Burkina Faso: Demarche on Security Council Meeting on

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OUAGADOUGOU 000514 DEPT FOR IO/UNP ROBIN MEYER AND REBECCA GOLDENBERG AF/W FOR TOM DOUGHERTY, EMILY PLUMB SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/12/2023 TAGS: PREL PHUM PINR UNSC ZI UV LY SF SUBJECT: Burkina Faso: Demarche on Security Council Meeting on Zimbabwe REF: STATE 63183 ¶1. (C) On June 12, DCM, accompanied by PolOff, presented reftel demarche to MOFA Cabinet Director Vincent Zakane. While DCM noted that President Compaore had informed Secretary Rice of Burkina Faso's intention to support a Security Council meeting on Zimbabwe, Zakane only acknowledged that Compaore had spoken positively about working together on Zimbabwe with the Secretary, and had expressed the desire to "implicate Burkina Faso more in the work of the UN Security Council." Zakane added, however, that he would have to consult internally to be able to give a more detailed response to the demarche, and agreed to meet with Emboffs at 10:00 on June 13. Waffling on "Yes" Vote on UNSC Meeting on Zimbabwe -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) Comment: Zakane's cautious response re Burkina Faso's position in favor of a Security Council meeting on Zimbabwe may have simply reflected the fact that information from Compaore's meeting with SecState had not yet filtered down to him. We understand from IO/UNP that the Burkinabe were not able to commit to voting "yes" to a formal UNSC meeting on Zimbabwe on June 12 in New York. At the same time, in a June 12 telcon by Ambassador to Burkinabe Ambassador to the United States Paramanga Yonli, Yonli stated that he had been present at the Compaore-Rice meeting, and that his President had clearly committed Burkina Faso to vote in favor of a UNSC meeting on Zimbabwe. Yonli called back Ambassador to say that the Burkinabe UN PermRep had assured him that Burkina Faso would vote affirmatively for the meeting on Zimbabwe. We hope that Zakane will be more forward leaning on June 13. End comment. African Approach: Regional Bodies, then African Union -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) Zakane then explained the larger context of relations with fellow African nations that would shape Burkina Faso's approach to the issue of Zimbabwe. He explained that, when there is a conflict between two African states, African Union (AU) members wish that, in the first instance, the relevant regional body intervene to seek a peaceful solution. For Zimbabwe, the relevant regional body is the Southern African Development Community (SADC). If the regional body is unable to find a solution, then the AU can intervene, even militarily, if necessary. A third but relatively rarely used option if for one AU country to engage bilaterally in the conflict situation. This AU country is usually a neighbor of the countries in conflict, but in theory even Burkina Faso could be an interlocutor with Zimbabwe. While Burkina Faso could be a useful, neutral interlocutor, this approach would be problematic without South Africa's support because of Pretoria's important national interests in Zimbabwe, Zakane said. ¶4. (C) Zakane stated that it would have been President Compaore's preference that SADC advocate a solution to the Zimbabwe crisis, but that clearly it had failed so far to do so. He also stated that he had not yet seen the agenda for the "June 30" AU Summit in Egypt to see whether Zimbabwe was on its agenda. (Note: the AU's website indicates that the Summit will be from June 24-July 1. End Note.) When DCM noted that an AU meeting starting June 30 would fall after the June 27 Presidential run-off elections in Zimbabwe, Zakane said that another option would be for the Permanent Representatives of AU countries on the AU's Peace and Security Council to call an urgent meeting to discuss Zimbabwe, out of which could result a "declaration, final communiqu, or resolution." This new AU action on Zimbabwe could, in turn, facilitate African countries' ability to support potential UNSC decisions on Zimbabwe, Zakane felt. (Note: Zakane stated that South Africa was a current member of the AU Peace and Security Council, Zimbabwe was not, and that he was uncertain whether Libya was a current member. Burkina Faso, South Africa, and Libya are the three current members representing Africa on the UN Security Council. End Note.) Advocates UN-Africa Union Joint Approach on Zimbabwe, Citing March UNSC Communique, Failure of EU Approach -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Zakane acknowledged that the UNSC could bring up the question of Zimbabwe without a concurrent effort to win support in the AU, but warned that the Security Council needed to be "careful" about doing so. SADC has yet to officially ask the AU to intervene in the Zimbabwe issue, even though it is clear from the planned presence of AU observers that the AU wants the Presidential run-off election to go well. To win