ISAIAS ADDRESSES DAKAR AGREEMENT CONTACT GROUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASMARA 000454 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO ER SUBJECT: ISAIAS ADDRESSES DAKAR AGREEMENT CONTACT GROUP ASMARA 00000454 001.4 OF 002 Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4 (d) ¶1. (SBU) Summary: President Isaias made a two-hour appearance on September 12 at the fifth meeting of the Dakar Agreement Contact Group. Appearing physically fit and mentally sharp, Isaias delivered in good English a constructive speech supportive of the Contact Group's efforts to reconcile Chad and Sudan. He also warned that international peacekeeping is turning into "a business" and said the root of the problem between Chad and Sudan is Darfur. Uncharacteristically, Isaias did not use the opportunity to bash the United States. Dynamics and results of the Contact Group meeting per se will be reported septel. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) WE CAN BE DIPLOMATIC -------------- The government of Eritrea clearly viewed the fifth meeting of the Dakar Agreement Contact Group, held in Asmara September 10-12, as an opportunity to put its best diplomatic foot forward. Isaias Afwerki set the tone with his September 12 opening address to the ministerial portion of the meeting. Following a lavish (by local standards) hour-long opening ceremony, Isaias took the podium to deliver a speech supportive of the Contact Group's efforts. One of the president's senior advisors later told the ambassador that Isaias had written the speech himself. Embassy Asmara was invited to sit among the offcal observers,QjQst behind the delegations, cabinet ministers, and party capos. Isaias typically uses every public speaking engagement to blame the United States for Eritrea's problems and the region's woes, but his September 12 address did not mention the U.S. directly or indirectly at all. ¶3. (SBU) CAREFUL NOT TO UPSET THE LIBYANS -------------- Isaias was supportive of the Dakar Agreement Contact Group, saying, "I hope your deliberations will be fruitful." Meanwhile, he was careful not to criticize Libyan-led mediation efforts and characterized the 2006 Tripoli Agreement as "the noble initiative taken by Brother Muammar." Eritrea, which sent a number of border monitors to the Chad-Sudan frontier under the terms of the Tripoli Agreement, was originally hopeful that Libya could bring the two feuding neighbors together, but Isaias went on to lament that the Tripoli Agreement had failed, as "the crisis regressed into further chaos." ¶4. (SBU) ISAIAS SAYS DARFUR IS THE PROBLEM -------------- Isaias, in his avuncular mode, opined that the current troubles between Chad and Sudan are not inherent and that reconciliation should be possible. He commented that the root of the bilateral deterioration was "spawned by the problems that unfolded in Darfur." Isaias stated that Chadian-Sudanese relations cannot be mended in isolation from the troubles of Darfur. ¶5. (SBU) PEACEKEEPING BECOMING A "BUSINESS" -------------- In a somewhat jolting change of focus, Isaias launched into an anti-peacekeeping discourse that left much of the audience baffled. Peacekeeping operations, Isaias warned, have "degenerated to become enterprises or businesses in their own right." He argued that peacekeeping can develop its own vested interests and can therefore prolong "the very problems it was intended to resolve." He concluded this segmsns of his add e s with the interesting proposal that "the governments that are willing to contribute troops would also shoulder the financial burden of the contingents that they send." ¶6. (C) COMMENT ASMARA 00000454 002.4 OF 002 -------------- Isaias exhibited no visible signs of ill-health or shakiness, despite reports that he fainted last month. He seemed fit, spry, and mentally sharp. Why he passed up the opportunity to bash the United States at this forum is unknown. Many Asmara-based diplomats viewed his anti-peacekeeping comments as either a reference to UNMEE or to Ethiopia's plans to send peacekeeping forces to Darfur. During the opening ceremony at the Intercontinental Hotel, the lights went out for a short while, but this caused no noticeable change in Isaias's (invisible or non-existent) security package. The young men of the cultural troupe who danced past Isaias with broadswords swinging and javelins jabbing would have given any U.S. Secret Service agent nightmares. Unlike the ranting, paranoid narcissist we often see, Isaias on this occasion came off as a reasonable statesman with no particular security concerns. End Comment. ¶7. MINIMIZE CONSIDERED. MCMULLEN