VZCZCXRO3097
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHIK RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN
RUEHROV RUEHTRO RUEHYG
DE RUCNDT #0368/01 1320036
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 120036Z MAY 07
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1861
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA PRIORITY 1295
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PRIORITY 0150
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM PRIORITY 0712
RUEHNJ/AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA PRIORITY 0278
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUEHPS/USOFFICE PRISTINA PRIORITY 0867

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000368 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CD PGOV PREL SU UNSC KPKO YI UNMIK
SUBJECT: P5 AGREE TO COOPERATE ON SUDAN AND OTHER ISSUES 
 
¶1. (SBU)  On May 10, Ambassador Khalilzad convened his first 
meeting of the Permanent Five United Nations Security Council 
Members (UNSC).  Members welcomed Ambassador Khalilzad's 
commitment to begin regular P5 consultations and to make use 
of this forum to advance shared goals and harmonize positions 
where possible.  Members agreed to coordinate efforts with 
Secretary-General (SYG) Ban Ki-moon on how to make progress 
 
SIPDIS 
on Darfur.  The UK circulated draft demarche points to be 
used as the basis of possible P5 interventions in Khartoum 
and in New York.  China was non-committal on the effort and 
urged caution, saying it needed guidance from Beijing and 
warning Members not to undermine ongoing UN efforts toward 
political reconciliation.  The UK and France called for 
movement from the UN on addressing the situation in eastern 
Chad.  Other issues discussed at the meeting included SYG 
senior-level appointments and Kosovo, on which Ambassador 
Khalilzad announced our intention to circulate a draft 
resolution on May 11.  END SUMMARY. 
 
IMPETUS FOR DARFUR PROGRESS NEEDED 
---------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU)  UK Permanent Representative (PR) Jones Parry opened 
the discussion on Sudan by lamenting the slow rate of 
progress on the political, security and humanitarian fronts 
in Darfur.  Jones Parry pointed out that in the immediate 
term, due to largely bureaucratic obstacles (pending Egyptian 
provision of armored personnel carriers for new battalions, 
land acquisition for construction of camp sites, 
identification of water sources at these sites in North 
Darfur), there could be no real movement on deploying 
elements of the Heavy Support Package (HSP) of assistance to 
the African Union Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) before the 
fall.  According to Jones Parry, such obstacles were not 
exclusive to the HSP, as the AU reportedly reverted to the UN 
with extensive amendments to its proposed structure for the 
hybrid operation, pushing back hybrid deployment, still 
subject to Sudanese approval, until early 2008.  AMIS 
meanwhile continued to flounder financially and militarily. 
In this context Jones Parry introduced a draft demarche paper 
intended for P5 use in Khartoum and New York, aimed at 
injecting a sense of urgency and coherence into the effort to 
address the Darfur crisis. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Not unexpectedly, Chinese Deputy PR Liu urged 
caution with such an approach, warning that if not 
coordinated with the SYG, it could serve to undermine efforts 
already underway, like those of UN Special Envoy Jan Eliasson 
and AU Special Envoy Salim Salim.  Liu suggested letting the 
SYG remain at the forefront of such outreach, bolstered by P5 
"advice."  Liu agreed, however, that a shared P5 objective 
was to accelerate Sudanese cooperation on the Darfur 
political process and peacekeeping efforts.  Russian PR 
Churkin was more supportive of the initiative but raised 
questions about the substance of the draft demarche, namely 
its characterization of the HSP as merely a step toward 
reaching the hybrid operation, which, he argued, might give 
the Khartoum an incentive for procrastination on its 
deployment.  Churkin also questioned the impression given in 
the paper that the Council would be "compelled" into action 
to address the Darfur situation. 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Ambassador Khalilzad agreed that the demarche 
should take into account SYG efforts on Darfur, and all P5 
Members agreed on the need to coordinate with him. 
Ambassador Khalilzad promised to organize a P5 meeting with 
the SYG on this topic.  Ambassador Khalilzad also agreed to 
"massage" the language of the text to incorporate Russian 
suggestions and consider whatever input Beijing may offer. 
It was not decided if demarches would be delivered by P5 
Members together or in sequence. 
 
