ¶4. (C) With regards to the proposed CHD-sponsored conference, Ghebreab noted he had seen no reference of this conference in the UN/AU roadmap, and that it was not mentioned in his recent conversations with UN Senior Assistant Pekka Haavisto. He observed that previous initiatives to re-unite the SLM had shown the futility of such efforts. He further claimed that this conference would break up the efforts of the Asmara group towards developing a common platform. Ghebreab believed that the Asmara non-signatory group was very close to agreeing on a joint platform and would issue a statement in a few days time. He concluded by commenting that time is critical and the various proposals for NGOs to conduct parallel dialogues did not contribute to the end goal. He repeated the GSE's strong support of the SPLM conference, stating that the international community should, as its first priority, devote its efforts toward bringing all of the non-signatories to this conference. ¶5. (C) Charge ended the meeting by encouraging Ghebreab to seek an opportunity to meet together with SE Natsios in Tripoli, in particular, to discuss areas of divergence. Ghebreab stated his willingness to debrief Emboffs after the Tripoli meetings. MCINTYRE