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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 000381 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/18/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PINR PHUM ICC SU MO AG
SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER ON GUANTANAMO, WESTERN SAHARA, 
SUDAN 
 
REF: ALGIERS 356 
 
ALGIERS 00000381  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador David D. Pearce; reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: In addition to the peace process (reftel), 
Foreign Minister Medelci raised cooperation on Guantanamo 
detainees, negotiations on Western Sahara and the ICC arrest 
warrant for Sudanese President Bashir during his April 7 
meeting with the Ambassador at MFA.  Medelci said Algeria 
would continue to work with the U.S. to facilitate the return 
of Algerian detainees held in Guantanamo.  Recalling UNSYG 
Personal Envoy Christopher Ross' recent visit to Algeria, 
Medelci said Ross' plan to hold informal talks with the 
parties before declaring a fifth Manhasset round was a good 
idea and that Algeria was ready to assist.  He hoped the 
international community would adopt a constructive approach 
on Western Sahara and urged UNSC members to act as arbiters 
and "not lean one way or another" on the issue.  Medelci 
reiterated the Doha summit's rejection of the ICC arrest 
warrant for Sudanese President Bashir.  Leaders at Doha were 
concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, but could 
not accept "an arcane legal approach" to solve a problem they 
believed was political, Medelci said.  African Union and Arab 
League countries, Medelci explained, don't accept the idea 
that an outsider can tell a people their elected president is 
no good.  Moreover, he said, the assembled leaders contrasted 
the ICC action against Bashir with the lack of effort to hold 
Israel to account for the violence in Gaza.  Medelci 
reaffirmed interest in a visit by the Secretary and invited 
the Ambassador to reconvene after Algeria's presidential 
election to review bilateral issues, and discuss a road map 
for future cooperation.  END SUMMARY. 
 
GTMO COOPERATION EASIER 
----------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) After Medelci's brief on issues related to the peace 
process raised at Doha (reftel), he touched on cooperation 
related to Guantanamo detainees, challenges for Western 
Sahara, and the Arab summit declaration on Sudanese President 
Bashir's ICC arrest warrant.  Medelci said his government 
better understood U.S. intentions regarding returned Algerian 
detainees from Guantanamo, and this had helped recent 
coordination on the issue.  He asserted that Algeria could 
continue to work with the U.S. in the same spirit of 
cooperation and vigilance, coordinating efforts through our 
countries' respective liaison services.  The Ambassador said 
the USG valued cooperation with Algeria on counter-terrorism, 
including on this issue, as the Secretary had made plain at 
Sharm el-Sheikh. 
 
WESTERN SAHARA 
-------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Medelci hoped the international community would remain 
seized of the challenges facing both parties in the dispute 
over Western Sahara.  He praised UNSYG Personal Envoy 
Christopher Ross as "an excellent choice and an American we 
respect."  Medelci said he had a productive meeting with Ross 
in February and called Ross' meeting with President 
Bouteflika during his visit to Algeria "excellent."  Medelci 
said Ross' plan to hold an informal meeting between the 
parties before exploring openings for a fifth round of talks 
was a good idea and should permit Ross to prepare a timely 
report to UNSYG Ban Ki-Moon.  Medelci believed such a meeting 
would be a constructive way to consider both parties' 
concerns ahead of a fifth Manhasset round. 
 
¶4. (C) The FM suggested that MINURSO might be used to give 
more visibility to the issue.  There needed to be 
confidence-building measures, he said, to create space for 
dialogue.  Medelci believed Ross shared the same goal. "We 
told him we were ready to assist him.  It's a complicated 
situation."  Medelci hoped the international community would 
also take a constructive approach and keep a cool head, 
saying "the issue is about decolonization."  He commented 
pointedly that some UNSC members took positions outside the 
Council that contradicted UNSC resolutions.  Medelci believed 
the Security Council should be an arbiter, and said that "we 
need arbiters that don't lean one way or another."  He told 
the Ambassador that Algeria had made this concern known, 
including to the U.S., and hoped the message would be heard. 
The Ambassador said the U.S. had confidence in Ross and was 
looking forward to his ideas on next steps. 
 
ALGIERS 00000381  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
ICC ARREST WARRANT A MISTAKE 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Returning again to the Doha summit, Medelci said that 
human rights were also on the agenda for Africa, and that 
members of the African Union (AU) and the Arab League (AL) 
were concerned about the humanitarian situation in Darfur. 
But leaders at Doha were unanimous in opposing the 
International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrant for 
Sudanese President Bashir.  Medelci said the consensus view 
in Doha favored giving Sudan an opportunity to resolve the 
crisis through reconciliation, a process Medelci said the 
Sudanese government was already engaged in.  Furthermore, 
Medelci underlined, the assembled leaders contrasted the 
international community's readiness to endorse a warrant for 
a serving Arab head of state with the complete lack of 
accountability for Israel's actions in Gaza. 
 
¶6. (C) In general, Medelci asserted the ICC decision created 
more problems than it solved.  He said that the arrest 
warrant allowed the Sudanese government to close ranks around 
its president, which drew attention away from humanitarian 
concerns.  There was also the problem of conflicting 
interpretations of international conventions -- particularly 
the Rome Statute and the Vienna Convention -- concerning 
immunity for heads of state.  At the AU summit in Sharm 
el-Sheikh in 2008, Medelci said, African heads of state had 
proposed freezing the process related to the Rome Statute and 
holding a high-level meeting to clarify these perceived 
contradictions, but they never received a response.  He added 
that no leaders at Doha accepted that someone from outside 
could tell a people that their elected 
president was no good. 
 
¶7. (C) Medelci called the ICC issue "a particularly annoying 
subject," saying that to give such decisions more credibility 
the international community needed to revisit the Rome 
Statute and convince more countries to ratify it.  He 
cautioned that there were no easy solutions, and that 
solutions should reflect the reality on the ground. 
"Opposition to the ICC warrant was a matter of principle for 
many of us," he said.  Medelci claimed that to fail to punish 
those responsible for the "abominable" aggression in Gaza 
while placing Bashir in prison was unrealistic.  The issue of 
Sudan was political.  "In Doha we said 'enough.'  We are not 
going to enter into an arcane discussion of international law 
to resolve a political problem.  There needs to be a rational 
approach."   The Ambassador pointed out the fundamental 
concern about the expulsion of NGOs and the need to avoid a 
humanitarian crisis.  Medelci said that 12 NGOs had been 
expelled by Sudan, but the Sudanese government asserted 60 
humanitarian organizations remained in Darfur and they were 
capable of doing the work the others had done.  The Sudanese 
told summiteers in Doha that the organizations expelled had 
been directly reporting information to the ICC.  He said 
Khartoum's view was that "they had become political, and 
thereby forfeited their NGO status." 
 
¶8. (C) COMMENT: Foreign Minister Medelci appears to have 
grown into his job.  He seemed much more relaxed and in 
command of his brief than during Ambassador's last meeting 
about six months ago.  Discussions of both the peace process 
(reftel) and Sudan were detailed and presented with 
confidence; indeed, his remarks previewed themes that Senator 
Mitchell was to hear from President Bouteflika on April 14. 
He projected considerable interest in developing bilateral 
contacts.  At the start of the meeting, he restated his 
interest in a visit by the Secretary.   At the end, when the 
session was cut short by his need to attend an election 
event, the FM suggested another meeting after the vote to 
develop a roadmap for next steps on bilateral issues. 
PEARCE