Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ADDISABABA266
2009-02-02 17:08:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Addis Ababa
Cable title:  

AU SUMMIT: AF ACTING A/S CARTER MEETS WITH AU

Tags:  PREL AU XA SU CD 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000266 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/SPG, AF/E, AF/W, AF/S, AND AF/C

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2019
TAGS: PREL AU XA SU CD
SUBJECT: AU SUMMIT: AF ACTING A/S CARTER MEETS WITH AU
COMMISSIONER JEAN PING

Classified By: Ambassador Donald Yamamoto, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000266

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/SPG, AF/E, AF/W, AF/S, AND AF/C

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2019
TAGS: PREL AU XA SU CD
SUBJECT: AU SUMMIT: AF ACTING A/S CARTER MEETS WITH AU
COMMISSIONER JEAN PING

Classified By: Ambassador Donald Yamamoto, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: At a January 31 meeting on the margins of
the African Union Summit, African Union Commission
Chairperson Jean Ping and Acting A/S for African Affairs
Phillip Carter exchanged views about the major political
crises in Africa. They agreed that the international
community must remain unified in its call for the
restoration of constitutional order in Mauritania and
Guinea. They shared the view that there has been
unprecedented military cooperation between the DRC and
Rwanda and that this has given hope for stability in the
DRC, although political dialogue is still needed. Donor
support for AMISOM, the election of a new president, and
gains by moderate Islamist forces give reason for some
optimism in Somalia. There was a divergence of views on
Sudan, with Ping advocating deferral of the International
Criminal Court's investigation of President Bashir to give
the Sudanese government more time to cooperate with the
AU,s newly appointed high-level panel charged with finding
a Sudanese mechanism for judging individuals accused of
genocide. Likewise, Ping wants to give Zimbabwe's
political rivals six months to implement their shared-power
agreement. End Summary.


2. (C) Mauritania and Guinea: Carter thanked the AU for
taking a principled stand against the coups d'etat in
Mauritania and Guinea. He said coups can spread to other
African states like a virus. Ping was grateful to the USG
for being the only Western partner to maintain its
unwavering position against coups. The USG stands on its
principles while the EU puts its interests first, he said.
The AU Commission knew the coup in Mauritania could spawn
coups elsewhere in Africa, such as the one in Guinea and
the attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau. "It is a very bad
precedent," Ping said, warning that Africa was heading
"back to the era of coups d,etat." Both sides lamented
Senegal,s recognition of the coup leaders and pledged to
continue working together, and with the rest of the
international community, to pressure the junta into
agreeing to hold elections and cede power quickly.


3. (C) Carter offered a bleak assessment of the Guinean
junta. They are "hoodlums" who are associated with drug
traffickers. Even under the late President Conte, Guinea
was "on the road to becoming a narco-state," Carter said.
The new Finance Minister is a captain who is barely
numerate. Guinea has missed its World Bank payments since
the junta took over. Despite these negative trends, the AU
and ECOWAS can help Guinea hold credible elections and
create an effective legislature, and Guinean civil society
also needs to take a leadership role, Carter added. Ping
reported that the AU had decided to create a consultative
group of regional and international partners to address the
Guinean problem. That group will hold its first meeting on
February 16 in Conakry.


4. (C) DRC: Carter and Ping briefly reviewed the various
diplomatic efforts to stabilize the political situation in
the DRC, including Ping's own meetings with DRC and Rwandan
leaders, but also the interventions of AU and UN mediators
Mkapa and Obasanjo. The recent military collaboration
between Rwanda and the DRC was noteworthy in that some in
the region did not believe it could happen. Carter and
Ping agreed that the political process needed to be
encouraged in Eastern Congo. A cessation of military
hostilities will create the security environment that will
permit a political dialogue, Carter said. Ping saw that
this could have a stabilizing effect on neighboring
Burundi.


5. (C) Somalia: Ping thanked the USG for its support of
AMISOM. Without donor contributions to AMISOM, Somalia
will collapse, he warned. Thus far, donor pledges have
reassured Troop Contributing Countries Burundi and Uganda.
Nigeria could send up to three battalions, but it needs
financial assistance and it wants one of its commanders to
head AMISOM. Ping has approached both Ghana and Burkina
Faso about contributing troops. Ghana,s new president
appears to be more interested than his predecessor. Ping
urged Burkina Faso to consider sending one of the three
battalions destined to deploy in Darfur to AMISOM instead,

ADDIS ABAB 00000266 002 OF 003


although he recognized that UNAMID pays better. Ethiopia's
withdrawal from Somalia has helped persuade the Arab League
and individual Arab states, including Egypt and Yemen, to
contribute to AMISOM and the 10,000-man joint TFG/ARS
security forces, Ping noted. Algeria has agreed to provide
airlift to Burundian and Ugandan troops in February. Ping
and Carter agreed that the advent of moderate Islamists,
such as newly elected Somali President Sheikh Sharif, was
cause for optimism.


