US embassy cable - 05PARIS6336

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 006336 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PINR, PHUM, MZ, TO, IV, RW, CG, SU, FR 
SUBJECT: SANT'EGIDIO OUTLINES AFRICAN DIPLOMATIC OUTREACH 
 
 
Classified By: Minister Political Counselor Josiah B. Rosenblatt 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  Community of Sant'Egidio representatives 
reviewed their diplomatic outreach in Africa during meetings 
with Africa Watcher on the margins of the Community's 19th 
annual congress in Lyon, France, September 11-13. 
Sant'Egidio's 1992 role in brokering peace negotiations to 
end the civil war in Mozambique has translated into 
continuing efforts to insert the Community into African 
efforts at conflict resolution.  Notable areas where 
Sant'Egidio's Africa cell is trying to contribute to peace 
include the Great Lakes, Sudan, Togo, and Cote d'Ivoire.  The 
Community has lately garnered increased attention from a 
French government faced with growing unrest in Francophone 
Africa.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (U) Africa Watcher met with key members of the 
Sant'Egidio "Africa cell" during the Community's annual 
congress with world religious and government leaders, held 
September 11-13 in Lyon, France.  The attendance of 
Mozambican President Guebeza and former Portuguese President 
Soares on center statge drew attention to Sant'Egidio's role 
in brokering peace negotiations to end the civil war in 
Mozambique in the early 1990s.  (Note: Guebeza headed the 
Government of Mozambique's delegation during the nearly two 
years of talks in Trastevere, Rome.)  French Minister of 
Interior Sarkozy represented the French Government as a 
keynote speaker, addressing the French model of separation of 
Church and State. 
 
 
Sudan: Getting to know Salva Kir, Mediating with the Beja 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
3.  (SBU) Fabrizio Riccardi, who spearheads Sant'Egidio 
efforts on Sudan, praised the achievements of U.S. policy in 
reaching a peace agreement for the North-South and in 
bringing a measure of stability to Darfur.  Ensuring 
continuity after the sudden death of John Garang was a top 
priority, he said.  Sant'Egidio had enjoyed a good 
relationship with Garang.  (Note: Riccardi, a medical doctor, 
treated Garang's wife during a mid-90s visit.  His diagnosis 
of her pregnancy came as a surprise and created a bond with 
Garang, who subsequently named the daughter Roma, he 
claimed.)  Sant'Egidio had no links to speak of to Salva Kir, 
Garang's successor as SPLM/A leader and 1st Vice President of 
Sudan.  Working through Kir's aide Samson Kwaje, Sant'Egidio 
was making overtures to host Salva Kir in Rome, with an eye 
to opening a dialogue on outreach to Darfur. 
 
4.  (SBU) Riccardi said exchanges continued between Darfur 
rebel leaders and Sant'Egidio, building on the May 2005 
meetings in Rome organized under the aegis of the Community 
in close coordination with AF/SPG.  Sant'Egidio shared USG 
concerns that the Abuja talks could suffer if plans for an 
SLM conference within Darfur at the same time go forward.  He 
asserted that Sant'Egidio had conveyed that position to SLM 
leader Minawi and urged, like the USG, that the SLM delay its 
meetings until after Abuja, preferably immediately before 
Ramadan.  Fractures within the SLM were a major hurdle in 
advancing the strategy on Darfur, he said. 
 
5.  (C) Turning to unrest in eastern Sudan, Riccardi proposed 
that Sant'Egidio may be well-placed to launch a dialogue with 
Beja rebels, partly, he claimed, because Eritrean President 
Isaias Afwerki (whom Riccardi described as otherwise "raving 
mad") will not feel threatened by Sant'Egidio involvement in 
Asmara.  Isaias visits Rome about twice a year and visits 
with Sant'Egidio, according to Riccardi.  Isaias's benign 
attitude toward Sant'Egidio stems first and foremost from the 
Community's support -- including occasional meals -- for two 
former Eritrean rebel representatives present in Rome during 
the "Struggle."  Sant'Egidio benefited, too, from carefully 
separating its approach from that of the Italian government, 
which had taken an outright pro-Ethiopian stance during the 
Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict, Riccardi said.  Sant'Egidio's 
aims with the Beja were modest, for instance organizing a 
technical workshop.  Sant'Egidio conveyed an initial 
invitation to the Beja just over two weeks ago and the 
response was encouraging. 
 
