KENYA AGREES TO POSTPONE IGAD SUMMIT

UNCLAS NAIROBI 000791 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL SO SU SUBJECT: KENYA AGREES TO POSTPONE IGAD SUMMIT REF: SECSTATE 18712 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: We discussed the points in reftel with senior Government of Kenya officials. They are postponing the IGAD summit to mid-March or later and agreed to discuss with their IGAD partners our strong suggestion that the Sudan CPA should have its own summit. End Summary. ¶2. (U) We received a diplomatic note on 15 February pertaining to this issue. The operative portion reads: "...an Extraordinary Summit of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development will be held in Nairobi on Tuesday 20th of February 2007 at 10:00 a.m. preceded by an Extra-Ordinary Meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday 19th February 2007 at 3:00 p.m. The agenda of the meeting will be to review the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement on Sudan and discuss the road map for the post conflict peace-building and reconstruction, as well as deployment of AU/IGAD protection force for Somalia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya has the honor to invite you to attend the meeting as an observer." ¶3. (SBU) Subsequent to the issuance today of this diplomatic note (but prior to its receipt by us),we discussed points contained in reftel with senior Government of Kenya officials. They are postponing the summit until at least mid-March. They agreed to discuss with their IGAD partners our strong suggestion that the issue of implementation of the Sudan CPA should have its own summit. They appreciated the symbolic value of Navaisha as a location for the summit and agreed to consider that option. They intend to convene an IGAD committee of experts prior to the ministerial meeting and the Head of State summit. Our Kenyan interlocutors were quite pleased to hear that the USG is prepared to send a high level delegation to participate in the summit. RANNEBERGER