ITALY: THE WAY FORWARD ON UNMEE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000924 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2018 TAGS: PREL UNSC KPKO PBTS ET ER IT SUBJECT: ITALY: THE WAY FORWARD ON UNMEE REF: STATE 79539 Classified By: A/Pol M/C Gabriel Escobar for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered reftel demarche to MFA East Africa Office Director Mario Sammartino July 25. Sammartino said Italy was largely in agreement with U.S. thinking on the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). UNMEE's mandate must be terminated, he said, given the lack of agreement by either party for it to remain on the ground, and it was appropriate to ask the UNSYG to use his good offices to explore a fruitful future UN role in promoting normalized relations and implementation of the Algiers Agreements. ¶2. (C) Sammartino, who had just received a copy of the Belgian draft UNSCR on UNMEE, said Italy was concerned about PP3, which he said drew a parallel between Eritrea's violation of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) and Ethiopia's refusal to accept the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation and demarcation of the border. He thought it was inaccurate to suggest that breach of the TSZ, which was always intended to be temporary and which according to the EEBC's ruling lies within Eritrean territory, was equal in gravity to Ethiopia's refusal to accept the binding EEBC ruling. Sammartino thought that such language was likely to inflame Eritrea and produce uncooperative behavior, and should be dropped from the resolution. ¶3. (C) Sammartino also said Italy was perplexed by the suggestion that the UN should consider establishing a follow-on presence in only the territory of one of the parties. He asked what purpose such a presence would serve, and more problematically, whose interpretation of the border it would recognize. Better to have no UN presence than one that was present on only one side. Sammartino thought that a better solution might be the establishment of a small UN political liaison office in Asmara and Addis Ababa, a compromise to which he thought both sides might agree. MINIMIZE CONSIDERED - TRIPOLI SPOGLI