 
West Africa: Inklings of the Sant'Egidio Rolodex 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
6.  (C) Mario Giro, the Sant'Egidio sherpa for West Africa, 
said a number of parties to the Cote d'Ivoire unrest had been 
consulting the Community.  Most prominently, Cote d'Ivoire 
President Gbagbo phones Giro directly almost every week, he 
said.  Once Gbagbo tracked down Giro in Togo and immediately 
dispatched the presidential plane to fly Giro to Cote 
d'Ivoire, he said, adding how surreal it felt being the only 
passenger on board the jet.  Everyone, including the French, 
was stymied, Giro said, claiming that French Presidential 
Adviser for Africa Michel de Bonnecorse calls him regularly, 
and that Nathalie de La Palme, the Quai counselor and 
architect of the Linas-Marcoussis accords, was traveling to 
Lyon for Tuesday, September 13 discussions.  Even Charles Ble 
Goude, the Young Patriots militia leader, had approached 
Sant'Egidio to broker a meeting with the Quai d'Orsay, but 
the Quai had refused.  In Giro's judgment, the present 
impasse could only be broken through a dramatic move, for 
instance, through USG collaboration with Sant'Egidio in 
arranging meetings with the parties at a technical level -- 
meetings that, to be effective, should exclude the French, he 
added, given Ivoirians deep hostility toward Paris. 
 
7.  (SBU) On Togo, Giro said Sant'Egidio maintained contact 
with Information Minister Pitang Tchalla and was exploring 
organizing another encounter between President Faure and 
Olympio Gilchrist, in a sequel to the meeting arranged by 
Sant'Egidio in July 2005.  It was important to nurture 
contact between the parties, he commented. 
 
 
Great Lakes: Hope Remains on FDLR Return and Disarmament 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
8. (SBU) Don Matteo Zuppi, the lead Sant'Egidio Africanist, 
was emphatic in his belief that there was still a chance that 
the FDLR would abide by the terms of the Rome declaration, 
disarm, and return to Rwanda.  However, the FDLR were looking 
first for assurances that, after their return, they would 
have some kind of status, even if short of that of a formal 
political party.  The FDLR were also concerned about the 
nature of any judicial investigations that might follow, 
wanting their to be some provision for international or 
outside controls. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
9.  (C) Although in public Sant'Egidio continues to showcase 
its successful Mozambican mediation efforts of the early 90s, 
the Community is engaged in a discreetly expanding program of 
African outreach that seems to bring it into the margins of 
ever more crises of interest.  These dedicated personalities, 
armed with a legion of mobile telephones, and enjoying a wide 
measure of trust, have remarkable access across Africa, and, 
it would appear, even within the French government.  French 
consultation of Sant'Egidio, however, should not be taken as 
a complete vote of confidence.  Is Bonnecorse really turning 
to Sant'Egidio as a back channel or a means to float trial 
balloons? Is he keeping tabs on Sant'Egidio activities and 
African reactions within a region once viewed as the French 
backyard?  Or is he, too, hoping that Sant'Egidio's unique 
approach may just happen to land the big brass ring one more 
time? Despite high-level communications with Paris, 
Sant'Egidio's Mario Giro bluntly advised on the benefits of 
sidelining the French in Cote d'Ivoire mediation efforts. 
Fabio Riccardi similarly remarked to Africa Watcher that 
French ties in Chad would always disqualify France from a 
leadership role in addressing Darfur.  At the Quai, Bruno 
Foucher, West Africa Director, reacted with interest to word 
of La Palme's planned visit to Lyon, but advised that her 
contacts can be ad hoc and should not be over-interpreted. 
Nonetheless, French interaction with Sant'Egidio appears to 
be growing, if only in recognition of the Community's own 
expanding outreach into Francophone Africa.  Africa Watcher 
looks forward to Embassy Vatican's continued reporting on 
Sant'Egidio's diplomatic activities. 
STAPLETON