SOMALIA/UN: P3 FAVOR CONTINUED ASSESSED SUPPORT TO

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000452 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR USUN/W, L, IO, PM, AF E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR KPKO UNSC SO SUBJECT: SOMALIA/UN: P3 FAVOR CONTINUED ASSESSED SUPPORT TO AMISOM REF: A. SENIOR-KHAMBATTA EMAIL 4/30 ¶B. USUN 443 ¶1. (SBU) 1. The UK convened a second round of P3 negotiations on their draft Somalia resolution on May 1. As at the previous meeting, POLOFF did not offer substantive suggestions, but asked the UK and France to be patient with USG decisionmaking and to preserve flexibility in the text in preparation for U.S. edits in coming days. Discussion centered on French proposals on the text (ref A). ¶2. (SBU) POLOFF asked the P3 what their budgetary experts thought of the draft resolution. The UK and France explained that, to their lawyers, the precedent is the same as UNSCR 1863, and that they do not see it as problematic. They are not troubled by the distinction between UN support to a UNPKO and UN support to a non-UN operation. For them, the core issue is that assessments to support AMISOM under UNSCR 1863 (or the UK draft resolution) will be levied by the General Assembly in response to an explicit request of the Security Council. In their view, a Security Council mandate for another non-UN operation would not allow the GA to issue an assessment unless the resolution contained a similar, explicit UNSC request for the Secretary-General to provide UN support. Because an affirmative decision of the Security Council would be needed to make use of the precedent established by UNSCR 1863, the UK and France do not believe it threatens their long-term equities as major UN contributors. Rice