VZCZCXRO5174
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHDR #1055/01 2101201
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291201Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6522
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA PRIORITY 3232
RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA PRIORITY 2566
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA PRIORITY 3048
RUEHLGB/AMEMBASSY KIGALI PRIORITY 0993
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0324
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RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0232
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE PRIORITY 1068

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DAR ES SALAAM 001055 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT AF/E FOR BYODER, RMEYERS; AF/RSA FOR MBITTRICK 
ALSO ADDIS ABABA FOR AU MISSION 
PARIS, LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS PHUM TZ
SUBJECT: TANZANIA:  FOREIGN MINISTER BRIEFS DIPLOMATS ON 
THE COMOROS CRISIS AND NEW AFRICAN UNION COURT IN ARUSHA 
 
 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
¶1. (SBU)  Foreign Minister Bernard Membe briefed the European 
and Americas diplomatic corps recently on the deepening 
crisis in the Union of the Comoros and requested proactive 
diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue.  Membe announced 
that at the African Union (AU) meeting in Accra (July 2-3), 
Arusha had been confirmed as the site for a continent-wide 
African court that could accept appeals cases, human rights 
cases and indictments against former dictators.  He followed 
the announcement with a fundraising appeal to donors to 
assist with both renovating existing facilities in 
Arusha--currently home to the International Criminal Tribunal 
on Rwanda (ICTR) and the East African Community (EAC) 
headquarters--and constructing a new "monumental" judicial 
complex to serve as Africa's continental court.  End Summary. 
 
Defiance in Anjouan 
------------------- 
¶2. (SBU)  Minister Membe recounted briefly for the diplomatic 
corps how the crisis in Comoros has deepened over the past 
four months.  On April 14, 2007, when the term of President 
Mohamed Bacar of Anjouan expired, he refused to leave office 
and to allow an interim president to be named until new 
elections were held.  Beginning in early May, all signs or 
insignia related to the government of the Union of Comoros 
were removed from official buildings in Anjouan.  The Union 
radio station was taken over by Anjouan officials and several 
radio staff arrested.  The small Union army contingent on 
Anjouan was attacked by militia forces resulting in one Union 
fatality.  When the Comoros Union President Ahmed Abadallah 
Sambi attempted to fly into Anjouan June 5 to meet directly 
with Bacar and discuss the elections, his plane was unable to 
land because the airstrip was blocked by trucks. 
 
AU efforts to resolve the crisis 
-------------------------------- 
¶3. (SBU)  In this defiant mode, Anjouan's President Bacar 
insisted that Anjouan's elections take place on June 10 even 
though the Union government had decided the elections should 
be one week later on June 17, to allow time for the official 
ballots, ballot boxes and AU monitors to be in place.  Bacar 
ignored the request, printed his own ballots, held the 
elections June 10 and declared himself the victor by 90 
percent of the vote.  Membe said the AU then appointed a 
special committee composed of Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, 
Mauritius, Madagascar, South Africa and the Seychelles to 
"find a way forward" to resolve the crisis.  Following a 
meeting in South Africa, the AU committee issued the 
following communique: 
 
     -  the African Union has declared the June 10 
        elections in Anjouan as a non-event; 
     -  elections should be rerun before the end of 
        July 2007; 
     -  the results of the new election must be 
        acknowledged by all parties involved; 
     -  the international community needs to put 
        pressure on Anjouan's Bacar to comply; 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Although the AU special committee sent an envoy to 
deliver the communique in person, Bacar did not agree to new 
elections and claimed that the June 10 results will stand 
until the constitution of the Union of the Comoros "undergoes 
a full review."  Membe made the appeal that it is now crucial 
for the international community to exert full diplomatic 
influence to reach and reason with Bacar in order to turn the 
situation around.  Minister Membe stressed: "The AU does not 
want to use military force in Anjouan as there are basically 
only innocent civilians left on the island; we must employ 
all diplomatic resources at our disposal." 
 
¶5. (SBU)  When asked if economic sanctions would be among 
those resources, Membe replied that the AU request to re-run 
the elections during July coupled with a full press on the 
diplomatic front is the current course of action to get 
Mohamed Bacar to comply.  Should this course of action not 
succeed "economic sanctions should not be ruled out,"  Membe 
 
DAR ES SAL 00001055  002 OF 002 
 
 
said. 
 
African Court in Arusha 
----------------------- 
¶6. (U)  Minister Membe confirmed that the African Union has 
chosen Arusha as the site of an AU-sponsored continental 
African court.  This institution is envisioned to serve as a 
continent-wide appeals court as well as to prosecute human 
rights abusers, former dictators and persons accused of 
inciting coups.  Since the ICTR's activities are winding 
down, the initial plan would be to renovate the current 
ICTR/EAC facilities in Arusha at the cost of approximately 
USD 17 million.  Membe emphasized, however, the long term 
plan is to construct a new edifice "worthy of representing 
the continent of Africa" and that the GOT will be looking for 
support from "all your capitals."  He added that once the 
architectural design for a new complex is completed "you can 
expect we will be knocking at your doors."  The 
representative of the German Embassy responded to Minister 
Membe's appeal on-the-spot by pledging one million Euro 
toward constructing the new court. 
 
Comments 
-------- 
¶7. (SBU)  While Minister Membe's two briefing points may have 
appeared unrelated, in reality, once an African court is in 
place and fully functional, it could potentially serve as a 
forum to resolve constitutional and other disputes--such as 
the current stalemate in Union of the Comoros--if indeed all 
AU members would agree to accept the decisions of such a 
judicial body.  In post's view, while the ICTR/EAC complex 
and conference center in Arusha appears to be in need of some 
renovations and remodeling, a USD 17 million price tag for 
this effort struck most of the donors at Membe's briefing as 
steep, particularly if immediately followed by a serious GOT 
fundraising campaign to build a brand new African court 
complex. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  Many members of the diplomatic corps were under the 
impression that the MFA briefing concerned Zimbabwe. 
Minister Membe apologized more than once that the notices 
from MFA about the briefing had mentioned Zimbabwe as a 
topic.  He noted that the Southern African Development 
Cooperation (SADC) Organ on Politics, Defence and Security 
would be meeting at the ministerial level in early August in 
Dar es Salaam to hear an update on President Mbeki's 
reconciliation efforts among Zimbabwe's political parties. 
Thus Membe could not make any comments on the progress of 
SADC's Zimbabwe initiative until the conclusion of that 
ministerial. 
RETZER