SPECIAL LEBANON TRIBUNAL DEMARCHE: NO OFFICAL

UNCLAS LIMA 001854 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS IO/UN/P ANNELIESE REINEMEYER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: UNSC LE PREL PTER PE SUBJECT: SPECIAL LEBANON TRIBUNAL DEMARCHE: NO OFFICAL RESPONSE YET REF: STATE 70478 ¶1. (SBU) Ambassador delivered reftel demarche to Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde in the afternoon of May ¶23. Garcia Belaunde, who had just emerged from a cabinet meeting at the time, said he had not yet had the opportunity to review the GOP's position on the Lebanon Tribunal and promised to get back with the GOP's official response by COB May 24 (when he returned from a one-day trip to Colombia.) Separately, polcouns contacted Ana Rosa Valdivieso, Director General of the MFA's Multilateral Affairs Division, to emphasize U.S. Support for a Special Tribunal for Lebanon and to request clarification of the GOP's position. Valdivieso said the GOP agreed with the substance ("fondo") of the demarche but not with the "form," stating that the issue should be resolved in channels other than the UNSC under Chapter 7. She said the Multilateral Affairs Division would therefore recommend that the GOP abstain on the upcoming vote but acknowledged that other government offices might have a different recommendation and that the Foreign Minister's official response was far from decided. ¶2. (SBU) PolCouns of the French Embassy told polcouns May 23 that the French Ambassador had demarched Vice Foreign Minister Gonzalo Gutierrez on the Lebanon Special Tribunal that morning, and noted that the VFM had suggested that the UNSC should not be used to resolve an internal political matter in Lebanon. DCM of the British Embassy said he had not yet received instructions on the Lebanon matter but expected them at any time. STRUBLE