UN/RWANDA SANCTIONS: UK, FRANCE, SOUTH AFRICA,

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000142 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/08/2018 TAGS: RW PREL UNSC PGOV ETTC SUBJECT: UN/RWANDA SANCTIONS: UK, FRANCE, SOUTH AFRICA, INDONESIA EXPRESS INTEREST IN TERMINATING SANCTIONS COMMITTEE Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER-COUNSELOR JEFF DELAURENTIS, FOR REASO NS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) GUIDANCE REQUEST: USUN seeks Department guidance on ending the mandate of the Rwanda Sanctions Committee. ¶2. (C) BACKGROUND: During an informal lunch of experts of the DRC and Rwanda Sanctions Committees hosted by the Indonesian Mission on February 6, several delegations indicated an interest in terminating the mandate of the Rwanda Sanction Committee. The Rwanda sanctions regime consists of an arms embargo on non-governmental armed groups operating in and around Rwanda. However, the Committee is, for all practical purposes, inactive; there is no experts group to provide information on arms flows to the non-governmental groups, nor any notification requirement of any kind. (Resolution 1749 (2007) terminated the requirement that states notify the Committee of shipments of arms to the GOR.) The UK, France, and South Africa noted their delegations' interest in shutting down the Committee in the near future, given the vastly improved security situation in Rwanda since the sanctions regime was created in 1994. Indonesia, which chairs the Rwanda Committee (and the DRC Committee),also favors closing the Committee. WOLFF