AMBASSADOR RICE MEETS WITH NEW HEAD OF CAR MISSION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000631

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV CT ZX
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RICE MEETS WITH NEW HEAD OF CAR MISSION

Classified By: POL M/C JDelaurentis for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: On June 23, Ambassador Rice met with the new
Secretary-General Special Representative for the Central
African Republic Sahle-Work Zewde. Zewde noted that CAR
President Bozizie recently told visiting Under-Secretary for
Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe that his primary concern was
demobilization of the rebel forces, giving Pascoe the
impression that the CARG is not devoting sufficient attention
to mobilizing national resources for basic social services or
expanding the government's reach outside of Bangui and its
environs. Commenting from her previous position as Ethiopian
Ambassador to the African Union, Zewde expressed concern that
the AU Chair, Libya, was ignoring the African Union
Constitution in insisting that all AU Peace and Security
Council decisions be approved by the African Union Assembly.
Zewde noted that Libya also seemed reluctant to permit AU
censure of Mauritania, Madagascar, and Niger for violations
of constitutional order. END SUMMARY


2. (U) The newly appointed Secretary-General's Special
Representative for the Central African Republic (SRSG)
Sahle-Work Zewde met with Ambassador Rice on June 23 prior to
departing to Bangui to take up her post as head of the UN
Peacebuilding Support Office in CAR (BONUCA). Zewde is only
the second woman to become a SRSG, and is also the second
SRSG to take charge of a UN political mission that will
transition into an integrated peacebuilding mission (the
first integrated peacebuilding mission is UNIPSIL in Sierra
Leone).


3. (U) Zewde noted that the transition from BONUCA to the new
Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Central African Republic
(BINUCA) would at best occur on schedule on January 1, 2010,
and as a practical matter could not be accelerated as
suggested by some Security Council and Peacebuilding
Commission members. BINUCA would have a substantial
personnel increase, corresponding to its revised and
broadened mandate of assisting CAR with demobilization,
elections, and other recommendations from the national
Inclusive Political Dialogue. While Zewde was not yet at
post, she listed several issues of concern raised during her
consultations in New York.


4. (C) First, Zewde expressed concern over the death of Gabon
President Bongo as the loss of a diplomatic intermediary who
had led Bozizie and rebel leaders to rapprochment. It was
not yet clear who in the region might have both sufficient
stature and democratic credentials and be willing to step in
to fulfill Bongo's role. Second, Zewde commented that the
disarmament-demobilization-reintegration (DDR) process in CAR
needed more coordination from the UN and pushback against the
inevitable attempts by rebel factions to inflate the list of
ex-combatants registered for demobilization.


5. (C) Zewde noted some questions on whether MINURCAT's
presence in Northeastern CAR was complicating BONUCA's work
with the national government and rebel factions. Finally, in
response to Ambassador Rice's question about whether the
national government was devoting sufficient attention and
resources to boosting revenue from natural resources and
re-establishing basic social services, Zewde referred to
Under-Secretary Pascoe's recent visit to Bangui. Pascoe,
Zewde said, had been alarmed by Bozizie's statement that his
priority was demobilization for the rebel groups rather than
re-establishing government function and providing basic
social services outside of Bangui.

6.(C) Zewde had recently completed her assignment as the
Ethiopian Ambassador to the African Union and offered
perspective about Libya's current AU chairmanship. Libya,
Zewde commented, was resisting AU censure of coup d'etats and
other violations of constitutional order. Within the AU,
Zewde said, Libya had referred to a "good coup d'etat" in
Mauritania, brushing aside the AU position that coups, by
definition, had to be condemned as destructive to advancing
democracy and constitutional order. Zewde saw Libya as
reluctant to censure Niger President Tandja for seeking
constitutional changes to permit additional terms, and slow
to move on the extra-constitutional removal of President
Ravalomanana in Madagascar. Finally, Zewde said, Libya had
fundamentally violated protocol and the African Union
constitution by insisting that Peace and Security Council
decisions be approved by the African Union Assembly. This
would be like the General Assembly signing off on Security
Council decisions, she noted.

7.(SBU) Ambassador Rice noted our concerns about whether the
CAR government had adequate oversight of the revenue from
natural resources and was sufficiently allocating its
resources to national development rather than relying on ODA

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and the UN presence. The Ambassador asked SRSG Zewde to keep
us informed of concrete requests for assistance, particularly
with DDR, and noted US support for BINUCA and its expanded
role in CAR.
RICE