VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLO #2678/01 3361349
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021349Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY LONDON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4129
INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS LONDON 002678 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KUNR PGOV PREL PTER UNSC KPKO KWMN CH FR RS
UK 
SUBJECT: UK HOSTS P5 UN DEPUTY DIRECTORS MEETING 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary:  IO PDAS Gerald Anderson participated in 
a P5 UN Deputy Directors meeting at the Foreign and 
Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London on November 23.  The 
Deputy Director-level meeting was the first of its kind and 
covered Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding reform, Afghanistan 
and Pakistan, Sanctions, UN Security Council reform, UN 
Budget Negotiations, Peacekeeping funding, and wider UN 
reform.  An informal working lunch afterwards included 
presentations from the UK government and follow-up 
discussions on the Middle East and Iran.  The parties agreed 
on the need for more strategic peacekeeping missions with 
clearer exit strategies.  They all welcomed an Afghanistan 
conference in London, but emphasized the need for it to have 
the Afghans' support and a clearly defined purpose.  The 
Europeans supported U.S. proposals to bolster the 1267 
Sanctions regime against domestic legal challenges, though 
the Russians expressed concerns that it would weaken the 
regime, and the Chinese worried the proposed system would 
create domestic legal problems within their system.  While 
none of the participants have changed their positions on UNSC 
reform, the UK voiced some support for a joint P5 statement 
of principles.  The other parties agreed on the need for 
unity but argued that joint statements were not advisable. 
France and the U.S. made suggestions for efficiency reforms 
in personnel, re-costing, and information technology to 
tackle budget escalation.  The UK argued that the current 
Peacekeeping Scale of Assessments is grossly unfair, but 
China argued it could not support reform of the Scale of 
Assessment because of its G77 political commitments.  All 
parties agreed that the existing system for identifying 
management weaknesses in the UN were robust, but that the P5 
should do more to ensure that these weaknesses are 
highlighted and addressed.  With regard to Iran, the Russians 
emphasized the need to exhaust diplomatic options before 
discussing further sanctions.  End Summary. 
 
PEACEKEEPING AND PEACEBUILDING REFORM 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Nicholas Hopton, Deputy Director of the 
International Organizations Department at the FCO, began by 
endorsing the New Horizons report on Peacekeeping.  He said 
the British Government wants to see more strategic 
peacekeeping, which would mean lower costs and clearer 
mandates.  He argued that there should be a stronger link 
between peacekeeping and peacebuilding, and that the 
transition between them should be planned from the beginning 
of any UN operation.  He suggested MONUC (the UN mission to 
the Democratic Republic of the Congo) as an example of a UN 
operation that should be scaled down. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  PDAS Anderson noted that President Obama's 
convening of a meeting with the largest peacekeeping 
contributors in September showed the importance the U.S. 
attaches to peacekeeping. He echoed Hopton's thought on the 
need to strengthen links between peacekeeping and 
peacebuilding.  Anderson suggested it may be time to revisit 
UN policy regarding seconding national personnel into 
peacekeeping operations, as a means of facilitating 
contributions of high-value personnel.  He noted that events 
on the ground, with ongoing significant violence in MONUC's 
area of operations, particularly against civilians, suggest 
that it is too early to begin winding it down.  Marc 
Giacomini, the French Deputy Director for the UN, 
International Organizations, Human Rights and La 
Francophonie, agreed that it was too soon to consider a 
shutdown of MONUC. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Tao Yang, Deputy Director General at the 
Department of International Organizations and Conferences at 
the Chinese MFA, applauded the New Horizons report.  He 
noted, however, that China did not support the idea of 
lenghtening troop rotations;  the deployments of troops were 
already too long and were causing physical and psychological 
strain on Chinese troops.  He also stressed the need to 
develop clear indicators in operations that would lead to 
moving to the next phase of the operation and ultimately to 
an exit strategy.  He also recommended changes in the UN 
process, noting that troop-contributing countries were 
reluctant to speak out in the existing TCC meetings but that 
the working group meetings were more useful.  Finally, he 
said that he finds it disappointing that reform is already 
considered necessary in the Peacebuilding Commission even 
though it is only four years old. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Andrei Kovalenko, Deputy Head of the International 
Organizations Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, 
said that his government viewed the New Horizons report 
positively but is still waiting for formal proposals that 
might arise as a result.  He reiterated the need for a clear 
exit strategy from the beginning and noted that the ceiling 
on available resources has already been hit.  He lamented the 
inefficiency of the Secretariat and said his government was 
not happy with the restructuring of peacekeeping into DPKO 
and DFO, which had resulted in massive expansion of posts. 
He said there should be an agency to provide peacekeeping 
support, but that this should ultimately reduce costs, not 
raise them. 
 
