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