AMIS FUNDING IS ISSUE AS MANDATE EXPIRATION LOOMS 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
¶5. (SBU) Ambassador Wolff pointed out that the potential for 
a security vacuum in Darfur was real if there were no 
movement on Darfur peacekeeping by AMIS' mandate expiration 
on June 30.  Chinese DPR Liu jumped on this point, insisting 
that the UNSC and the donor community must be prepared to 
sustain AMIS financially until the hybrid could deploy.  Liu 
recommended encouraging the SYG to make full use of the 
Tripartite Mechanism between the UN, the AU and the Sudanese 
Government, to chart the way forward on Darfur.  Chinese 
 
USUN NEW Y 00000368  002 OF 002 
 
 
Political Minister Counselor Li Jun-hua told PolMinCouns and 
Poloff after the meeting that AMIS funding was the major 
issue in moving forward, well aware that donors' financially 
sustaining a weak AMIS ad infinitum was in Khartoum's 
interest.  USUN replied that ad hoc financing for AMIS would 
not continue indefinitely, making the need for UN-AU 
agreement on the hybrid and Sudanese approval thereof all the 
more crucial.  When asked by USUN about the Chinese 
engineering unit pledged to the HSP, Li said Beijing had not 
yet decided on whether to re-locate first a parallel unit 
from UNMIS in the South to be back-filled by the new pledged 
unit in the interest of getting boots on the ground in Darfur 
more quickly. 
 
¶6. (SBU) NOTE: In a May 9 conversation with Poloff, Ghanaian 
Political Officer described an inchoate plan to address the 
AMIS funding issue by transferring the responsibility 
temporarily to African donors.  Ghana, as AU President, was 
planning to demarche AU Commission Chairperson Konare on the 
idea of seeking African-only funding for AMIS for one month 
as a way of driving home with African leaders the need for a 
more sustainable system of funding, thus ultimately leading 
to pressure by these leaders on Khartoum to accept the hybrid 
operation, which would be financed through UN assessed 
contributions.  END NOTE. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Ambassador Sanders raised the importance of 
involving African UNSC Members in the process of demarching 
on Darfur's future.  UK PR Jones Parry suggested that the 
UNSC consider a June 17 stop in Khartoum between its June 16 
visit with Konare in Addis Ababa and with Ghanaian President 
and current AU Head John Kufuor on June 18. 
 
NEED DPKO ACTION ON CHAD 
------------------------ 
¶8. (SBU) UK PR Jones Parry and French PR de La Sabliere 
expressed frustration with the inaction on the part of the 
Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) to address the 
situation in eastern Chad.  Both stressed the need to get 
elements of the advance mission authorized in January on the 
ground to reconcile differences with the GOC on modalities of 
peacekeeping there.  They also stressed that the Chad 
government would welcome such a visit but it seemed held back 
by "bureaucratics" in New York. 
 
KOSOVO 
------ 
¶9. (SBU) Ambassador Khalilzad announced the U.S. intention to 
circulate a draft resolution on Kosovo on May 11.  Although 
Russian PR Churkin seemed taken by surprise with this 
development, there was no reaction from other P5 Members 
(Churkin hurridly conferred with Chinese DPR Liu after the 
meeting). 
 
SYG APPOINTMENTS 
---------------- 
¶10. (SBU) Russian PR Churkin recommended convening regular P5 
meetings with the SYG to deal with the "problem" of 
senior-level appointments.  Churkin and Chinese DPR Liu spoke 
to the need for P5 input to the SYG in appointing the head of 
disarmament affairs, and Churkin advocated the candidacy of 
Sergei Karev (Russia) for Counter-Terrorism Committee 
Executive Director, a post to be vacated in June by current 
director Javier Ruperez (Spain).  The French DPR countered 
with words of support for the French candidate, Jean-Pierre 
Laborde.  Churkin also opposed the appointment of an 
Under-SYG for gender equality, suggesting that such 
responsibilities could be absorbed by current UN Deputy SYG 
Migiro.  Ambassador Khalilzad committed to setting up an 
early P5 meeting with SYG Ban, a step welcomed by the other 
Members. 
KHALILZAD