US embassy cable - 05TUNIS1438

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 001438 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG (LAWRENCE) AND NEA/RA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2015 
TAGS: PREL, TS, UN, UNSC 
SUBJECT: TUNISIA: UN REFORM DEMARCHE 
 
REF: A. STATE 119897 
 
     B. STATE 114051 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William J. Hudson; reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) 
 
1. (C)  In a meeting on several topics June 29, the 
Ambassador offered MFA Director of Americas and Asia 
Department Hatem Atallah (A/S equivalent) a comprehensive 
summary of U.S. priorities on UN reform, covering support for 
the Democracy Fund, management reform, the creation of a 
Human Rights Council and a Peacebuilding Commission, the 
adoption of the CCT, and UNSC Reform. 
 
2. (C) Atallah focused on UNSC reform, and said that the aim 
was to achieve some kind of consensus at the AU Summit in 
Libya on the AU approach; before that, members had agreed not 
to take public positions on any of the proposals.  Atallah 
said Tunisia wanted the AU to focus not on which countries 
could be added to the Council, but rather get consensus on 
the modalities and approach.  For instance, Tunisia had not 
commented publicly on its support for any new members, 
permanent or non-permanent, although Atallah told us they 
would support Japan as a permanent member. (NB: Tunisia has a 
very fruitful development aid relationship with Japan.) 
Atallah hinted that consensus might be elusive, however, 
concluding that if there was no agreement at the Summit in 
Libya, "each country would have to go its own way on the 
issue."  The Ambassador said that we understood that current 
global realities required a change in the Security Council, 
and we welcomed African participation, but he repeated our 
position that the U.S. envisioned "two or so" new permanent 
members.  Atallah made no further comment, but said he would 
brief us after the AU Summit. 
 
3. (C) On the issue of the Democracy Fund, Atallah was 
predictably non-committal, but did not bring up the fact that 
Tunisia already supported a UN Solidarity Fund which sought 
to support development in the most needy nations, principally 
in Africa.  He sought confirmation that contributions to the 
Fund would be on a voluntary basis.   He did not offer 
substantive comment on other issues. 
 
4. (C) Comment: We will follow up with Atallah after the AU 
Summit, but we add that the Japanese DCM commented at a 
social function June 30 that the GOT had told Japan it would 
support permanent seats for Japan and Germany and probably 
two others, which slightly contradicts Atallah's statement. 
Atallah made no comment on the creation of a Human Rights 
Council, but Tunisia will see no interest in supporting the 
initiative publicly. 
 
 
HUDSON