BRUNEI WILL SUPPORT ANTI-RAPE RESOLUTION IF

UNCLAS BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000335 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR IO: LINDA LUM & AMY OSTERMEIER AND EAP/MTS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KWMN SOCI UNGA BX SUBJECT: BRUNEI WILL SUPPORT ANTI-RAPE RESOLUTION IF AFRICANS ON BOARD, MOVING TO ABSTAIN ON SINGLE COUNTRY RESOLUTIONS REF: A. STATE 155063 ¶B. BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 299 ¶C. BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 319 ¶1. (SBU) Charge delivered Ref A points on November 14 to Adnan Jaafar, Acting Director for International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Adnan is recently returned to Brunei, having served as Brunei's Deputy PermRep in New York. Updating Brunei's position from ref B, Adnan responded that Brunei will abstain on the resolution condemning rape as a political instrument. He added that the Brunei mission in New York will be instructed to move to a yes vote if the African group moves to support the resolution. ¶2. (SBU) In an update to ref C on Brunei's position on single country resolutions, Adnan Jaafar said that Brunei would now abstain on all such resolutions. Brunei will continue to support no-action motions to reflect the GoB view that the Third Committee remained the wrong place to take up single country resolutions. He commented that the GoB was willing to take the pressure for moving from no to abstain votes on certain country resolutions, as an abstention would make it more clear that Brunei did not/not support countries with poor human rights records. FRIEDMAN