AMBASSADOR RICE MEETS WITH SENEGAL PR BADJI

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000374 C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (ADDED TAG) SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV UNGA SN SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RICE MEETS WITH SENEGAL PR BADJI ¶1. On April 7, Ambassador Rice met with Senegal's Permanent Representative to the UN Paul Badji. Badji stated he had immediately informed Dakar that the U.S. had declared its candidacy for a seat on the Human Rights Council, and he personally welcomed the renewed U.S. engagement. He noted that within the African Group, Senegal had pushed for stronger endorsement of the Responsibility to Protect and he welcomed Ambassador Rice's invitation to collaboratively pursue common interests at the United Nations. ¶2. PR Badji noted that at the UN, he was occupied with a wide variety of issues, including chairing negotiations of the modalities for the 2010 Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, heading an expert group on delineating the limits of the continental shelf as part of Law of the Seas negotiations, and chairing the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People that will shortly take up a Secretariat report on civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip. Regarding domestic concerns, he spoke about the need to initiate demobilization and reintegration for the Casamance rebels, a surge in narco-trafficking linked to regional instability, and accelerating desertification due to climate change. Rice