DARFUR: EGYPT READY TO HOST REBELS, DEPLOY

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 003425 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA AND AF/SPG E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/06/2017 TAGS: PREL KPKO UNSC MASS EG SU SUBJECT: DARFUR: EGYPT READY TO HOST REBELS, DEPLOY PEACE-KEEPERS REF: A. CAIRO 3101 ¶B. KHARTOUM 1613 ¶C. CAIRO 2035 Classified by Minister Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs William R. Stewart for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) MFA Cabinet Advisor for African Affairs Ahmed Abu Zeid told us December 6 that Egypt stands ready to host an "Arusha-style" meeting for Darfur rebel unity if the international community calls for it to do so. Discussing the December 4 meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh between the UN and AU envoys Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim and Sudan's neighbors Egypt, Chad, Eritrea, and Libya, Abu Zeid said that the GOE supports giving the rebels further time to unify on their own, but that the process "should not be endless." The envoys may soon need to take a more "heavy-handed" approach, he opined, suggesting that the next meeting should last only about a week and follow a specific agenda. ¶2. (SBU) Abu Zeid confirmed that Egyptian engineers, transport, and signals personnel would deploy with the Heavy Support Package (ref B) for the UN/AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) even without Egyptian infantry to protect them, which had previously been a firm GOE requirement (ref C). The GOE still preferred that its personnel be protected by Egyptian, rather than third country, troops, and is negotiating with the UN DPKO to deploy the Egyptian infantry troops with Phase III of the hybrid force in the areas where Egyptian engineers, signals, and transport personnel will operate. Abu Zeid also confirmed a cease-fire in Darfur is no longer precondition for Egyptian forces to deploy with UNAMID (ref A),saying that fighting in Darfur has diminished to an acceptable level. ¶3. (C) Comment: The GOE's hard-lines on deploying its peace-keepers - namely, that Egyptian troops must be protected by Egyptian infantry and that force deployment is pre-conditioned on a peace agreement in Darfur - have slowly eroded. We judge that the GOE desire to play a leading role in Sudan, as shown most recently by hosting the December 4 neighbors meeting, has tempered its force protection concerns. However, the GOE calculus may change if the security situation in Darfur deteriorates. RICCIARDONE