US embassy cable - 04BRUSSELS4602

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 004602 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/25/2014 
TAGS: EAID, MOPS, PGOV, PHUM, PREF, PREL, SU, SO, XA, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: EU INCREASES FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR AU MISSION IN 
DARFUR 
 
REF: BRUSSELS 4410 
 
Classified By: PRMOFF MARC J. MEZNAR.  REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
1.  (C) Summary.  The European Commission is set to approve 
80 million euros from its Africa Peace Facility (APF) to 
support an expanded deployment of the African Union (AU) 
mission in Darfur, Sudan.  EU financial support for the 
mission will exceed fifty percent of the total.  Although the 
decision will become final on October 25, administrative 
procedures will delay disbursement for several weeks.  Most 
EU Member States have given strong support for using the APF 
to fund the AU expansion in Darfur.  Only France has been 
reluctant to endorse the decision.  Solana is concerned that 
increasing the AU protection force without also enlarging the 
number of observers may be a mistaken approach, and also 
expressed concern that the APF funds may be tapped out soon. 
End Summary. 
 
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Commission to approve over $100 million for peacekeeping 
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2. (SBU) EU Member States have until 5:00 p.m., October 25, 
to object to Commission plans to disburse 80 million euros 
from its Africa Peace Facility (AFP) to support the expansion 
of the AU force in Darfur.  Given the near unanimity among 
the EU States to fund the full amount requested by the AU, 
the Commission and EU Council both expect this decision to go 
forward.  EU Council Sudan policy officer Christian Manahl 
calculates the value of this decision in dollars to be 
100,604,795. 
3. (C) Ever since the international community began 
discussing the expansion of the AU force in Darfur, the EU 
has expressed a willingness to fund up to one half of the 
operation.  Most recently, the Commission communicated 
support for this level of funding to the Department,s senior 
Sudan advisor Charles Snyder (reftel).   HiRep Javier Solana 
told visiting NEA A/S Burns that he was concerned that by 
deploying additional military forces without a corresponding 
increase in ceasefire observers, the international community 
may have adopted a mistaken approach.  Still, he said he was 
committed to supporting the AU's efforts, and would commit to 
helping fund it. 
4. (C) According to DG DEV Pan-African Affairs officer 
Ranieri Sabatucci, only France signaled reservations about 
this funding decision.  Sabatucci told PRMOff that France had 
never been an enthusiastic supporter of the APF; France also 
indicated it might not be able to pay its third assessed 
tranche to the European Development Fund (EDF), which is used 
to finance the APF.  EuropeAid APF Desk Officer Theodorus 
Kaspers told PRMOff that a failure by France to contribute 
its assessed contribution to the EDF could precipitate a cash 
flow problem that would delay disbursement of funds for the 
AU force in Darfur.  Kaspers said that the paperwork would 
require several weeks before money could actually start 
flowing to the AU.  He mentioned that internal political 
pressure to get the money moving would make this project his 
highest priority.  USEU Development Counselor spoke with 
Dutch Development Counselor Paul Ymkers who indicated France 
and Germany have both informed the EC they will not be able 
to pay into the third tranche of EDF due to cash problems. 
5. (C) Both Sabatucci and Kaspers are of the opinion that the 
political imperative of this decision could force France to 
cede to the pressure of the other Member States and deposit 
its third tranche into the EDF.  In fact, EU High 
Representative Javier Solana has already announced the 80 
million euro contribution while on an official visit to Addis 
Ababa over the weekend.  France would need additional support 
from other EU government to override the qualifying majority 
vote (the basis for decisions within the EDF group) to block 
APF funds for the AU.   According to Ymkers, France's 
opposition to the use of EDF for APF is quite worrisome for 
the Council, which seeks maximum consensus as much as 
possible.   While it is true that qualified majority voting 
is the basis for decision making on this instrument when 
using this "silent procedure" they normally make sure the 
large member states are on board. 
 
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Council to provide technical support 
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6. (C/NF) Manahl told PRMOff that although the PSC had given 
its basic agreement to the decision at a political level, it 
stated its desire to &follow closely8 the implementation of 
the plan by the AU.  This line reflects the Council,s desire 
to be actively engaged in helping the AU plan the deployment 
and providing logistical support for the operation.  Solana 
has nominated Brigadier General Brauss, the ACOS OPS of the 
EU Military Staff, as the Brussels-based point of contact for 
Darfur.  The EU will replace British Colonel Peter Stamps 
with Colonel Linz of the German army as the EU senior 
military planner on the ground in Darfur.  Polmiloffs were 
told by EUMS staffers closely involved with the Darfur 
planning that Linz was not an especially capable military 
planner, and that the short tdy rotations of officers were 
hampering effectiveness of the Partners' Technical Support 
Group just as a spike in accelerated deployment activity was 
beginning.  The AU task force expected to plan and control 
the deployments is not yet functional, and could require from 
3 months to a year to establish the necessary infrastructure 
-- human and technical -- to operate effectively.  The EU 
planners urged the creation of a coherent joint 
EU-US-Canadian "bank" of highly-qualified planners within the 
Partners' Technical Support Group, to provide discrete 
assistance to the AU from a politically palatable distance. 
7. (C) The Commission, which does not have military 
expertise, has never shown enthusiasm to connect its use of 
the APF with influence in directing the deployment of the 
mission.  An overriding purpose of the Commission-funded APF 
is to help the AU build capacity to handle peacekeeping 
operations.  Many in the Commission feel capacity building of 
AU institutions like the Peace and Security Council is more 
important than the AU peacekeeping deployments themselves. 
 
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Comment 
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8. (C) With this latest disbursement, the EU has spent a 
total of 92 million euros on Darfur.  The Commission is now 
considering another AU proposal for a peacekeeping operation 
in Somalia and expects to respond favorably.  At this rate of 
disbursement, the 250 million euro total allocated to the APF 
in 2004 will run out long before 2007 (its expected 
duration).  Solana told us he was concerned the fund will be 
"tapped out" soon, and the EU would have no other options 
once this current expanded AU mission is deployed.  Some 
Member States are already calling for additional development 
funds to be poured into the APF.  This may revive the 
internal EU debate over the use of development funds for 
peacekeeping, as well as the internal EU debate on 
budgetizing EDF, which is based on voluntary national 
contributions.  The strongest opposition to the Commission's 
proposal to budgetize EDF comes from UK's DFID, which would 
have to significantly increase its contributions for an 
instrument they view as inconsistent with a poverty reduction 
focus.  The UK FCO is reportedly less concerned about the use 
of EDF than DFID.  Spain has been vocal in its opposition in 
hopes of extracting something else as part of the 
negotiations.  Incoming DG Development Commissioner Louis 
Michel has stated the need to find more appropriate funding 
lines to meet this important need in the new budget, come 
2007.  Reinforcement of DG RELEX,s &rapid reaction 
mechanism8 and an expansion of the scope of this budget line 
is one alternative being considered.  This would expand the 
EU,s ability to fund peacekeeping operations worldwide, not 
just in Africa. 
 
Minimize considered. 
 
Schnabel