FORMIN FAKI SAYS CHAD ACTING RESPONSIBLY ON JEM,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NDJAMENA 000399 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR AF/C AND S/USSES NSC FOR GAVIN LONDON FOR POL - LORD PARIS FOR POL - BAIN AND KANEDA ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR AU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PREF SU PHUM LY QA CD SUBJECT: FORMIN FAKI SAYS CHAD ACTING RESPONSIBLY ON JEM, CHAD-SUDAN, NATIONAL RECONCILIATION, AND CHILD SOLDIERS REF: A. NDJAMENA 362 ¶B. NDJAMENA 355 ¶C. NDJAMENA 353 ¶D. NDJAMENA 311 ¶E. NDJAMENA 306 ¶F. NDJAMENA 283 NDJAMENA 00000399 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (U) ACTION MESSAGE: This is an action message: See para ¶8. -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Chad FORMIN Faki told Ambassador September 16 that he was looking forward to representing Chad as Head of Delegation at the UNGA and afterwards in Washington. Faki said that Chad had continued to implement a coherent policy regarding JEM, normalization of Chad-Sudan relations, and reconciliation with Chad rebels, including child soldiers. Chad had continued to act in good faith with its friends in the international community as well as in Chad's own best interests. The GoC had: Continued to press JEM to reach a political solution in Darfur because "no military solution was possible;" been talking to Sudan bilaterally on normalizing relations, welcomed the idea of a Sudanese delegation to Chad and bilateral meetings at UNGA and was willing to go to Khartoum for the next meeting of the Dakar Accord Contact Group; continued to welcome defectors from Chad rebel groups and former opposition leaders back to Chad (he cited Soubiane and Goukouni); and was working increasingly closely with UNICEF with the goal of eliminating child soldiers on Chadian soil. Faki said he looked forward to talking to USG representatives in NY and that he would be happy to consider meetings in the Department after his UNGA duties were finished. -------------- CHAD-JEM -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Faki said the GOC had continued to tell JEM that there was "no possible military solution" to the Darfur crisis, and to press Khalil Ibrahim to negotiate seriously and rationally on all key issues, including sequencing prisoner-release until after a cease-fire and giving up its pretensions to be the "only actor" representing Darfur (Ref E). Faki said that the GOC had "pressured" JEM to go to Libya and work closely with Libyan mediators, as well as with SE Gration's efforts. -------------- CHAD-SUDAN -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Faki said that Chad remained open to nearly all efforts to normalize its relations with Sudan. Most recently Faki had discussed bilateral relations in Libya September 1 with Razi Saladdin, who had protested Sudanese good faith in seeking rapprochement with Chad. Faki had told Razi that Chad still had its doubts and that "the ball was still in Sudan's court" regarding concrete steps toward a rapprochement: Sudan to stop supporting Chad rebels, canton them, and permit any who wished to return to Chad to do so. Faki said that President Deby had agreed in Tripoli to a Sudanese proposal to send a Razi-led delegation to N'Djamena and that, despite that delegation never materializing, Faki himself had agreed to meet with Razi in NY during the UNGA. Faki said Chad welcomed the apparent decision of the Dakar Accord Contact Group co-chairs Congo B and Libya to re-launch efforts to implement the accord, and Faki was willing to Khartoum, where the next Contact Group meeting should be held (Refs D and F). ¶5. (SBU) The only things Chad would not/not do regarding Sudan were: (A) Agree to a Bachir-Deby summit before/before Chad-Sudan relations were fully normalized and guaranteed by mediating powers; and (B) Renounce its position on the ICC's indictment of Bachir. The former would hand Sudan a media and diplomatic victory with no quid-pro-quo for Chad and the latter would violate Chad's adherence to the ICC and its NDJAMENA 00000399 002.2 OF 002 values. Apart from those conditions, Chad was willing to discuss anything and everything regarding Chad-Sudan relations. -------------- CHAD REBELS AND NATIONAL RECONCILIATION -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Faki said that the Chad rebel situation seemed to be "calming down," with the defection of Ahmat Soubiane from rebel ranks and the return to Chad of ex-President Goukouni Oueddei marking significant progress (Refs B, C, and E). Faki said that many rebels had defected individually and in groups, and that Sudan had forcibly prevented the defection August 30-31 of a large group of Mahamat Nouri's fighters, and may have killed some of them. Faki noted renewed GOC efforts to eliminate child soldiers on Chadian soil and increased cooperation with UNICEF on this issue (Ref A). -------------- FAKI IN DC -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Faki said he looked forward to talking to USG representatives in NY and that he would be happy to consider meetings in the Department after his UNGA duties were finished. In DC he said he would participate in the Congo Basin Forest meeting on the Hill and that he would dedicate the new Chadian Embassy towards the end of this month. -------------- ACTION REQUEST -------------- ¶8. (SBU) That the Department consider meetings in DC as well as in NY for Faki, and that USG goals in all such meetings reflect the totality of our interests in Chad and the region. (We do not suggest that Faki ought to see the ame USG officials he saw in July, but that some consideration of other useful meetings for him would be a good idea.) ¶9. (U) Minimize considered. NIGRO