VZCZCXRO6512
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHDS #2427/01 2820940
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 090940Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6447
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 0534
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEPADJ/CJTF HOA PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEWMFD/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 7957

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 002427 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/FO, SE GRATION, S-USSES, AF/RSA AND IO/UNP 
NSC FOR MGAVIN 
DEPT PLEASE PASS USAID/SUDAN 
LONDON FOR PLORD 
PARIS FOR WBAIN AND RKANEDA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM PHUM UNSC SU AU
SUBJECT: USAU: DARFUR PANEL HANDS OVER REPORT TO AU CHAIR 
 
REF: KHARTOUM 1079 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: The African Union (AU) High-Level Panel on 
Darfur handed over its report to AU Commission Chairperson 
Jean Ping on October 8.  Ping promptly announced that he 
would deliver the report to the AU Peace and Security Council 
(head of state level) at a late October meeting in Abuja to 
which the U.S. and other international partners will be 
invited.  The Council will decide how the AU will follow up 
with the Panel's recommendations.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On October 8, the Chairperson of the AU High-Level 
Panel on Darfur, Thabo Mbeki, handed over the Panel's 
long-awaited report and recommendations to the AU Commission 
leadership.  In his remarks to AU Permanent Representatives, 
AU Commission staff, diplomats, and journalists, the former 
South African President emphasized that the report and its 
recommendations represented a "consensus view among many in 
Sudan and internationally, including the millions of 
Darfurians whose representatives were met" during the 
months-long investigation by the Panel.  Everybody in Darfur 
and Sudan believes the conflict in Darfur has to be solved by 
the Sudanese people themselves "and cannot and should not be 
imposed from outside," Mbeki said. 
 
¶3. (U) Additionally, everybody agreed that peace, justice, 
and reconciliation must be achieved urgently and 
simultaneously.  "Justice must be done and seen to be done," 
Mbeki said.  Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir agreed that no 
one was above the law, Mbeki noted.  There was further 
consensus that the conflict in Darfur is political in nature 
and therefore requires a political solution.  A military 
solution to the conflict is neither possible nor desirable, 
Mbeki told the audience. 
 
¶4. (U) Any resolution to the Darfur conflict will have to 
take into account the general elections scheduled for April 
2010 and the referendum on secession in 2011, Mbeki 
continued.  Darfurians should be included in those elections. 
 Mbeki went on to cite June 24 remarks by Special Envoy 
Gration at a U.S. Institute for Peace event in which the 
Special Envoy spoke of his hope for a peaceful and successful 
Sudan.  Mbeki concluded his remarks by saying that the Panel 
shares SE Gration's powerful message of hope.  "We too are 
convinced that if the right things are done, Sudan faces a 
'future of hope and trust, a future of lasting peace.' " 
 
¶5. (U) After receiving Mbeki's report (what appeared to be a 
six-inch-tall stack of documents), AU Commission Chairperson 
Ping underscored the inclusive nature of the Panel's 
consultations.  Ping renewed the AU's call on the UNSC to 
suspend the ICC investigation against President Bashir, but 
he said that in no way diminishes the AU's commitment to the 
fight against impunity.  The AU's deployment of forces to 
Darfur, the sacrifices of those troops, and the unambiguous 
denunciation of violence in Darfur illustrate the AU's 
commitment to respecting human rights and protecting 
Darfurian civilians, Ping added. 
 
¶6. (U) Ping further called on Sudanese parties to redouble 
their efforts to help solve the Darfur conflict, and urged 
them to consider the Panel's recommendations with an open 
mind and a willingness to move forward.  Addressing the 
international community, Ping twice said that they should 
play a "facilitator" rather than a "complicator" role in 
addressing the crisis in Sudan. 
 
¶7. (U) AU officials said copies of the report will not be 
made public until the Peace and Security Council has had an 
opportunity to deliberate about its contents.  The essence of 
the report has been highlighted in reftel. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Following the report handover ceremony, Mbeki told 
USAU CDA that the Panel was extremely grateful to SE Gration 
for his leadership role.  He added that the Panel's work is 
done and the difficult work of ensuring implementation now 
rests with the various stakeholders in Sudan and their 
international partners.  Sudan's Permanent Representative at 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00002427  002 OF 002 
 
 
the AU simply commented that the Panel's report and 
recommendations were a welcome development, and that the 
Panel's conduct throughout its consultations was above 
reproach. 
MUSHINGI