AMBASSADOR RICE'S INITIAL MEETING WITH LIBYAN PR

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000282 E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2019 TAGS: PREL AU LY PREF PREL UNSC SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RICE'S INITIAL MEETING WITH LIBYAN PR ABDURRAHMAN MOHAMED SHALGHAM Classified By: U.S. PERMANENT REPRESENATIVE AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE FOR REASONS 1.4 B/D ¶1. (C) Ambassador Rice met March 18 with Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgham, the Permanent Representative of Libya to the United Nations and President of the United Nations Security Council for the month of March. Shalgham informed Ambassador Rice that Colonel Qadafi plans to visit New York the week of March 23 to address the Security Council on the topic of development and Security in Africa. Qadafi also plans to visit Washington to meet with President Obama for one to two hours. Shalgham indicated that he had already informed the State Department of these plans. ¶2. (C) Ambassador Rice said she had no formal feedback on Qadafi's planned visit because this was the first official notification of the trip she had received. However, she stated that, in her personal opinion, Tripoli should carefully consider these plans. She noted that this would be Qadafi's first visit to the US, which may require more planning and preparation than is possible in one week. She mentioned that, typically, the President would issue an invitation to a head of state, requesting a visit to Washington. Careful coordination and sequencing would typically follow such an invitation. She also said that Qadafi's visit could attract significant protests from members of the NGO community concerned over Libya's relationship with Sudan as well as those who lost loved ones in the Lockerbie bombing. Shalgham agreed that a trip to Washington should be in response to an invitation from President Obama, but noted that the trip to New York is different He stressed that he wants Qadafi's trip to be successful. ¶3. (C) Regarding Shalgham's expressed desire to enhance bilateral relations with the US, Ambassador Rice said that the spirit of improved relations between Washington and Tripoli had not yet reached the Security Council. Shalgham said that Gaddafi has spoken to Bashir about Darfur, and that Tripoli has been trying to convince Sudan to rethink. MINIMIZE CONSIDERED Rice