BRUNEI WANTS SOLID UN BURMA REPLACEMENT FOR GAMBARI

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000090 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR IO, EAP/MTS AND EAP/MLS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2017 TAGS: PREL PHUM UNSC BM BX SUBJECT: BRUNEI WANTS SOLID UN BURMA REPLACEMENT FOR GAMBARI REF: SECSTATE 20000 Classified By: CDA Justin Friedman, reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (C) Charge delivered reftel points to Florence Chong, Assistant Director for International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) on March 7. Chong said that the GoB had welcomed UN U/S Gambari's efforts in Burma and hoped that the gap between Gambari and his replacement would be minimized. Chong said she had pulsed the Brunei UN mission that morning but had no information about possible replacements. At this stage, the GoB had no candidate in mind for the job, but she hoped that whomever was named would have a similar international stature to Gambari. ¶2. (C) Charge inquired about the state of play within ASEAN on next steps with Burma. Chong welcomed U.S. attention to ASEAN views. She said there was a strong sense that more must be done regarding Burma, but no consensus yet on what those steps might be. FRIEDMAN