VZCZCXRO3804
RR RUEHAG RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHBS #2302/01 1971549
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 161549Z JUL 07
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON
RUEHNJ/AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 002302 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2017 
TAGS: PREL SU CD EUN
SUBJECT: S/E NATSIOS URGES EU TO SUPPORT SUDAN SANCTIONS 
AND PEACEKEEPERS FOR CHAD 
 
 
Classified By: Enlargement/Africa Unit Chief V. Carver for reasons 1.4 
(b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Special Envoy for Sudan Andrew Natsios met 
with EU officials and French FM Kouchner June 22 to share 
views on progress in Darfur.  Natsios expressed support for 
FM Kouchner's plan to move French and EU peacekeepers into 
Chad.  He continued to press the EU to implement its own 
sanctions against Sudan, and heard from Commission officials 
more willingness than in the past to consider them.  EU 
officials agreed that the U.S. and EU should support only one 
NGO to facilitate rebel group negotiations since the 
multiplication of outside efforts was proving 
counterproductive.  Both Natsios and his European 
counterparts also agreed that continued conflict in Darfur 
not only destabilizes the region but imperils North-South 
unity in Sudan and makes it more likely that Southern Sudan 
will secede in 2011 as allowed under the Comprehensive Peace 
Agreement (CPA). End Summary. 
 
French peacekeeping plan for Chad 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) In a breakfast meeting with SE Natsios, French FM 
Kouchner expressed great optimism for his three-pronged plan 
to bring peacekeepers to Chad, but acknowledged that the EU, 
"sees us (the French) as newcomers who are wrecking the whole 
(EU) operation."  Kouchner asked for U.S. support, 
particularly in influencing other EU Member States to support 
his proposal to send up to 3,000 French (and possibly 
Swedish, Norwegian and other) troops to Chad to protect 
civilians and rebuild villages.  Chadian President Deby has 
endorsed the plan, which gives responsibility for patrolling 
the border with Sudan to Chadian gendarmes and police, not 
the international military forces, Kouchner said.  The French 
would be replaced as soon as possible by EU peacekeepers, who 
would eventually be replaced by UN peacekeepers.  "We can go 
quickly but we are not prepared to stay for a long time," 
Kouchner said.  French PSC Ambassador Christine Roger 
cautioned that the EU will need some serious persuading to 
agree to the French plan.  Germany, in particular, is 
reluctant to send European peacekeepers to Africa, and other 
key countries, including Portugal, Sweden, and Denmark, must 
also be brought on board, she said, adding that U.S. support 
could help change minds.  SE Natsios told the Europeans, "We 
think it's an excellent idea." 
 
¶3. (C) During a luncheon with various EU and member state 
officials, German and British officials expressed 
reservations about the French plan, as did the Africa 
director for the Council Secretariat.  Michael O'Neill, 
Political Counselor at the UK Permanent Representation to the 
EU, said the extent of Chadian President Deby's support for 
the peacekeepers would have to be clarified, and an exit 
strategy for the EU would have to be laid out before the UK 
could back the plan.  Koen Vervaeke, head of the Africa 
policy unit at the Council Secretariat, also used the term 
"exit strategy," saying the EU would not undertake an 
open-ended commitment without a clear plan from the UN to 
replace the EU troops at a time certain.  German PSC 
Ambassador Clemens Von Goetze wondered whether improved 
conditions in Chad might compel refugees to move from Darfur 
to Chad, but Natsios said that, unless they felt seriously 
threatened, it was unlikely refugees would move to a place 
where they weren't eligible to vote.  Von Goetze said the 
German public might question why the EU was putting 
peacekeepers in Chad when the more serious problems were in 
Darfur.  "The public will say that you are doing an easy job 
in an easy place with French troops that are already on the 
ground," he said.  Jean-Christophe Belliard, of the Council 
Secretariat's Africa policy unit, said that peace in eastern 
 
SIPDIS 
Chad could help simplify the political process in Darfur. 
(Note: Since Natsios visited Brussels, the French have 
modified their proposal to use deployment of the planned 
UN/AU hybrid force in Sudan as the exit strategy that would 
allow EU troops to leave eastern Chad.  The Germans and UK 
have reportedly softened their stance and have told the 
French they will not block the plan to send EU peacekeepers - 
primarily from France and the Nordic countries - to Chad.) 
 
EU moves cautiously forward on sanctions 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Kouchner told Natsios that President Bashir does not 
 
BRUSSELS 00002302  002 OF 002 
 
 
acknowledge the realities in Darfur and has no interest in 
resolving the situation.  "The government is very close to us 
and we are offering them an escape way, but they don't want 
an escape way," said Kouchner.  Although Bashir professes not 
to care what the West thinks, Kouchner believes Bashir and 
his top officials are feeling the economic pinch of U.S. 
sanctions.  Natsios said that if euro transactions could be 
restricted in addition to dollar transactions, the Sudanese 
regime would be further affected.  During a separate meeting 
with EU officials, Vervaeke, of the Council Secretariat, told 
Natsios there is no consensus within the EU to impose 
European sanctions on Sudan.  O'Neill, of the UK, said his 
government believed a credible threat of sanctions could be 
effective.  Roger Moore, Director for the Horn of Africa at 
the European Commission's Directorate General for 
Development, said that the EU has never imposed trade 
sanctions on an African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) country 
during its long history of ACP partnership agreements.  Moore 
told Natsios, however, that he could imagine the EU 
supporting targeted sanctions like asset freezing and travel 
bans against select Sudanese individuals, similar to those 
the EU has imposed on Zimbabwe.  Both Natsios and Moore 
shared concerns about whether EU funds given to the AU to pay 
the salaries of peacekeepers in Sudan are being used properly 
given reports that the peacekeepers have not been paid in 
months. 
 
Too many outsiders wanting to help 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Kouchner and Natsios agreed on the importance of 
getting rebel groups to agree on a united stand for further 
negotiation with the Sudanese government.  Instead of 
allowing numerous well-intentioned Western organizations to 
continue to offer mediation assistance, Natsios pressed, and 
Kouchner seemed to agree, that the Center for Humanitarian 
Dialogue in Geneva should be tapped to take the lead. 
Kouchner noted that Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) Leader 
Abdul Wahid still has strong support and influence in Darfur 
despite the fact that he now spends all his time in Paris. 
At Natsios, request, Kouchner said he would ask Wahid to 
attend rebel group negotiating sessions in Nairobi and Juba. 
EU officials in the larger luncheon meeting agreed that only 
one outside group should work with the rebels, otherwise the 
Government of Sudan will continue to delay progress on peace 
talks.  Said Belliard, of the Council Secretariat, "Khartoum 
has an interest in multiplication of diplomatic efforts." 
 
Implications for North-South unity 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Natsios and EU officials agreed that continued 
instability in Darfur makes it more likely that southern 
Sudan will secede from the North in 2011, as it is allowed to 
under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.  Belliard said that 
EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana's consistent message to 
the government in Khartoum has been, "Render unity 
attractive."  And to China, with vast economic interests in 
Sudan, Solana has said, "Push Khartoum on Darfur.  Otherwise 
the country will break apart," Belliard said. 
 
¶7. (U) SE Natsios did not have an opportunity to clear on 
this report. 
GRAY 
.