Afghanistan 
----------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Karen Pierce, the FCO's lead on Afghanistan, 
briefed on the UK's view of the situation in Afghanistan. 
She said that Karzai said the right things in his inaugural 
speech regarding inclusiveness of all Afghan factions, 
tackling corruption, building an effective police and 
military force, and governing effectively.  Pierce said the 
military campaign is going well and praised General 
McChrystal's reorientation of it to focus on 
counter-insurgency.  She added that the UK would stay until 
the job is done. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Pierce said the key should now be to focus on how 
the international community can ensure that the vision Karzai 
articulated comes to fruition.  She noted that the UK is 
coordinating closely with the Afghans about a conference in 
London in January 2010, which she said should focus on the 
international elements of a solution and should complement a 
conference Karzai wants to hold in Afghanistan on internal 
issues.  Pierce said the the UK had urged Karzai to agree to 
a London conference in January because the Afghans will not 
be ready for their internal conference until at least March. 
She also stressed the importance of the international 
community presenting a coherent message to Karzai, since the 
Afghan government was using differences in messaging as an 
excuse to delay progress. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Tao said that the international community could 
not let Afghanistan become a failed state because extremists 
will return.  He urged continued pressure on Karzai to bridge 
gaps in Afghanistan and to help Afghan people see concrete 
economic peace dividends.  He noted that the Taliban are a 
proxy for the Pashtuns and that national reconciliation will 
not happen without talking to the Taliban.  He also stressed 
the importance of Afghanistan's relations with its neighbors, 
making special note of the need to improve relations between 
the competing tribes in Pakistan and the importance of 
insuring that Iran cannot use Afghanistan as leverage for its 
foreign policy goals.  He said China would support a London 
conference as long as the Afghans wanted it but underlined 
the need for good preparatory meetings to make the conference 
successful. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  Giacomini cautioned that increased military 
involvement tends to negatively affect the level of 
connection between the foreign missions and the people.  He 
advocated for greater personal contact between UN personnel 
and the Afghan population as a means of mitigating negative 
popular attitudes about the foreign presence. 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  The Russian side said it was open to the 
conference as well if it could be guaranteed that it was what 
the Afghans wanted and was not being imposed on them.  They 
also stressed that the conference should focus on external 
relations and not the many internal problems facing 
Afghanistan. 
 
SANCTIONS 
--------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  PDAS Anderson made a presentation on U.S. 
proposals for a revised listing and de-listing process for 
1267 sanctions.  These are essential as a response to 
challenges to the sanctions system in national and European 
courts, and include the creation of an ombudsman for 
accepting challenges to listing decisions, an expanded role 
for the monitoring team, and fuller narrative justifications 
in advance of listing decisions. 
 
¶12.  (SBU)  Hopton welcomed the U.S. proposals, saying that 
judicial review in British and European courts was a serious 
and pressing issue that threatened the whole 1267 regime. 
 
¶13.  (SBU)  Kovalenko said the relevant Russian agencies were 
still studying the U.S. proposal.  The Russian side worried 
about the role and authority of an ombudsman and asked for 
clarification as to his role and whether this would weaken 
the whole regime and take power away from the Security 
Council.  Anderson assured the Russians that the ombudsman 
would only have a coordinating role in the gathering of 
information and decisions on de-listings would still rest 
with the UNSC.  Giacomini also responded to the Russians by 
saying he understood their concerns, but that the problem 
facing Europeans and other countries was acute and immediate, 
and that a failure to act could lead to a collapse of the 
sanctions regime. 
 
