COMESA LEADERS COMMENT ON POSTPONED SUMMIT, COMESA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LUSAKA 000499 SIPDIS DEPT PASS TO USTR (BILL JACKSON) DEPT FOR AF/EPS (ADA ADLER AND JANET POTASH) NAIROBI FOR USAID/REDSO (STEPHANIE WILCOCK) E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/05/2018 TAGS: ECON PREL ECIN COMESA ZA ZI SUBJECT: COMESA LEADERS COMMENT ON POSTPONED SUMMIT, COMESA SUCCESSORSHIP REF: A. LUSAKA 343 ¶B. 07 LUSAKA 983 Classified By: Ambassador Martinez for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has postponed its ministerial and heads of state meetings, which were scheduled to take place between May 1 to 15 in Victoria Falls, due to the electoral crisis in Zimbabwe. Although the Secretariat has considered the possibility of moving the summit to a new location, Deputy COMESA Secretary General (SYG) Ngwenya suggested that to do so would "deny Tsvangirai the opportunity to preside over the summit." According to one account, Kenya, as current COMESA Chair, unilaterally cancelled the summit and has called for a ministerial on May 15 to discuss the selection of the next SYG and the rescheduling of the Summit. Ngwenya told Emboffs that a nomination committee has identified him to replace Mwencha as the Secretariat's next SYG. End Summary. Summit Postponed Indefinitely ¶2. (SBU) On April 23, citing "the current electoral process underway in Zimbabwe," the COMESA Secretariat announced the postponement of COMESA's policy organs and heads of state meetings, which were scheduled to be held May 1-15 in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Outgoing COMESA SYG Mwencha told the Ambassador on April 24 that the security situation in Zimbabwe is "not acceptable" for holding a summit. "How can you hold a summit in a situation like that?" he asked, adding that it would have been awkward for heads of state to visit Zimbabwe during possible run-off elections. He said the Government of Zimbawe understood and supported the decision. COMESA intends to hold a ministerial on May 15 to reschedle the summit and to discuss the replacement forMwencha, whose term as SYG expired on April 30. In he interim, Kenya will continue as COMESA Chir until the chairmanship transfers to the host o the next COMESA summit. ¶3. (C) Mwencha said tht the Secretariat will wait to see how events unold in Zimbabwe before deciding upn an alternate location, although he admitted that he had considered the possibility of hosting the summit in Lusaka. According to the Egyptian DCM in Lusaka, Kenya (as COMESA Chair) had cancelled the summit without consulting other member governments. He said that preparations were well underway when the Secretariat announced the postponement, which took the Egyptians, at least, quite by surprise. The Egyptian DCM relayed rumors that COMESA leaders would convene on the margins of the July African Union summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, but expressed his reservation that this would relegate COMESA to the status of an ancillary regional organization. COMESA Deputy SYG Ngwenya (and Zimbabwean national),however, told the Ambassador that it would be preferable to hold the summit in Zimbabwe because "we would not want to deny Tsvangirai the opportunity to preside over the summit." Secretary General Selected ¶4. (C) Ngwenya also told the Ambassador that a COMESA selection committee had identified him to replace Mwencha. He explained that the committee must wait until the summit to present its recommendation to the COMESA heads of state for their approval. In a separate conversation, Ngwenya told Poloff that Rwanda's candidate for the SYG position, Manasseh Nshuti, intends to appeal the committee's decision. In the meantime, until the appointment of the next SYG, Deputy COMESA SYG for Administration Ambassador Nagla El-Hussainy will steer the Secretariat as acting SYG. Ngwenya explained to Poloff that it would have been inappropriate for him--as heir apparent to Mwencha--to serve as acting SYG after Mwencha's departure. ¶5. (C) Comment: Emboffs have heard other rumors that also suggest that Ngwenya will be the next COMESA SYG. As previously reported (Ref B),Ngwenya's background makes him a strong candidate and inspires confidence in his ability to make progress on COMESA's economic integration agenda. Ngwenya has made numerous statements to emboffs that distance himself from the Mugabe regime and that suggest that he will not detract from former SYG Mwencha's work or respond to Government of Zimbabwe political pressure. COMESA remains intent to host a joint COMESA-SADC-EAC heads of state summit later this year (September/October),as well as to launch a customs union by December. To do so, it will be increasingly important to host a heads of state summit and resolve the LUSAKA 00000499 002 OF 002 successorship question soonest. MARTINEZ