DEMARCHE DELIVERED: SADC HUMANITARIAN AID TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L GABORONE 000021

SIPDIS

AF/S FOR MARBURG, PELLETREAU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/08/2019
TAGS: PREL EAID SADC ZI BC
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED: SADC HUMANITARIAN AID TO
ZIMBABWE

REF: STATE 878

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Philip R. Drouin for reasons 1.4 (b) a
nd (d).


1. (SBU) On January 8, A/DCM Heather Merritt met with Mr.
Ernest Mwemutsi, Senior Finance Officer for SADC at the
organization's headquarters in Gaborone. Mwemutsi is the
"Officer in Charge" at SADC this week, as all other senior
officials are out of the country. A/DCM delivered reftel
demarche and stressed to Mwemutsi that while the USG commends
SADC for its efforts to join the USG and other donors in
providing much-needed humanitarian aid to the people of
Zimbabwe, we are concerned about the proposal to channel this
aid through the parastatal Grain Marketing Board. In order
to ensure that all humanitarian assistance remains apolitical
and well-coordinated, A/DCM urged SADC to follow the example
of member-state Botswana and channel assistance to Zimbabwe
through credible nongovernmental entities, including the Red
Cross and UN agencies. Mr. Mwemutsi offered no substantive
responsive to the demarche, but promised to brief SADC
Executive Secretary Salomao on our points at the earliest
possible opportunity. He also offered that ES Salomao is in
Harare this week "on official business" and would likely
return to the office next week. Mwemutsi would not share
details about the nature of Salomao's activities in Harare.
A/DCM also asked whether Mwemutsi could confirm rumors about
a possible SADC Extraordinary Summit to be held later this
month. He replied that to his knowledge, no summit has been
scheduled but acknowledged that such meetings often happen on
short notice "as the need arises."


2. (C) Charge d'Affaires and A/DCM also took advantage of an
impromptu meeting January 7 with Botswana Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Permanent Secretary Ambassador Samuel Otlule to
discuss this issue with the GOB. Otlule agreed
wholeheartedly that SADC assistance should not be channeled
through Zimbabwe's Grain Marketing Board. He noted that
Botswana's assistance to Zimbabwe was given through the Red
Cross and UNICEF, with the exception of one delivery of water
treatment chemicals which Botswana provided directly to the
GOZ. The GOB tried to avoid providing any of its assistance
directly to the government, but decided that water treatment
chemicals were an important public good and that clean
municipal drinking water could not easily be politicized.
Otlule was on annual leave, but promised to pass our
information to his colleagues in the MFA for follow-up with
SADC as appropriate.


3. (C) Charge and A/DCM also shared the contents of reftel
demarche with UK High Commissioner Frank Martin during a
January 7 meeting in his office in Gaborone. Martin was not
aware of SADC's plans to provide assistance to Zimbabwe via
the GMB, but agreed with the U.S. position against such a
move.


4. (C) COMMENT: It is difficult to gauge SADC's reaction to
our demarche as the more senior officials are not in country
this week and Mr. Mwemutsi was clearly out of his depth
discussing Zimbabwe policy. It is also unclear whether SADC
has truly thought through the proposed ZHDAF. A/DCM asked
Mwemutsi how the $30 million assistance program would be
funded, and he thought that some of the money would be
pledged by SADC member states, while another part may be
solicited from the donor community. Ambassador Otlule
complained that SADC frequently fails to coordinate proposals
like the ZHDAF one with member states, and he suggested that
one or two interested countries, like South Africa, could
push this kind of program through without fully consulting
all members. Post will follow up with both the GOB and SADC
on this issue, as and when key officials return from festive
season leave, and report any further developments septel.
End Comment.
DROUIN