Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07USUNNEWYORK368
2007-05-12 00:36:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
USUN New York
Cable title:  

P5 AGREE TO COOPERATE ON SUDAN AND OTHER ISSUES

Tags:  CD PGOV PREL SU UNSC KPKO YI UNMIK 
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VZCZCXRO3097
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHIK RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN
RUEHROV RUEHTRO RUEHYG
DE RUCNDT #0368/01 1320036
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 120036Z MAY 07
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1861
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA PRIORITY 1295
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PRIORITY 0150
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM PRIORITY 0712
RUEHNJ/AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA PRIORITY 0278
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUEHPS/USOFFICE PRISTINA PRIORITY 0867
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000368 

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SENSITIVE
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CD PGOV PREL SU UNSC KPKO YI UNMIK
SUBJECT: P5 AGREE TO COOPERATE ON SUDAN AND OTHER ISSUES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000368

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CD PGOV PREL SU UNSC KPKO YI UNMIK
SUBJECT: P5 AGREE TO COOPERATE ON SUDAN AND OTHER ISSUES


1. (SBU) On May 10, Ambassador Khalilzad convened his first
meeting of the Permanent Five United Nations Security Council
Members (UNSC). Members welcomed Ambassador Khalilzad's
commitment to begin regular P5 consultations and to make use
of this forum to advance shared goals and harmonize positions
where possible. Members agreed to coordinate efforts with
Secretary-General (SYG) Ban Ki-moon on how to make progress

SIPDIS
on Darfur. The UK circulated draft demarche points to be
used as the basis of possible P5 interventions in Khartoum
and in New York. China was non-committal on the effort and
urged caution, saying it needed guidance from Beijing and
warning Members not to undermine ongoing UN efforts toward
political reconciliation. The UK and France called for
movement from the UN on addressing the situation in eastern
Chad. Other issues discussed at the meeting included SYG
senior-level appointments and Kosovo, on which Ambassador
Khalilzad announced our intention to circulate a draft
resolution on May 11. END SUMMARY.

IMPETUS FOR DARFUR PROGRESS NEEDED
--------------

2. (SBU) UK Permanent Representative (PR) Jones Parry opened
the discussion on Sudan by lamenting the slow rate of
progress on the political, security and humanitarian fronts
in Darfur. Jones Parry pointed out that in the immediate
term, due to largely bureaucratic obstacles (pending Egyptian
provision of armored personnel carriers for new battalions,
land acquisition for construction of camp sites,
identification of water sources at these sites in North
Darfur),there could be no real movement on deploying
elements of the Heavy Support Package (HSP) of assistance to
the African Union Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) before the
fall. According to Jones Parry, such obstacles were not
exclusive to the HSP, as the AU reportedly reverted to the UN
with extensive amendments to its proposed structure for the
hybrid operation, pushing back hybrid deployment, still
subject to Sudanese approval, until early 2008. AMIS
meanwhile continued to flounder financially and militarily.

In this context Jones Parry introduced a draft demarche paper
intended for P5 use in Khartoum and New York, aimed at
injecting a sense of urgency and coherence into the effort to
address the Darfur crisis.


3. (SBU) Not unexpectedly, Chinese Deputy PR Liu urged
caution with such an approach, warning that if not
coordinated with the SYG, it could serve to undermine efforts
already underway, like those of UN Special Envoy Jan Eliasson
and AU Special Envoy Salim Salim. Liu suggested letting the
SYG remain at the forefront of such outreach, bolstered by P5
"advice." Liu agreed, however, that a shared P5 objective
was to accelerate Sudanese cooperation on the Darfur
political process and peacekeeping efforts. Russian PR
Churkin was more supportive of the initiative but raised
questions about the substance of the draft demarche, namely
its characterization of the HSP as merely a step toward
reaching the hybrid operation, which, he argued, might give
the Khartoum an incentive for procrastination on its
deployment. Churkin also questioned the impression given in
the paper that the Council would be "compelled" into action
to address the Darfur situation.


