Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BRUSSELS1090
2008-07-17 08:46:00
CONFIDENTIAL
USEU Brussels
Cable title:  

U.S.-EU AFRICA TROIKA ADDRESSES SUDAN, CHAD, HORN,

Tags:  PREL PGOV PREF EUN 
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ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 170846Z JUL 08
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA
RUEHSB/AMEMBASSY HARARE
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
RUEHNJ/AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 001090 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PREF EUN
SUBJECT: U.S.-EU AFRICA TROIKA ADDRESSES SUDAN, CHAD, HORN,
DRC, ZIMBABWE

Classified By: Deputy Pol MinCouns Alyce Tidball for reasons 1.4 (b and
d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 001090

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PREF EUN
SUBJECT: U.S.-EU AFRICA TROIKA ADDRESSES SUDAN, CHAD, HORN,
DRC, ZIMBABWE

Classified By: Deputy Pol MinCouns Alyce Tidball for reasons 1.4 (b and
d).

1.(U) On June 30, the last day of the Slovenian EU
Presidency, AF DAS James Swan led the U.S. in its biannual
troika discussion with the EU on African issues. Separately,
he met with EU political-military officials June 30 and with
members of the Political and Security Committee (PSC) July 1.
The main topics of discussion were the future of the EU's
military mission to Chad and Central African Republic
(EUFOR); sanctions, negotiated power-sharing arrangements and
other options in Zimbabwe; piracy off the Somali coast; and
ideas for reforming the security sector in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC).

EUFOR CHAD: What will follow?
--------------
2.(C) EU officials, from the Council Secretariat to the
pol-mil staff to the PSC, said decisively in separate
meetings that there would be no political will from member
states to extend the EUFOR Chad mission one day beyond its
12-month mandate. While acknowledging that the mission has
thus far gone relatively well, officials say they are
reluctant to set a precedent that might deter member states
from committing troops for future ESDP deployments. The plan
has always been to have EUFOR replaced by UN peacekeeping
troops, but EU officials worry that a dearth of trained
African troops, the pace of UN DPKO deployments, and
competition from UNAMID, MONUC, AMISOM and other peacekeeping
operations will conspire to postpone the UN follow-on mission
beyond the March 15, 2009 end date of EUFOR. EU officials
say there may be some room for a short EUFOR extension, but
only if it were a bridge to a definite UN handover or if it
involved rehatting EUFOR troops under UN auspices. Officials
from the EU, UN, and the EUFOR operational headquarters
returned in late June from a mid-term assessment mission in
Chad and CAR which will form the basis of High Representative
Javier Solana's report to the UN in September.
Jean-Christophe Belliard, Africa advisor to Solana in the
Council Secretariat, said he is convinced that EUFOR's
presence has deterred Sudan from retaliating against Chad for
rebel attacks on Khartoum. Swan said the U.S. continues to

support politically the EUFOR deployment as well as a
follow-on UN force.

Sudan: EU feels Darfur, CPA fatigue
--------------
3.(C) Belliard said he believes the EU and the international
community have succumbed to a certain fatigue over Darfur and
north-south issues, which is just what the Bashir regime
wants. He said the EU believes it got little value for all
the money it invested in AMIS (more than 200 million euro,
according to Commission official Pierre Seailles).
Nonetheless, Belliard argued that the EU and U.S. must
continue to push DPKO to deploy UNAMID fully and convince
China that it is in its long-term economic interest to
cooperate with the international community in Sudan. Swan
noted that the splintering of the Sudanese rebel groups has
made it difficult to implement the Darfur Peace Agreement,
and that Special Envoy Williamson has suspended talks on the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement until all sides indicate a
willingness to implement it. The U.S. is "reasonably
satisfied" with the Abyei roadmap and is looking to the UN to
begin organizing more robustly the scheduled 2009 elections,
he said.

Somalia: Combating pirates
--------------
4.(C) DAS Swan outlined several positive developments in
Somalia, including the departure of PM Gedi, the arrival of
SRSG Ould Abdullah, and the cease-fire agreement between the
Transitional Federal Government and the Alliance for the
Reliberation of Somalia. The U.S., he said, prefers a small,
tightly focused peacekeeping operation limited to protecting
transitional institutions and actors and some humanitarian
agencies rather than the UN's vision of a 27,000-strong force
that would deploy when all parties involved in the violence
signed on to a peace agreement. The U.S. is close to
authorizing support for a second battalion of Burundian
peacekeepers, and Uganda is ready to send a second battalion
if it can find support for training and troop transport, he
said. In a meeting with the DG VIII political-military

BRUSSELS 00001090 002 OF 003


staff, Didier Lenoir, Head of Unit for Operations and
Exercises, said the EU is considering a number of initiatives
to combat piracy, with the most likely alternative being a
warship that would travel a set route at set times to provide
protection for any private vessels that wanted to join it
voluntarily. Swan said the U.S. military is wary of picking
up pirates at sea for fear of being unable to then turn them
over to any willing and competent authorities.

