ITALY: ETHIOPIA-ERITREA AT AN IMPASSE, REGIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000318 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/14/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV ER ET AF AL AU BE CH EU JA NO TZ, UK, UNAUS, ECON, IT SUBJECT: ITALY: ETHIOPIA-ERITREA AT AN IMPASSE, REGIONAL DISCUSSIONS COULD HELP REF: A. STATE 14111 ¶B. SCHOFIELD-DERETIC E-MAILS Classified By: Political Minister Counselor David D. Pearce for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Poloff met with Horn of Africa Office Director Fabrizio Pignatelli and Ethiopia-Eritrea Desk Officer Alberto La Bella February 9 to discuss the role the GOI intends to play in the Ethiopia-Eritrea boundary dispute, as per Ref A. Pignatelli and La Bella reported that Italy sees the situation as essentially frozen, with the two leaders entrenched in their positions (Ref B). According to Pignatelli, when Italian PM Prodi raised the issue with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki his response was that the issue was closed. Similarly, Ethiopian PM Meles repeated Addis Ababa's standard line when PM Prodi suggested that a goodwill gesture from Ethiopia expressing willingness to move forward on the issue could be helpful. ¶2. (C) La Bella thought it might be possible to involve the two parties in a regional dialogue, perhaps focusing on regional economic cooperation. This was an idea the EU had considered, and EU Commissioner for Development and Aid Louis Michel had raised it in a recent trip to Djibouti. According to Pignatelli, while Eritrea had repeatedly rejected the idea of bilateral dialogue, Afwerki had said he was ready to discuss everything but the boundary in a multilateral context. Pignatelli suggested that an IGAD could be a useful forum. The appointment of a new UN Special Representative might also be helpful, Pignatelli added, since Eritrea viewed the process by which the current acting representative was appointed to be problematic. Pignatelli noted that the GOI had also supported a new role for the UN Secretary General, now that Kofi Annan's mandate had ended (though Eritrea's general bias against UN involvement would have to be overcome). SPOGLI