VZCZCXRO2262
RR RUEHAT
DE RUEHGV #1170 1311040
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111040Z MAY 07
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3887
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2225
INFO RUEHZJ/HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 5299
RUEHLS/AMEMBASSY LUSAKA 0317
RUEHJL/AMEMBASSY BANJUL 0131
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 0854

UNCLAS GENEVA 001170 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IO/RHS, DRL/MLGA, L/HRR, AF/SPG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM UNHRC SU
SUBJECT: UN EXPERT GROUP ON DARFUR 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  MissionOffs met May 3 with the Office of the 
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to discuss 
follow-up to A/HRC/4/L.7, the March Human Rights Council 
consensus Darfur resolution.  The group created by that 
resolution, the UN Expert Group on Darfur, met in Geneva 
April 24-27 with the Sudanese PermRep, HRC President de Alba, 
Germany as EU President, and Romania as incoming HRC 
President. Sudanese government participation in the meetings 
was characterized by OHCHR as "constructive."  A follow-up 
meeting with a high-level Sudanese government delegation from 
Khartoum, composed of senior officials from the relevant 
government ministries as identified by the Sudanese 
government, is scheduled for May 23-25 to discuss 
implementation of the various UN resolutions on Darfur.  The 
experts group has no plans to visit Sudan.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) PolCouns and Senior Human Rights Officer met May 3 
with Christina Saunders, OHCHR staffer for Sima Samar, the 
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the 
Sudan.  The UN Expert Group on Darfur, composed of the 
Special Rapporteur (SR) on Sudan; Philip Alston, the SR on 
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Hina Jilani, 
the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on 
human rights defenders; Walter Kalin, SRSG on IDPs; Manfred 
Nowak, SR on Torture; and Yakin Erturk, SR on violence 
against women, met April 24-27.  Radhika Coomarswamy, the 
SRSG for children and armed conflict, is also a member of the 
group, but was unable to attend the April meetings. 
According to Saunders, the group started its work by 
reviewing all previous recommendations on Darfur, some 400 
pages of documentation.  Adhering to the terms of the HRC 
resolution that created it, the experts also sought to 
identify "needs" of the Sudanese government in living up to 
its human rights obligations.  The Expert Group identified 
those recommendations it considered most urgent, which could 
be implemented in the short- (three months) and medium-term 
(one year), as well as assistance that could be offered to 
the Sudanese government in implementing the recommendations. 
This list was provided to the Government of Sudan May 2.  The 
Sudanese government intends to respond in writing, according 
to Saunders.  The recommendations themselves and Sudanese 
government response will not be made public until they are 
presented in the group's report to the June session of the 
HRC. 
 
¶3.  (U)  As part of their April meetings, the Expert Group 
also met with African Union representatives and the African 
regional group, and held a telecon with the Sudanese State 
Minister for Foreign Affairs and the African Commission on 
Human and People's Rights in Banjul.  SR on Sudan Samar had 
hoped to travel to Banjul to meet with the African 
Commission, but was unable to identify a mutually agreeable 
time.  Saunders reported, however, that the African 
Commission was willing to work with the group and welcomed 
the Human Rights Council's interest in working with it.  The 
UN experts also spoke with the African Commission's SR on 
IDPs, who promised to convey the experts' interests to the 
upcoming May 16 African Commission meeting in Accra, where 
Darfur will be on the agenda.  Saunders told MissionOffs that 
the African Commission had visited Darfur in 2004, but had 
yet to release its report on the visit because of a lack of 
response from the Sudanese government.  Saunders also 
mentioned that the Special Rapporteur on IDPs, Walter Kalin, 
would be travelling to Addis Ababa the week of May 7 to meet 
with Abdul Mohammed, the Chairman of the Darfur-Darfur 
Dialogue and Consultation (DDDC). 
TICHENOR