6. (C) Sudan: There was a divergence of views on
resolving the crisis in Sudan. Ping began by reporting
that the AU's Executive Committee (ministerial-level body)
had taken a firm stand against the International Criminal
Court,s Darfur investigation at the conclusion of its
January 30 session. For the AU, the ICC's pursuit of
Sudanese President Bashir illustrates the Court,s bias
against Africa. "It is very difficult to accept that all
these things are targeting only Africans," Ping said. "We
should fight impunity. Absolutely." The AU, however,
insists that the Sudanese themselves should prosecute and
judge fellow Sudanese accused of genocide, Ping added. To
promote this approach with the Sudanese, the AU has created
a high-level panel headed by former South African President
Thabo Mbeki, and it is asking for a one-year deferral of
the anticipated ICC arrest warrant against President Bashir
to give peace a chance. If the ICC issues its arrest
warrant, "you can forget everything," including Government
of Sudan cooperation with the UNAMID deployment and peace
talks, Ping said, throwing up his hands. He raised the
spectre of terror groups returning to Sudan. Both Carter
and Ping have urged the GOS not to overreact to the ICC
warrant as that will only complicate the situation.


7. (C) Carter told Ping that the USG does not support a
deferral of the ICC,s pending arrest warrant. Since the
indictment was announced last July, the GOS has done very
little, despite USG pressure on the government, Carter
said. There is no reason to believe the GOS will cooperate
with the international community if the ICC decision is
deferred. "They have had one, two, three, 100 chances to
do the right thing," Carter said. The GOS is at least in
part to blame for the UNAMID deployment falling behind
schedule.


8. (C) Zimbabwe: Sudan, like Zimbabwe, does not present
attractive options, Ping said. "We know Mugabe should go,"
he confided. Some AU member states would even support a
military option to remove Mugabe from power. But he
cautioned that the military option in another country, the
DRC, has left 5 million dead over 15 years, and there is
still no change. "Mugabe will fight. It,s a similar
situation to Congo." Ping predicted that trying to force
out Mugabe by force would ignite a fire in the region,
which is why the AU prefers to give Zimbabweans six more
months to try to resolve their crisis. Carter said the USG
sees the crisis in Zimbabwe differently. The Southern
African Development Community has not exhibited effective
leadership nor was former South African president Thabo
Mbeki an effective mediator. Ping agreed fully with
Carter's views. With last week,s agreement between
Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai,s MDC, the focus shifts
from Pretoria (and SADC,s role as mediator) to Harare where
all parties will be held accountable. The international
community, the UN, and SADC need to remain vigilant, Carter
said.


9. (C) Tsvangirai should be given the opportunity to
demonstrate to Zimbabweans his capability to govern, Ping
said. If after six months there is no change, then it will
be clear to the South Africans, as the influential leaders
of SADC, that another approach must be taken, he added.
Carter said he was not convinced that Mugabe would let
Tsvangirai govern.


10. (C) AU Presidency: Carter inquired about who Ping
thought the next AU President would be. Ping offered four
scenarios: (1) It is North Africa's turn and Libya's
Qadhafi has been mentioned, but he is reportedly reuctant
to accept it; (2) Another North African country is a
possibility, but the Egyptian and Tunisian presidents do
not attend AU Summits, the Algerian president is

ADDIS ABAB 00000266 003 OF 003


preoccupied with re-election, and Mauritania has been
suspended from the AU after the coup there; (3) The
incumbent AU President Kikwete could agree to serve another
one-year term, but when Qadhafi asked him, he reportedly
refused as he, too, is preoccupied with elections in
Tanzania; (4) The presidency rotates next to southern
Africa, and Lesotho has been rumored to be interested. The
AU heads of state will hold an election on February 2.


11. (C) COMMENT: The meeting ended with Ping asserting
that Africa "is readier than ever to cooperate" with the
United States. However, Ping's tone and tenor reflected a
sense of defensiveness towards Western approaches to
Africa's troubles. His frustration, even pique, towards
Europe and the EU were palpable. What was also apparent is
Ping's apparent unwillingness to take a greater leadership
role for himself on many of these matters, leaving much of
the heavy lifting and political cover to the AU's Peace and
Security Commission. END COMMENT.


12. (U) Acting A/S Carter approved this message before
departing Addis.

YAMAMOTO