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O 121614Z MAY 08
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4244
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000419 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/06/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ZM
SUBJECT: HELPING ZIMBABWE NO EASY TASK 
 
REF: (A) USUN 404 (B) STATE 44297 (C) 44905 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Alejandro Wolff for Reasons 1.4 B/D. 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY.  USUN's soundings of the UN Secretariat and 
UKUN show a common frustration about how best to assist 
Zimbabwe.  The UN's elections division is prepared to 
immediately deploy eminent persons to help calm fears and to 
deploy a full team of elections observers within weeks on 
Zimbabwe's request if time and resources were made available. 
 The British have urged Secretary-General Ban to name a 
special envoy or fact finding team, but the Secretariat to 
date insists that either proposal could be implemented only 
with the consent of Zimbabwe.  Lacking necessary Security 
Council votes to call a special session, concerned members 
are left with the option of asking for Secretariat briefings 
in closed consultations and await developments on the ground 
to trigger such a request.  Secretariat officials agreed to 
investigate our concerns about the job performance of UNDP 
ResRep Zacharias but made clear they do not share them.  In 
light of the opposition's evident agreement to a runoff, post 
suggests Department consider a possible USG contribution to a 
UN-led election observer mission.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) In recent days Ambassador Wolff, USUN ECOSOC Chief, 
Deputy PolCouns, and Poloffs have discussed USG Zimbabwe 
concerns (reftels) with UN Under Secretary-General for 
Political Affairs (DPA) Lynn Pascoe, DPA Assistant 
Secretary-General Angela Kane, Director of the Electoral 
Assistance Division Craig Jenness, UNDP Associate 
Administrator Ad Melkert, DPA Africa I Team Leader Vallerie 
de Campos Mello, and senior officials of the UK and French 
missions. 
 
¶3. (C) To Ambassador Wolff's urging that the UN consider 
fielding a fact-finding mission, U/SYG Pascoe and A/SYG Kane 
reiterated Pascoe's indication to the Council (Ref A) that 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is prepared to lend his good 
offices to these or other efforts in coordination with the 
African Union and with the consent of the Government of 
Zimbabwe.  Neither Pascoe nor Kane was sanguine that the AU 
or Zimbabwe was interested in either idea. 
 
¶4. (C) UKUN counts eight votes on the Council in favor of a 
special public session on Zimbabwe (U.S., UK, France, 
Belgium, Italy, Panama, Costa Rica, Croatia), one short of 
the nine needed to convoke a meeting.  (NOTE.  Briefings in 
closed Council consultations by the Secretariat can be called 
by any member at any time. END NOTE.)  UKUN therefore has 
instead urged SYG Ban to greater action, demarching him 
recently to request that he appoint a special envoy and a 
fact-finding mission (even in the face of certain Zimbabwe 
noncooperation) and that he prevail upon Latin American and 
Caribbean states to offer election observers after Zimbabwe 
President Robert Mugabe evidently indicated that observers 
from these states would be acceptable. UKUN is hopeful that 
Mugabe might agree to a small percentage of other nationals 
in a joint AU/UN elections observer mission.  In the 
meantime, Council President (for May) UK intends to monitor 
events on the ground with a view to calling for further 
closed briefings as appropriate. 
 
¶5. (C) Deputy PolCouns discussed the range of potential UN 
elections observer assistance with Electoral Division Chief 
Jenness, who said the response of his office would be 
dictated by time, money, and Zimbabwe's cooperation.  He said 
he could send eminent persons to Zimbabwe with the 
government's permission "virtually immediately."  At the 
other end of the assistance spectrum, he said a full observer 
mission would comprise 120 people deployed over a period of 
three months.  Recalling that the elections division depends 
on donor contributions, he said funding would have to be 
found on an ad hoc basis. 
 
¶6. (C) Finally, USUN's ECOSOC Counselor met UNDP Associate 
Administrator Ad Melkert and UNDP Director for Africa Gilbert 
Houngbo regarding ref B concerns about UNDP Zimbabwe ResRep 
Augustino Zacharias.  Melkert confirmed that UN offices in 
Zimbabwe are on a "phase 2" security alert, but insisted that 
this does not restrict UN personnel to Harare and that the 
offices are "completely operational."  Regarding a possible 
pro-Mugabe bias, Melkert said Zacharias enjoys the full 
confidence of his office and asked for further details of 
bias as alleged Ref B, para 10. 
 
¶7. (C) COMMENT. In view of reports that Zimbabwe's opposition 
has agreed to a run-off election, which would almost 
certainly be delayed beyond the May 23 date  technically 
mandated, Post suggests USG emphasis should also be on 
pushing Zimbabwe, directly and indirectly, to accept a robust 
team of election observers, to include a UN element.  Pending 
 
USUN NEW Y 00000419  002 OF 002 
 
 
development of an observer mission budget, Post suggests that 
Department preliminarily consider possibilities for a USG 
contribution. END COMMENT. 
Khalilzad