African buy-in, the UN should work collaboratively with the AU and, if at all possible win SADC's support as well, he said. (Comment: While Zakane advocated that the UN engage SADC on Zimbabwe, he also acknowledged that key SADC member-country South Africa had not been helpful on Zimbabwe. While recalling hearing OUAGADOUGO 00000514 002 OF 002 radio reports from June 11 that South African President Thabo Mbeki had admitted "mistakes" in its recent policies toward South Africa (and also implying that some positive adjustments might be possible), Zakane felt that SADC was unlikely to substantively address the Zimbabwe issue in the coming days. End Comment.) ¶6. (C) To reinforce his point about the need for AU support, Zakane recalled that South Africa, during its one-month rotating Presidency of the UN Security Council, had won the adoption of a March 17, 2008 communique indicating that the United Nations needed to work cooperatively with regional bodies, particularly on issues related to security and peacekeeping. He said that, whatever the UNSC initiative on Zimbabwe, it needed political legitimacy. To win the "adhesion" of Africans, and overcome their "reticence," the UNSC and AU "needed to work together," he emphasized. ¶7. (C) As a second example to make his point, Zakane cited what he described as the European Union's failed approach on Zimbabwe - an issue that "divided European and African countries." He suggested that the (December 8-9, 2007) EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon had been controversial, with several African countries threatening not to attend if Zimbabwe were not invited (and if Zimbabwe itself became a focus instead of relations between the two continents). Instead, Zakane advocated, the EU should have worked first collaboratively with the AU to come to a "common vision regarding Zimbabwe." Calling on United States to "Prepare the Terrain" for More Activist Burkina Faso -------------- -------------- ¶8. (C) In summarizing, Zakane stated that Burkina Faso -- in both the UNSC and AU Peace and Security Council-- found itself at an "intermediary echelon" (hinting perhaps that he considered Burkina Faso to be a weaker, second tier player). He specifically requested the help of the United States to "prepare the terrain" for Burkina Faso by convincing South Africa to be more forthcoming on Zimbabwe. While not stating clearly that Burkina Faso would not vote in favor of a formal UNSC meeting on Zimbabwe, he said that we needed to try to convince South Africa and Libya to vote in favor of the meeting as well. If at least two of three African UNSC member-countries - and preferably all three - voted in favor of the meeting, then other African countries would follow in supporting it, he said. ¶9. (C) DCM called Zakane back after the meeting to give him a heads up that Ambassador would be seeking an appointment with President Compaore to urge Burkina Faso to take, as a Pan-African leader, the most forward leaning positions possible on Zimbabwe. When Zakane asked whether the United States would be seeking a vote on a resolution on Zimbabwe, DCM indicated that we needed nine affirmative votes and therefore sought Burkina Faso's clear vote in favor of the agenda for a formal Security Council meeting, and not just an abstention. Cabinet Director Plays Influential Role in Foreign Policy Formulation -------------- ¶10. (C) Zakane, who works concurrently as a professor of law at the University of Ouagadougou, views foreign policy issues through the eyes of a jurist. Because Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister is a gendarme (rural policeman) by background, and because the Vice Minister is more of a Compaore loyalist than intellectual, Zakane likely plays a more influential role in formulating Burkina Faso's foreign policy than his roughly number three ranking in his Ministry -- and quiet demeanor -- might suggest. While some of his comments appeared to reflect personal musings, they were interesting in revealing what, in many ways, were also representative of a typical African cautiousness to issues affecting the continent. ¶11. (C) Zakane, for example, noted that one potential difficulty with attempting to win the African Union's support for a more activist policy on Zimbabwe would be a response by the Zimbabwe Government, and possibly also South Africa, that its intervention represented a violation of the principle of non-interventions in the internal affairs of a country, and that the current situation in Zimbabwe did not represent a threat to international peace. Making his own counterargument, Zakane stated that the UN had developed in recent years a new concept of peace that could justify its intervention in a country where national instability threatened a broader regional conflagration. Referring again to reftel talking points, DCM noted that the situation in Zimbabwe was clearly already threatening stability in the region - to which Zakane agreed. Jackson