4. (SBU) Ambassador Khalilzad agreed that the demarche
should take into account SYG efforts on Darfur, and all P5
Members agreed on the need to coordinate with him.
Ambassador Khalilzad promised to organize a P5 meeting with
the SYG on this topic. Ambassador Khalilzad also agreed to
"massage" the language of the text to incorporate Russian
suggestions and consider whatever input Beijing may offer.
It was not decided if demarches would be delivered by P5
Members together or in sequence.

AMIS FUNDING IS ISSUE AS MANDATE EXPIRATION LOOMS
-------------- --------------

5. (SBU) Ambassador Wolff pointed out that the potential for
a security vacuum in Darfur was real if there were no
movement on Darfur peacekeeping by AMIS' mandate expiration
on June 30. Chinese DPR Liu jumped on this point, insisting
that the UNSC and the donor community must be prepared to
sustain AMIS financially until the hybrid could deploy. Liu
recommended encouraging the SYG to make full use of the
Tripartite Mechanism between the UN, the AU and the Sudanese
Government, to chart the way forward on Darfur. Chinese

USUN NEW Y 00000368 002 OF 002


Political Minister Counselor Li Jun-hua told PolMinCouns and
Poloff after the meeting that AMIS funding was the major
issue in moving forward, well aware that donors' financially
sustaining a weak AMIS ad infinitum was in Khartoum's
interest. USUN replied that ad hoc financing for AMIS would
not continue indefinitely, making the need for UN-AU
agreement on the hybrid and Sudanese approval thereof all the
more crucial. When asked by USUN about the Chinese
engineering unit pledged to the HSP, Li said Beijing had not
yet decided on whether to re-locate first a parallel unit
from UNMIS in the South to be back-filled by the new pledged
unit in the interest of getting boots on the ground in Darfur
more quickly.


6. (SBU) NOTE: In a May 9 conversation with Poloff, Ghanaian
Political Officer described an inchoate plan to address the
AMIS funding issue by transferring the responsibility
temporarily to African donors. Ghana, as AU President, was
planning to demarche AU Commission Chairperson Konare on the
idea of seeking African-only funding for AMIS for one month
as a way of driving home with African leaders the need for a
more sustainable system of funding, thus ultimately leading
to pressure by these leaders on Khartoum to accept the hybrid
operation, which would be financed through UN assessed
contributions. END NOTE.


7. (SBU) Ambassador Sanders raised the importance of
involving African UNSC Members in the process of demarching
on Darfur's future. UK PR Jones Parry suggested that the
UNSC consider a June 17 stop in Khartoum between its June 16
visit with Konare in Addis Ababa and with Ghanaian President
and current AU Head John Kufuor on June 18.

NEED DPKO ACTION ON CHAD
--------------

8. (SBU) UK PR Jones Parry and French PR de La Sabliere
expressed frustration with the inaction on the part of the
Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) to address the
situation in eastern Chad. Both stressed the need to get
elements of the advance mission authorized in January on the
ground to reconcile differences with the GOC on modalities of
peacekeeping there. They also stressed that the Chad
government would welcome such a visit but it seemed held back
by "bureaucratics" in New York.

KOSOVO
--------------

9. (SBU) Ambassador Khalilzad announced the U.S. intention to
circulate a draft resolution on Kosovo on May 11. Although
Russian PR Churkin seemed taken by surprise with this
development, there was no reaction from other P5 Members
(Churkin hurridly conferred with Chinese DPR Liu after the
meeting).

SYG APPOINTMENTS
--------------

10. (SBU) Russian PR Churkin recommended convening regular P5
meetings with the SYG to deal with the "problem" of
senior-level appointments. Churkin and Chinese DPR Liu spoke
to the need for P5 input to the SYG in appointing the head of
disarmament affairs, and Churkin advocated the candidacy of
Sergei Karev (Russia) for Counter-Terrorism Committee
Executive Director, a post to be vacated in June by current
director Javier Ruperez (Spain). The French DPR countered
with words of support for the French candidate, Jean-Pierre
Laborde. Churkin also opposed the appointment of an
Under-SYG for gender equality, suggesting that such
responsibilities could be absorbed by current UN Deputy SYG
Migiro. Ambassador Khalilzad committed to setting up an
early P5 meeting with SYG Ban, a step welcomed by the other
Members.
KHALILZAD