CONTACT GROUP MTG IN NDJAMENA MAINTAINS DAKAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NDJAMENA 000532

SIPDIS

KINSHASA PASS BRAZZAVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/15/2010
TAGS: PREL PREF PKO UNAUS AU SU LY CD
SUBJECT: CONTACT GROUP MTG IN NDJAMENA MAINTAINS DAKAR
ACCORD IMPLEMENTATION MOMENTUM

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Classified By: adcm regribbin for reasons 1.4 b&d

---THIS MESSAGE REPLACES/SUPERCEDES MRN NDJAMENA 529---

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) The November 15 Meeting of the Contact Group for
implementation of the Dakar Accord achieved its core
objectives of furthering confidence-building between Chad and
Sudan, and maintaining the CG's deliberate progress toward a
border monitoring and observation mission. On the ground
there was no apparent dissonance between the Libyan
"trilateral" effort and the CG's more general one. Host
FORMIN Moussa Faki summed up the GOC's official view by
stating that "confidence was re-discovered" between Chad and
Sudan. The CG continued to develop a calendar for future
steps, including the setting up of an HQ in Tripoli for the
border monitoring mission in December; an additional Experts
meeting in December or January; and the next CG plenum in
February in Khartoum. Representation was excellent, with
Libya's Dr. Ali Trekki, UN/AU Sudan Envoy Bassole, UE Sudan
Envoy Brylle, and Sudan, Eritrea, and Congo Brazzaville
FORMINS among the senior delegation heads. The presence of
Sudan's newly arrived AMB to Chad underlined the recent
re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Chad and
Sudan as exemplified by the exchange of ambassadors, thanks
to Libyan efforts. The CG group adopted the report by its
Experts Group (which met NOV 12-14) which detailed the
process of putting together the border monitoring and
observation mission and calling for a seventh CG meeting in
Khartoum, in January or February, with another experts
meeting in the meantime to permit a final deployment plan to
be adopted. The problem of financing of the mission was
raised, with some CG members favoring complete financing by
CG members, and others favoring the solicitation of donors
for support.


2. (C) Anything that reduces the possibility of an early
resumption of the Chad-Sudan "proxy war" is welcome. This
meeting did contribute to that goal. But much remains to be
done to build enough real confidence between N'Djamena and
Khartoum that would lead to a durable peace along their
common border. END SUMMARY.


3. (C) The formal part of the November 15 Contact Group
meeting was perfunctory and predictable. Praise was bestowed
on Chad and Sudan for the resumption of diplomatic ties. The
CG continued to develop a calendar for future steps,
including the setting up of an HQ in Tripoli for the border
monitoring "mechanism" in December; an additional Experts
meeting in December or January; and the next CG plenum in
February in Khartoum. Representation was excellent, with
Libya's Dr. Ali Trekki, UN/AU Sudan Envoy Bassole, UE Sudan
Envoy Brylle, and Sudan and Congo Brazzaville FORMINs among
the senior delegation heads. The presence of Sudan's newly
arrived AMB to Chad underlined the recent re-establishment of
diplomatic relations between Chad and Sudan as exemplified by
the exchange of ambassadors, thanks to Libyan efforts.
Nonetheless, there was a bit of internal back and forth among
the African members as they considered the experts report on
establishing the $21 million border monitoring operation.
There was reluctance to name Libyan Colonel Montaf Al-Idjeili
outright as "commander" (a name was avoided in the adopted
report),plus there was an eventual decision to call the
chief post that of "general coordinator."


4. (C) The CG adopted the report by its Experts Group (which
met NOV 12-14) which detailed the process of putting together
the border monitoring and observation mission. A the next CG
meeting in Khartoum next month so as to permit a final
deployment plan to be adopted. The problem of financing of
the mission was raised, with some CG members favoring
complete financing by CG members, and others favoring the
solicitation of donors for support. Near the end of
deliberations, the Senegalese ambassador questioned the
legality of the whole operation suggesting that under the
2004 N'Djamena Peace Accords, the GOS was forbidden to patrol
near the frontier. He was talked down and ignored in the end.
However, both Senegalese and Gabonese representatives tried
to duck the usdols four million per member financial
obligation, suggesting instead that the group approach the
donor community to request funds. Eritrea intervened to
state that it was earlier agreed that members would pay four
million dollars each and Libya eight million. Libya, Sudan,

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Chad and Congo weighed in support of Asmara. Even so, the
provision to approach friends for funds was included in the
final communique.


5. (C) Host FORMIN Moussa Faki managed the meeting as well
as could be expected and he summed up the GOC's overall view
by stating that "confidence was re-discovered" between Chad
and Sudan. Most of the talking was done by the Congolese,
Gabonese and Senegalese representatives under the
chairmanship of Chadian FORMIN Faki. Libyan representative
Trekki intervened usefully from time to time to keep matters
on track, as did the Eritreans. FORMIN Alor of Sudan was
noticeably quiet until the very end when he concurred that
the group ought to endorse the experts' report and move
ahead. Alor told us privately that actually putting the
subject monitoring operation in place would be "very
difficult." We understand that the Sudanese military
representatives had been quite vocal and aggressive during
the experts' talks, so their silence during the plenary - in
Alor's presence - was noteworthy.


6. (U) The following states and IOs were represented in
Ndjamena: Chad, Libya (Dr Trekki),Sudan (FORMIN Alor),
Congo/B (FORMIN Ikouebe)),Eritrea (FORMIN Saleh),Senegal,
Gabon, United States, France, Canada, the UK, UN (SRSG
Angelo),AU (Special Envoy Bassole),EU (Special Envoy
Brylle),the OIC.


7. (U) Copies of the documents are being emailed to all
concerned posts.

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COMMENT
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8. (C) We judge that the meeting achieved its core objectives
of furthering confidence-building between Chad and Sudan, and
maintaining the CG's deliberate progress toward a border
monitoring and observation mission. On the ground there was
no apparent dissonance between the Libyan "trilateral" effort
and the CG's more general one. Host FORMIN Faki summed up
the GOC's official view by stating that "confidence had been
re-discovered" between Chad and Sudan. One key element of
the meeting was the presence of the newly arrived Sudanese
AMB to Chad in the Sudanese delegation, underling that the
successful resumption of diplomatic ties could signal real
forward progress in the sub-region. It was important that
the CG, especially Libya and Sudan, was represented at senior
levels and that observer countries and international
organizations were there in force. Equally important was the
elaboration of a calendar for future steps, including setting
up an HQ under a Libyan military officer in Tripoli for the
border monitoring mission in December; an additional Experts
meeting in December or January; and the next CG plenum in
January or February in Khartoum.


9. (C) Anything that reduces the possibility of an early
resumption of the Chad-Sudan "proxy war" is welcome. This
meeting did contribute to that goal. But much remains to be
done to build enough real confidence between N'Djamena and
Khartoum that would lead to a durable peace along their
common border. END COMMENT.
NIGRO