VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHFR #1669 3431614
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 091614Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7798
INFO RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA IMMEDIATE 1962
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON IMMEDIATE 7305
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 1768

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 001669 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/09/2019 
TAGS: KPKP KPKO UNSC PREL CG FR
SUBJECT: MONUC RENEWAL:  FRENCH STILL PREFER 6-MONTH 
EXTENSION 
 
REF: A. STATE 125749 
     ¶B. KANEDA-LAMORA E-MAIL OF 12/04/2009 
 
Classified By: Andrew Young, Political Counselor, 1.4 (b/d). 
 
¶1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  The French continue to prefer a 6-month 
extension of the MONUC mandate and do not think either a 
12-month mandate with an initial 4-month review process or a 
4-month mandate to be followed by a 12-month mandate are 
practical.  The French are willing to continue discussion of 
this in New York but this is their position "at this moment" 
in response to ref A.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (C) MFA DRC desk officer Frank Marchetti said on November 
9, after we had earlier discussed with him the USG's reasons 
for supporting a 12-month extension (ref B), that the GOF 
still preferred a 6-month mandate renewal for MONUC. 
Marchetti said that he had discussed the matter with his IO 
counterpart Jeanne Simon since our communication earlier on 
November 9 and that his response was "our position at this 
time," as he understood that Washington needed a French 
response as soon as possible, even if only initial.  He 
reminded that discussions were on-going in New York and that 
France could provide further comment there. 
 
3,.  (C)  Marchetti first noted that France, the UK, Russia, 
and China (i.e., all of the P-5's members except the U.S.), 
the UN SYG, and the DRC favored a 6-month extension.  French 
reasoning remained as stated ref B.  He said that a 12-month 
mandate with a review taking place after four months, as the 
U.S. offered in ref A, could pose other problems.  First, 
Kabila would have from the end of April until June 30 to 
exploit politically whatever the review process yielded. 
Kabila could make more out of this, depending on what the 
review process recommended, than he might if the UNSC were to 
let the mandate expire on June 30 and simultaneously 
implement a new one at that time in the context of a 6-month 
mandate.  He also said that the 12-month mandate that would 
incorporate an initial review process of four months would 
have to be drafted in such a way as to contain options on how 
the last nine months of the mandate would be implemented as a 
function of the result of the review process.  Marchetti 
thought it could be difficult to draft such a resolution. 
 
¶4.  (C)  Marchetti was not receptive to the idea of a 4-month 
mandate followed by a 12-month mandate.  He deemed the 
4-month mandate as too short and he thought it could raise 
difficult questions as to why it was so short, even if it 
contained a commitment to follow it with a 12-month mandate. 
He understood the reasons why the USG wanted to avoid having 
the MONUC mandate expire at the end of June 2010 when the DRC 
would be celebrating its independence, and he understood that 
Kabila would like to take political advantage of that 
"historical accident."  But he said that that was what it was 
-- a coincidental historical accident that would gain meaning 
if we tried to contort the mandate to avoid it, which is what 
he said might happen if we agreed to a 12-month mandate with 
a 4-month review process and even more so if we agreed on a 
4-month mandate followed by a 12-month mandate. 
 
¶5.  (C)  Marchetti mused that perhaps a way out would be to 
announce in January in the context of a 6-month mandate that 
it would be followed by a 12-month mandate that would take 
into account lessons learned during the 6-month mandate.  He 
said, however, that that was not an official GOF proposal, 
merely food for thought.  He said that the GOF would continue 
to ponder the issue of the length of the mandate, he 
expressed appreciation for the USG's willingness to share its 
ideas even if they were not immediately appealing, and he 
indicated that the GOF had no objection if further discussion 
took place in New York. 
 
. 
RIVKIN