Ethiopia-Eritrea tensions persist
--------------
5.(C) Roger Moore, European Commission Director for East and
Southern Africa, said Commissioner Louis Michel came away
from recent meetings with PMs Meles and Isaias believing that
neither is really looking for a solution to their lingering
border dispute. "Both are willing to talk, but not to each
other," Moore said. Belliard highlighted Michel's
"exceptional access" to both leaders. Swan questioned a
recent 120 million euro allocation by the European Commission
for Eritrea and said the U.S. believes the regime should be
further isolated. Moore said the money has been allocated,
but not yet programmed or transferred, and noted that Michel
is beginning to become disillusioned by the lack of results
in Eritrea.

Great Lakes: SSR elusive
--------------
6.(C) The EU has been frustrated by the pace of security
sector reform in the DRC, particularly with what it sees as
President Kabila's inability to deal effectively with the
FDLR, Belliard said. In addition to having very poor
relations with Belgium, the DRC has a growing rift with the
EU. "He doesn't really listen to us," said Belliard of
Kabila. Noting that the Chinese have stepped into the void,
Belliard said, "Kabila has new friends who don't ask
questions." Manuel Lopez Blanco, Commission Director for
West and Central Africa, said the Commission's priorities
include implementation of the Goma and Nairobi agreements and
September elections in Rwanda. Swan emphasized the remaining
security and military challenges and said commitment is not
sufficient without capacity. He said the U.S. has proposed a
surge in MONUC capacity to the UN to deal with security
issues in eastern Congo. Swan further noted that some of the
talented people within the MLC opposition party may rise
through the ranks now that leader Bemba has exiled himself to
Europe and been indicted by the International Criminal Court.
Ken Hume, strategic planning officer at DG VIII, said his
office has proposed five options for further EU involvement
in the DRC to 27 member states: assisting the UN with
operational planning, coordinating support to Congo from
external partners, providing satellite imagery, providing
planning and enabling support for brassage, and supplying
additional international military force.

Zimbabwe: U.S. and EU must act swiftly
--------------
7.(C) Swan's meetings with the EU took place the day after
Mugabe was sworn in for another presidential term, and both
the U.S. and EU agreed that the West must not act as if it
were business as usual. The EU is discussing next steps,
including expanded sanctions against leaders of the ruling
party. Belliard said many member states overestimate the
African Union's capacity to intervene. "Some in the EU look
to the AU the way an insect looks to the light, and that's
not good," he said. Portuguese PSC Ambassador Carlos Durrant
Pais said a negotiated government of national unity seems to
be the only way forward and said he would like to see Kenyan
Vice President Odinga play a role in mediating a political
agreement in Zimbabwe. UK Counselor Martin Reynolds said
July is a critical month for the EU which must act "quickly
and decisively" at the JulyGAERC before the August recess.
"By September,Mugabe will be pretty well entrenched and
intrnational opinion will be ossified," he said.

Comment
--------------
8.(C) The troika discussions highlighted the difference in
approach between the U.S. and the EU over Eritrea. The
Commission, in particular, under the leadership o
Commissioner Michel, continues to believe that dialogue and
engagement with Isaias is possible and potentially
productive. Otherwise, the U.S. and EU were largely in

BRUSSELS 00001090 003 OF 003


agreement over issues in Africa and appropriate next steps
for the international community. Because of poor relations
currently between Belgium and the government of the DRC, and
to a lesser extent between the EU and the DRC, the EU will be
looking increasingly to the U.S. in the near term to deliver
messages to Kabila. The EU has requested continued U.S.
political support for a UN follow-on mission to EUFOR in
eastern Chad. Zimbabwe is the biggest African issue on the
EU's agenda at the moment, and there is continued interest in
working with the U.S. and others on sanctions as well as
negotiations toward a possible government of national unity.
End comment.

9.(U) DAS Swan has cleared this report.
WOHLERS
.