VZCZCXRO4286
RR RUEHMR RUEHPA
DE RUEHKI #0586/01 1051434
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 151434Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3667
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1061

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000586 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/15/2016 
TAGS: PREL PINR UNSC ASEC AU CF
SUBJECT: CONGO/BRAZZAVILLE:  ASSISTANT SECRETARY JENDAYI 
FRAZER'S MEETING WITH REPUBLIC OF CONGO PRESIDENT AND 
AFRICAN UNION CHAIRMAN DENIS SASSOU-NGUESSO 
 
REF: A. KINSHASA 00499 
     ¶B. KINSHASA 00350 
     ¶C. KINSHASA 00015 
 
Classified By: CDA Mark J. Biedlingmaier, Reasons 1.4(B)(D) 
 
¶1. (C)  Summary:  Assistant Secretary Frazer met with 
President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and Foreign Minister Rodolphe 
Adada for a tour d'horizon of African Union issues on April 3 
immediately prior to Sassou's departure for a four-nation 
tour to Senegal, Nigeria, Benin and Ivory Coast.  Dr. Frazer 
congratulated Sassou-Nguesso on the recent World Bank 
decision to grant HIPC debt relief to the Republic of Congo 
and noted that difficult steps remain before Completion Point 
could be achieved.  She encouraged his efforts, as Chairman 
of the African Union, to mediate conflict situations in 
Darfur and Abidjan, and to endorse the participation of both 
UN and NATO forces in the AMIS re-hatting exercise. 
Sassou-Nguesso offered his views on Arab League support in 
the Darfur region and shared a cautious assessment of the 
Democratic Republic of Congo electoral process following two 
recent meetings with President Kabila.  Sassou-Nguesso 
welcomed an opportunity to visit Washington, prior to the 
June 28 - July 2 Banjul Summit 
to discuss Darfur and his AU mandate with President Bush and 
Secretary Rice.  End Summary. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
¶2. (U)  During a brief visit to Brazzaville, Republic of 
Congo, Assistant Secretary Jendayi Frazer met with ROC 
President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Minister of Foreign Affairs 
Rodolphe Adada and Ambassador Martin Adouki, Foreign Policy 
Advisor to the President, to discuss a broad range of African 
Union and regional issues.  Sassou-Nguesso delayed his 
departure for Dakar, Senegal, by several hours to accommodate 
this April 3 meeting with Dr. Frazer.  Dr. Frazer was 
accompanied by Charge d'affaires Mark Biedlingmaier, Special 
Assistant Kendra Gaither, and Pol/FSN Brice Biabaro. 
 
¶3. (C)  Dr. Frazer opened the meeting by offering good wishes 
from President Bush and  congratulated Republic of Congo on 
successful achievement of HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor 
Countries Initiative) by the World Bank and International 
Monetary Fund.  Sassou-Nguesso stated that Congo had to thank 
its many friends for this accomplishment, but added that 
postponing Completion Point to the year 2008 could prove 
risky and perhaps would allow too much time to make mistakes 
in the process.  He noted satisfaction in discussions held 
with a visiting IMF team, March 22 - April 3, on the second 
review under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) 
arrangement.  Sassou-Nguesso stated that the Republic of 
Congo was under great pressure and that it would make a "best 
effort" to strengthen good governance, reach international 
standards in the transparent use of Congo's natural 
resources, and establish a consultative committee under the 
Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) to oversee 
oil-related transact 
ions. 
 
¶4. (C)  Turning to ROC's participation on the United Nations 
Security Council (UNSC), Frazer complimented Sassou-Nguesso 
on the excellent cooperation received to date from the Congo 
Permament Representative based in New York. The President 
replied that he had had extended conversations with the 
PermRep, Ambassador Basile Ikouebe, during the visit of UN 
Secretary General Kofi Annan to Brazzaville, March 19-21, and 
 
SIPDIS 
took this opportunity to map-out a strategy on several 
critical issues, e.g., Darfur, Ivory Coast, and the 
anticipated June elections in Democratic Republic of Congo. 
 
