Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07PARIS1062
2007-03-19 15:30:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Paris
Cable title:
FRANCE/DARFUR: ALIGNMENT ON HSP, DIVERGENCE ON
how-toVZCZCXRO9352 OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHFR #1062 0781530 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 191530Z MAR 07 FM AMEMBASSY PARIS TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5744 INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 1173 RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHNJ/AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA PRIORITY 1149 RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE PRIORITY 2688
C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 001062
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM PINR CD SU FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE/DARFUR: ALIGNMENT ON HSP, DIVERGENCE ON
SANCTIONS DESIGNATIONS
REF: A. STATE 33367 B. 3/19 D'ELIA-PALMER E-MAIL C.
3/9-3/15 FIERST/MORRIS E-MAILS D. PARIS
3129 (2006) E. PARIS 5173 (2005) F. PARIS
6244 (2006) G. PARIS 7364 (2006)
Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Josiah B. Rosenblatt. Reas
ons 1.4b,d
C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 001062
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM PINR CD SU FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE/DARFUR: ALIGNMENT ON HSP, DIVERGENCE ON
SANCTIONS DESIGNATIONS
REF: A. STATE 33367 B. 3/19 D'ELIA-PALMER E-MAIL C.
3/9-3/15 FIERST/MORRIS E-MAILS D. PARIS
3129 (2006) E. PARIS 5173 (2005) F. PARIS
6244 (2006) G. PARIS 7364 (2006)
Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Josiah B. Rosenblatt. Reas
ons 1.4b,d
1. (C) Africa Watcher met March 16 with MFA AF DAS-Equivalent
Helene Le Gal to discuss Sudanese President Bashir's
rejection of the Heavy Support Package (HSP) for Darfur (Ref
A). Le Gal expressed French concurrence with the USG effort
to muster public denunciations of the Bashir letter, and she
drew attention to March 13 and March 15 MFA statements to the
press (Ref B). Le Gal mused aloud about whether South Africa
would demonstrate greater engagement in addressing Darfur.
2. (C) Asked to clarify French views on developing sanctions
designations under SCR 1591 (2005),Le Gal confirmed the MFA
did not favor targeting JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim or other
figures who could emerge as necessary players or
interlocutors in a political process (Ref C). Better to go
after criminal field commanders, she said, adding that there
was no shortage of appropriate targets in that domain. Asked
about reported French reservations about designating persons
who were already the object of ICC investigation, e.g.
Haroun, Le Gal confirmed MFA objections and gave no sign of
flexibility. She explained that the ICC had made a direct
request to the GoF to help avoid overlapping designations,
because the ICC feared this would weaken its claims to
autonomy from the UNSC.
3. (C) Comment: In the past, Le Gal had been Khalil Ibrahim's
nemesis at the MFA. She was personally responsible for
blocking the renewal of the laissez-passer normally accorded
to refugees in France. This has prevented Khalil Ibrahim's
return to the Schengen Zone after he departed French
territory in 2006. On several occasions in 2005 and 2006,
both the MFA and the French Presidency suggested to Africa
Watcher that Khalil Ibrahim's designation under SCR 1591
would be welcome, as it could provide the legal grounds for
the GoF to strip him of the refugee status that the French
Office for Refugee Protection accorded him in December 2003
despite MFA objections (Refs D, E, F). Le Gal even went the
extra mile in furnishing detailed identifiers on Khalil
Ibrahim to facilitate USG procedures on sanctions
designations (Ref G). In this context, French backtracking
on action under SCR 1591 is intriguing; it almost certainly
reflects input from N'djamena, as well as a sense that Darfur
Peace Agreement Rejectionists like Khalil Ibrahim and even
SLM leader (and frequent visitor to Paris) Abdulwahid El-Nur
should not yet be written out of the game.
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm
STAPLETON
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM PINR CD SU FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE/DARFUR: ALIGNMENT ON HSP, DIVERGENCE ON
SANCTIONS DESIGNATIONS
REF: A. STATE 33367 B. 3/19 D'ELIA-PALMER E-MAIL C.
3/9-3/15 FIERST/MORRIS E-MAILS D. PARIS
3129 (2006) E. PARIS 5173 (2005) F. PARIS
6244 (2006) G. PARIS 7364 (2006)
Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Josiah B. Rosenblatt. Reas
ons 1.4b,d
1. (C) Africa Watcher met March 16 with MFA AF DAS-Equivalent
Helene Le Gal to discuss Sudanese President Bashir's
rejection of the Heavy Support Package (HSP) for Darfur (Ref
A). Le Gal expressed French concurrence with the USG effort
to muster public denunciations of the Bashir letter, and she
drew attention to March 13 and March 15 MFA statements to the
press (Ref B). Le Gal mused aloud about whether South Africa
would demonstrate greater engagement in addressing Darfur.
2. (C) Asked to clarify French views on developing sanctions
designations under SCR 1591 (2005),Le Gal confirmed the MFA
did not favor targeting JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim or other
figures who could emerge as necessary players or
interlocutors in a political process (Ref C). Better to go
after criminal field commanders, she said, adding that there
was no shortage of appropriate targets in that domain. Asked
about reported French reservations about designating persons
who were already the object of ICC investigation, e.g.
Haroun, Le Gal confirmed MFA objections and gave no sign of
flexibility. She explained that the ICC had made a direct
request to the GoF to help avoid overlapping designations,
because the ICC feared this would weaken its claims to
autonomy from the UNSC.
3. (C) Comment: In the past, Le Gal had been Khalil Ibrahim's
nemesis at the MFA. She was personally responsible for
blocking the renewal of the laissez-passer normally accorded
to refugees in France. This has prevented Khalil Ibrahim's
return to the Schengen Zone after he departed French
territory in 2006. On several occasions in 2005 and 2006,
both the MFA and the French Presidency suggested to Africa
Watcher that Khalil Ibrahim's designation under SCR 1591
would be welcome, as it could provide the legal grounds for
the GoF to strip him of the refugee status that the French
Office for Refugee Protection accorded him in December 2003
despite MFA objections (Refs D, E, F). Le Gal even went the
extra mile in furnishing detailed identifiers on Khalil
Ibrahim to facilitate USG procedures on sanctions
designations (Ref G). In this context, French backtracking
on action under SCR 1591 is intriguing; it almost certainly
reflects input from N'djamena, as well as a sense that Darfur
Peace Agreement Rejectionists like Khalil Ibrahim and even
SLM leader (and frequent visitor to Paris) Abdulwahid El-Nur
should not yet be written out of the game.
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm
STAPLETON