GABON: CHAD-SUDAN PEACE PROCESS WAY OFF TRACK

S E C R E T LIBREVILLE 000057 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SU CD CF GB SUBJECT: GABON: CHAD-SUDAN PEACE PROCESS WAY OFF TRACK REF: STATE 08780 Classified By: Poloff Leslie Doumbia for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). (C) Chad and Sudan will not likely engage in further talks anytime soon, according to Gabonese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Legal Advisor Michel Biang. Biang told Poloff February 11 that in Gabon's view the efforts of the Dakar Contact Group are at best on hold. Biang cited the scathing remarks delivered by the head of the Chadian delegation at the recent African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa. Biang said that in Gabon's view the Chadians are serious when they say that further talk with Sudan are pointless. Biang also noted Sudan's lack of response to reconciliation efforts, suggesting they are preoccupied by the International Criminal Court's impending arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir. COMMENT: Both Gabonese President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba and Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) President Denis Sassou Nguesso are currently in Morocco, where Bongo's wife Edith Bongo is either dead or gravely ill. Edith Bongo is also the daughter of President Sassou Nguesso. Major governmental initiatives in GABON are currently on hold, including any effort to reinvigorate the Dakar Contact Group process. END COMMENT. REDDICK