FRENCH INTENTIONS FOR AFRICA-RELATED MEETINGS AT

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 003341 SIPDIS SIPDIS ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU DELEGATION E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/08/2017 TAGS: PREL UNGA XA FR SUBJECT: FRENCH INTENTIONS FOR AFRICA-RELATED MEETINGS AT 2007 UNGA Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, 1.4 (b/d ). ¶1. (SBU) MFA AF PDAS Caroline Dumas on August 3 provided the following information on Africa-related meetings the French would like to see held on the margins of this year's UNGA. She provided this information in response to our request for clarification in view of the different signals we had picked up since the June 25 Conference on Darfur the French hosted in Paris. ¶2. (C) The GOF would like to convene a meeting of the UN Security Council at Heads of State/Chiefs of Government level on September 25. The subject would be "The Situation in Africa." The proposed meeting was originally to be called "Crises in Africa," but South Africa found this too negative, so the more general "situation" is now the theme. Darfur would be a prominent discussion topic, but other topics would also be discussed, for example, Zimbabwe, the Great Lakes, and the Horn of Africa. The UN SYG would attend. According to Dumas, the UN is apparently handling much of the logistics and organization, and she reported that the UN had already said that a good number of UNSC members believe that their Head of State/Chief of Government intends to participate, including South Africa, Indonesia, Ghana and others that Dumas did not specify. Among the P-5, UK PM Gordon Brown may have a conflict with a Labor Party convention. The Russians and Chinese, however, have indicated that President Putin and China's top leaders would not attend. ¶3. (SBU) Dumas said that the French also want to organize a ministerial-level follow-up meeting to the June 25 Darfur Conference, involving the same participants -- the expanded Contact Group plus interested parties (e.g., AU, World Bank, and others). The difference between the UNGA conference and the one in Paris would be that the AU and UN would co-host, and it would therefore not be a French-hosted session. Dumas said the meeting could be held on September 24 or September 26, i.e., either a day before or a day after the September 25 Security Council Summit on the "Situation in Africa." Dumas thought that September 24 would be best as it would help set the stage for the September 25 Security Council Summit. ¶4. (SBU) Dumas noted that a number of issues related to the projected meetings remained unresolved and were not likely to be addressed until after the end of the summer holiday period. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm PEKALA