DEMARCHES TO INDONESIA ON ZIMBABWE

UNCLAS JAKARTA 000805 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/S, DRL/MLGA, AND IO/RHS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL UNHRC PHUM PGOV ZI ID SUBJECT: DEMARCHES TO INDONESIA ON ZIMBABWE REF: A. STATE 223284 (PRESSING HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL) ¶B. STATE 34009 (BUILDING INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT) ¶1. (U) We raised the situation in Zimbabwe in a March 21 meeting with Heru Santoso and Dicky Yunus of the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs' Human Rights Directorate, per reftels. We urged the GOI to publicly condemn the Zimbabwe regime's violence against the opposition and to support urgent Human Rights Council action on the matter. Santoso and Yunus agreed to review the issue and to refer it to the head of their directorate for a decision. We stressed that the credibility of the Human Rights Council was at stake. ¶2. (SBU) Comment. The Indonesians have first-hand experience of President Mugabe's volatility and animus towards the West. In 2005, he attended a conference in Jakarta commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Bandung Conference at which he launched a tirade against the U.S. and U.K. Nevertheless, the Indonesians have a strong aversion in principle to "naming and shaming" specific countries, and we doubt they will have much to say about this subject, either in Jakarta or Geneva. End comment. HEFFERN