UN/SUDAN SANCTIONS: FRENCH REACTION TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000486 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/02/2018 TAGS: PREL UNSC ETTC SU EFIN KTFN PTER SUBJECT: UN/SUDAN SANCTIONS: FRENCH REACTION TO USG-PROPOSED DESIGNATIONS REF: STATE 56630 Classified By: MINISTER COUNSELOR JEFFREY DELAURENTIS, FOR REASONS: 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) USUN met with UK and French counterparts on June 1 to discuss their positions on reftel US proposal to seek sanctions in the Sudan Sanctions Committee on Khalil Ibrahim, Daoussa Deby Itno, Ahmad Muhammed Harun, and Awad Ibn Auf. According to UK PolOff David Whineray, London will support our proposed approach. However French PolOff Clement LeClerc received explicit instructions from Paris not to support sanctions on Daoussa Deby Itno, which Paris argues will erode the Government of Chad's willingness to cooperate with the EUFOR mission there and stymie further GOC cooperation on a follow-on UN-led mission in 2009. Paris also suggested that sanctioning Deby--the most senior official of any of the proposed or currently sanctioned parties--would signal greater Security Council concern with Chad than with Sudan. The French argue that Chad has been making meaningful efforts at dialogue with the political opposition and armed groups. Paris did not have major concerns with the other three proposed names, but stressed that any new sanctions should still target both GOS and rebels. Paris also has information indicating Awad Ibn Auf is no longer Sudan's head of Military Intelligence and Security, and the position is now held by General Mahjoub Abdallah. ¶2. (C) LeClerc further indicated Paris's willingness to pursue sanctions on Chadian rebels, specifically Mahamat Nouri (UFDD-F),Abdelwahid Aboud Mackaye (UFDD-F),Timane Erdimi (RFC),and Tom Erdimi (RFC),for their roles in the attack on N'Djamena in February 2008, and on JEM members Gibril Ibrahim (whom Paris described as JEM's silent second-in-command),and Ali al Hajj Mohamed (JEM financier). ¶3. (C) Russian PolOff Andrei Demin indicated on June 1 that Moscow had concerns about one of our proposed GOS names (but did not specify which one),but would not obstruct our efforts to sanction any of the four. USUN will report Chinese reaction septel once received. Khalilzad