PANAMA: JUNE 23 MEETING ON ZIMBABWE

C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000510 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2018 TAGS: PREL PHUM KDEM UNSC ZI PM SUBJECT: PANAMA: JUNE 23 MEETING ON ZIMBABWE REF: STATE 66915 Classified By: POLCOUNS Brian R. Naranjo. Reason: 1.4 (d) -------------- Panama Supports UNSC Engagement on Zimbabwe -------------- ¶1. (C) "Panama fully supports (UK PM) Gordon Brown's recent statement regarding the violence in Zimbabwe," Panamanian MFA UNSC Advisor Janio Tunon told POL Fellow on June 23. Now that the opposition had pulled out of the upcoming elections, MFA UNSC Team ExecSec Thays Noriega told POLCOUNS that it was even more important for the UNSC to take action so that Mugabe "could not be rewarded for collapsing the opposition." Panama supported a PRST on Zimbabwe, both Tunon and Noriega said, but was interested in hearing what South Africa would have to say in private before the June 23 public meeting. Panama intended to make a national statement as well, both confirmed. Noting that the Human Rights Council was in no position to deal effectively with the growing conflict in Zimbabwe, Noriega said that it was all the more critical that the UNSC act. Noriega said Panama would support making Zimbabwe an agenda item for the Council. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶2. (C) Noriega is the youngest daughter of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Antoinio Noriega, currently under preventive detention in Florida pending resolution of a French extradition request. In this case, the daughter's condemnation of Mugabe's tactics against Zimbabwe's opposition -- tactics her own father might have used -- was particularly striking. Her off the cuff remark that the HRC could not be expected to respond effectively as the UNSC might was also particularly revealing. EATON