¶14.  (SBU)  Tao said he agreed that more transparency in the 
1267 regime was needed but that China preferred to fix the 
existing system.  He worried that the U.S. proposal might 
create problems within the Chinese legal system, though he 
said his government had not looked into all the legal 
ramifications of the U.S. proposal.  He suggested a flexible 
approach that could apply different methods for different 
countries.  Giacomini pointed out that while this sounded 
attractive in principle, in reality it is necessary to have a 
uniform standard that can be applied to all people from all 
countries.  Tao responded that his government would look into 
the problem. 
 
UNSC Reform 
----------- 
 
¶15.  (SBU)  Hopton noted that a fourth round of talks on 
Security Council reform has opened.  He said HMG's position 
has not changed and that the UK still favors expansion to 
include the G4 and African representation.  Giacomini said 
the French had also not changed their position favoring 
ultimate enlargement of both permanent and non-permanent 
members with longer terms, and as an interim stage the 
intermediate options already presented.  Russia also has not 
changed its position and Kovalenko said Russia is interested 
in interim solutions.  Tao said that an intermediate solution 
is only one option and that further P5 information sharing is 
important, especially in projecting a coherent position to 
the media.  He went on to say that in all the talk of reform, 
the subject of efficiency is often forgotten.  He suggested 
the importance not only of the makeup of the UNSC but also in 
reforming its role.  Tao lamented that the UNSC "has become a 
sanctions machine," and is "neglecting its mandate for 
political mediation and conflict prevention." 
 
¶16.  (SBU)  Hopton advocated making a P5 joint statement on 
the issue, perhaps just of general principles.  Giacomini and 
Anderson agreed that we must avoid the perception of 
disunity, but that a joint statement must be approached with 
great care and might not be appropriate.  Tao argued that the 
time for a joint statement is not ripe. 
 
BUDGETS 
------- 
 
¶17.  (SBU)  Giacomini made a brief presentation about the 
upcoming budget, noting that it is up 10 percent over the 
2008-09 budget, which is an especially large increase given 
the current economic crisis.  He suggested that there was 
room for savings in the indexing of pay scales of civil 
servants.  He noted that 10 percent of UN workers are 
expected to retire in each of the next several years and 
significant cost could be saved by not replacing them, or not 
replacing them in the same jobs at the same levels.  He 
warned that if targeted cuts could not be found that 
across-the-board reductions would become necessary. 
 
¶18.  (SBU)  Anderson argued that Giacomini's suggestions 
should be explored and added that positions could be reviewed 
to see if they are still necessary given changes in 
technology and UN programs.  He noted that USG Kane has 
expressed the view that such an approach would elicit 
complaints from many countries that this would hurt the 
geographical balance in the UN.  Giacomini noted that there 
were numerous new positions being filled constantly, through 
which geographical balance could be restored.  Anderson added 
that the UN should be pressed to provide more accurate budget 
projections for Special Political Missions and agreed with 
Giacomini's suggesting of looking at re-costing.  Lastly, he 
added that the UN's "Imoja" proposal for IT modernization 
must be very well-researched before a decision is made on 
implementation. 
 
¶19.  (SBU)  Kovalenko expressed great concern with the 
budget, especially with piecemeal add-ons and said the P5 
should press the Secretary General harder to avoid these 
additional costs and challenge him on the frequent requests 
he makes for additional funding.  He criticized the top-heavy 
Secretariat as wasteful. 
 
¶20.  (SBU)  Tao said China was in a difficult position on the 
budget because it had G77 commitments, so political 
commitments impinge on its flexibility.  He said that a key 
way to control the budget was through management reform, 
though he said the UN was "not a company" and there needed to 
be a balance between efficiency and geographical 
representation.  He also agreed, however, that China would 
encourage the G77 countries to be more realistic in their 
approach to the budget.  He stressed that too much money was 
being spent on software updates. 
 
SCALE OF ASSESSMENTS 
-------------------- 
 
¶21.  (SBU)  Hopton started the discussion by saying that the 
UK's proposal for revision to the Low Per Capita Income 
Adjustment on the regular budget scale stems from the UK's 
desire for a fairer system, where countries pay according to 
their ability to do so.  He said there are various ideas to 
do this and that the UK would be willing to give up some 
benefits if it meant a fairer system.  With regard to the 
peacekeeping scale, he noted the unfairness of the 
classification of some countries in Group C and that Group C 
should be gradually phased out and certainly not expanded. 
 
