R 090717Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 5038
INFO AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
CJTF HOA

UNCLAS ADDIS ABABA 001334 
 
 
STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/RSA, AND DRL/MLGA 
ALSO PASS TO USAID FOR AFR/SD AND AFR/DP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM EAID AU
SUBJECT: AU PANEL OF THE WISE REPORTS ON ELECTION-RELATED 
DISPUTES IN AFRICA 
 
¶1. The African Union's Panel of the Wise has completed a 
report examining election-related disputes and violent 
conflict that often characterize electoral processes in 
Africa.  One of the report's major recommendations is to 
strengthen Africa's capacities at the national, regional and 
continental levels to observe and monitor elections. 
Currently, the AU's primary vehicle for observing and 
monitoring elections -- the Democracy and Electoral 
Assistance Unit (DEAU)-- lacks the necessary internal and 
external funding to support its goal of sending observer 
missions to more than a dozen countries where elections are 
scheduled this year alone.  Even the five-member Panel of the 
Wise, which was formed in 2007 as an instrument of conflict 
prevention, only has one support staff and a limited travel 
budget. 
 
¶2. Panel member and former Organization of African Unity 
Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim acknowledged these 
challenges during a briefing on the report for AU 
international partners on June 5.  Election monitoring and 
mediation efforts require adequate resources to be effective, 
Salim said.  The DEAU has insufficient funds to carry out 
necessary training for election observers.  As a result, 
election missions have been of very short duration and lack 
professional expertise, calling into question the credibility 
of their assessments of election outcomes.  Given resource 
constraints, the AU would do better to focus on those 
elections that are likely to produce conflict and violence, 
Salim said.  (Note: The AU Political Affairs Department has 
told USAU that it would be politically difficult not to send 
an observer mission to all elections.  End Note.) 
 
¶3. Panel of the Wise mediation efforts likewise suffer from 
inadequate support.  "We need to have the competence and the 
professional capacity," Salim said.  The Panel's lone support 
staff cannot juggle the relentless demands of the office, he 
continued, blaming the AU's slow recruiting practices as well 
as the AU's own capacity to support this endeavor.  The AU is 
"ill-equipped" to prevent conflict, Salim asserted.  "The AU 
has good intentions, but it does not have the wherewithal." 
 
¶4. Responding to a question about the AU observer missions' 
assessment of last April's presidential election in Algeria, 
Salim conceded that the AU undermined its own credibility by 
declaring that the election was "free and fair."  Salim said 
constitutional changes are not, by themselves, a problem 
unless the person behind the changes is seeking to remain in 
office longer, such as in the case of Algerian President 
Bouteflika. 
 
¶5. The draft report, entitled "Strengthening the Role of the 
African Union in the Prevention, Management, and Resolution 
of Election-related Disputes and Violent Conflicts in 
Africa," has been approved by the AU Peace and Security 
Council and will now be on the agenda of this summer's AU 
Summit in Libya.  USAU has forwarded a copy of the draft 
report to DRL/MLGA and AF/RSA, as well as to USAID AFR/SD.. 
 
¶6. Comment: As part of our support for the AU Peace and 
Security Architecture (APSA), the USG has provided a small 
grant to the AU which funded preventive diplomacy envoys to 
the Comoros and Central African Republic.  Similarly, the USG 
is providing technical assistance through International 
Foundation for Electoral Systems to establish and support the 
DEAU.  The USG is also providing equipment and software to 
the AU's Conflict Management Division for their Continental 
Early Warning System.  Other partners, such as the European 
Union, have pledged tens of millions of Euros toward APSA. 
This latest report by the Panel of the Wise suggests that 
international partners could do much more to support APSA, 
particularly in the area of preventive diplomacy and early 
warning programs.  Our AU interlocutors often remind us that 
greater investment in conflict prevention could dramatically 
decrease the cost of addressing a full-fledged conflict. 
 
 
YAMAMOTO