¶5. (C)  Dr. Frazer stated that, following meetings in 
Kinshasa the preceeding day, she was concerned by reports 
that the DRC election might be postponed beyond the current 
June 18 date.  Sassou-Nguesso, who had met privately with 
Joseph Kabila on March 31, noted that DRC Vice President 
Azarias Ruberwa had decided to register for the elections, 
while UPADS representative, Etienne Tshisekedi, had declined 
to do so.  He added that, although the security situation had 
improved since 2003, difficulties remained in the Kivu, 
Katanga and Ituri regions, and that negotiations with the LRA 
(La Resistance Seigneur) on the Uganda border would need to 
continue in full force.  In response to Sassou-Nguesso's 
query as to whether it was a good sign or bad sign that 
Tshisekedi had decided not to register for the elections, 
 
SIPDIS 
Frazer replied that it was a bad sign, however, he should not 
be allowed to be as a "spoiler" to the overall process. 
Sassou-Nguesso concurred and likened Saketti to a "small 
pebble (irritant) in one's sho 
e." 
 
KINSHASA 00000586  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6. (C)  Dr. Frazer praised the strong engagement of Foreign 
Minister Adada to resolve the Sudan/Darfur crisis, noting in 
particular passage of the AU Peace and Security Council 
decision of March 10 and UNSC Resolution 1663 of March 24. 
Sassou-Nguesso replied that the Government of Sudan maintains 
that a UN presence in Darfur is unnecessary and lobbied 
forcefully for Arab League support of AMIS to thwart the 
March 24 decision endosing rehatting of the troops.  Frazer 
noted that the UN is already present in the South, East and 
other transition areas, and that AU and NATO teams worked 
constructively in 2005 on strategic airlift support, 
planning, training, intelligence  and other forms of 
assistance.  She added that Sassou-Nguesso, as Chairman  of 
the African Union, should work with Salim and others to 
advance the peace plan and that President Bush wished to move 
quickly on humanitarian aid and efforts to strengthen AMIS 
troops with NATO assets. 
 
¶7. (C)  Sassou-Nguesso explained that the AU has been totally 
preoccupied with the Chad/Sudan combat frontier and that in 
his meeting with Qadhafi in Tripoli, the warring parties 
agreed not to destabilize the region.  He added that the 
Republic of Congo had already sent twelve advisors to the 
border region and that he would propose to Qadhafi, during a 
meeting scheduled later that day in Dakar, deploying an 
observer contingent to the area.  Sassou-Nguesso stated that, 
in recent telephone contacts with Bashir and Qadhafi, Bashir 
(and the Sudanese Parliament) expressed strong disagreement 
to the presence of UN troops in Darfur.  Bashir was 
apparently encouraged by the Arab League in Khartoum to 
accept a USD $150 million contribution to AU operations in 
Darfur; however, Sassou-Nguesso believed that this initiative 
was a bad approach and took steps to ensure that the decision 
of the AU and UNSC would prevail.  He stressed that financial 
assistance to the AU for the next six months would be crucial 
to preclude ins 
tability prior to expiry of the AMIS mandate in Darfur. 
 
¶8. (C)  Sassou-Nguesso admitted that the intended 
intervention of the Arab League was a sensitive issue and 
that the period of transition, with deployment of 7000 
troops, should be similar to the deployment facilitated 
earlier in Burundi.  He stated that he met recently with 
members of the Sudanese opposition movement JEM (Justice and 
Equality Movement), led by Mohammed Khalil, and separately on 
March 30 with former Burundian President Pierre Boyoya, to 
discuss probable scenarios for UN troop presence under AU 
management coordinated by Peace and Security Council Chairman 
Konare.  Sassou-Nguesso advised the USG to proceed cautiously 
on NATO engagement as he believed the Arab League would 
exploit this intervention to maximum public relations value 
and thereby seek to influence fence-sitters in the region. 
He recommended that the sides take advantage of this six 
month "experimental period" to accelerate talks in Abuja with 
representatives of JEM, Bashir and Obasanjo, and to 
concentrate on humanitarian support t 
o the refugees who have been displaced during this crisis. 
 
¶9. (C)  Dr. Frazer closed the meeting by emphasizing 
President Bush's commitment to alleviating the suffering of 
the displaced refugees and his strong belief that NATO should 
assist the efforts of AMIS and UN peacekeepers in the region 
with planning, logistics, intelligence, and communication 
resources.  She explained that UN troops were spread thin 
along the southern border region and that it would be unwise 
to withdraw or redeploy assets at this time.  Sassou-Nguesso 
said he would welcome the opportunity to discuss these 
issues, and his mandate as Chairman of the African Union, 
with President Bush and Secretary Rice prior to the scheduled 
June 28 - July 2 Summit in Banjul. 
 
¶10. (U)  Brazzaville Embassy Office - Biedlingmaier 
 
 
MEECE