¶22.  (SBU)  Kovalenko stated that it was impossible to fix 
disparities by adding burdens to one country or another.  He 
said the system should be the same for all.  He said there 
should not be special rules for some countries and charged 
that this is what the EU is trying to do.  Giacomini 
responded that the current system had gross inequities, such 
as the fact that Hungary pays more than Qatar, which has a 
vastly higher national income per capita.  He also added that 
the EU pays approximately 40 percent of the costs despite 
accounting for only 30 percent of world income.  He 
emphasized that the EU proposal is designed to redistribute 
costs, but that more benefit would go to developing 
countries, not less. 
 
¶23.  (SBU)  Tao said he agreed with the principle of 
"capacity to pay."  The Chinese have studied the EU proposal 
but they cannot go along with it.  He raised the possibility 
that when the world economic crisis has eased it may be 
possible to re-consider a modified proposal similar to the 
EU's.  He noted the G77 position that its members will not 
agree to moving above Group C and while China did not push 
for that stance it has to go along with the G77 position. 
Hopton concluded the discussion by saying that countries who 
want to be leaders have to lead financially. 
 
MANAGEMENT AND WIDER UN REFORM 
------------------------------ 
 
¶24.  (SBU)  Tao said China had three reform priorities: 
peacekeeping, developmental reform including strengthening of 
the Department of Social and Economic Affairs, and management 
reform of the Secretariat.  He added that the OIOS (Office of 
Internal Oversight Services) and IAAC (Independent Audit 
Advisory Committee) produce good reports on the weaknesses of 
the UN, but that the P5 should jointly press the General 
Assembly to develop a mechanism to act on these 
recommendations. 
 
¶25.  (SBU)  Giacomini added that there was a need for further 
coherence in a fragmented system, while also adding that 
France sees a need for further emphasis on sustainable 
development and climate change issues. 
 
¶26.  (SBU)  Anderson noted U.S. concern about the new UN 
gender entity and expressed our hope that combining the parts 
will result in cost savings.  He agreed with Tao's assessment 
of the OIOS and IAAC reports and suggested the P5 bring 
greater attention to those reports.  He suggested systemizing 
the budgetary process, so that audits and evaluations of past 
performance directly feed into the process of setting future 
budgets.  Finally, he added that the P5 should work to change 
the pattern of the Secretariat proposing reforms involving on 
adding new positions but not on improving efficiencies. 
 
MIDDLE EAST/IRAN 
---------------- 
 
¶27.  (SBU)  FCO Middle East officer Christian Turner briefed 
the group (minus the Chinese delegation, which had to leave 
before lunch) on the Middle East peace process.  He said the 
four key issues were Israeli settlements, Palestinian 
reconciliation, the Goldstone Report, the Gaza humanitarian 
situation, and increasing tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese 
border.  He noted that the Goldstone Report may be referred 
for discussion to the UNSC, but that this was preferable to 
another UNGA discussion, which would almost surely descend 
into a counter-productive Israel-bashing session.  He also 
said the UK thinks that Israel's investigations into possible 
violations during operation Cast Lead are not robust enough 
and that HMG is looking forward to the results of a committee 
advising Netanyahu about strengthening the investigations. 
 
¶28.  (SBU)  Iran Desk Officer Will Gelling said the UK's main 
goals are preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and 
making sure no regional powers strike Iran.  He said HMG was 
disappointed that Iran had not responded positively to the 
outstretched hand of the E3 3.  The HMG will keep its hand 
outstretched, but if there are not positive signs by the end 
of 2009, it will be time to move towards sanctions.  The 
Russian delegation said the UK was rushing to sanctions and 
that more time should be given to other diplomatic options. 
They also argued that it was a mistake to link the regime's 
repression to evaluations of its progress on the nuclear 
file.  Giacomini argued forcefully that the West's actions 
made clear that there was no such link, since the nuclear 
fuel deal had been made after the Iranian elections.  He said 
that Iran has had time to respond and is now playing for time. 
 
¶29.  (U) This cable has been cleared by PDAS Gerald Anderson. 
 
Visit London's Classified Website: 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Unit ed_Kingdom 
 
Susman