South Africa paid Zimbabwe $100m a month for peace to host World Cup

The South African government paid Zimbabwe $100 million a month for civil servants salaries to maintain peace in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup according to a cable released by Wikileaks.

This was disclosed by United States assistant secretary Philip Carter who also expressed regret at the lack of leadership that Pretoria was displaying.

Civil servants in Harare started receiving salaries in US dollars after the formation of the inclusive government.

Although the United States and the European Union, which had imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe, welcomed the new government they insisted that sanctions should not be lifted until there were positive signs that there was progress.

Roger Moore of the European Union said it would be disastrous for the international community to fall for the “Come and Save Morgan blackmail” but added that the international community should not miss an opportunity to influence “a delicate phase when things could go right” in Zimbabwe.

He said the head of the EU mission in Harare was talking daily to select government ministers at Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s recommendation.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 09BRUSSELS318, U.S.-EU TROIKA MEETING ON AFRICA FEBRUARY 27

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TAGS: PREL MARR EAID ETTC XA EUN CH

SUBJECT: U.S.-EU TROIKA MEETING ON AFRICA FEBRUARY 27

Classified By: Political M-C Christopher Davis for reasons 1.4 (b) and

(d).

¶1. (C) Summary: Acting AF Assistant Secretary Phillip

Carter represented the U.S. at the troika meeting with the EU

on Africa issues, held February 27 in Brussels. The agenda

included the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan),

Zimbabwe, West Africa (Mauritania and Guinea), the Great

Lakes Region, Peace and Security in Africa, and Development

in Africa. Before the meeting closed, Carter raised the

issue of cooperation with China in Africa as well. The

troika provided the context for an exchange of views on a

variety of issues on which both sides generally agree,

although the EU,s willingness to include Mauritanian coup

leader Aziz in negotiations is at odds with our approach.

End Summary.

Somalia

¶2. (C) The European Commission (EC) kicked off the

discussion on Somalia by citing three key issues:

inclusiveness in the government, AMISOM, and the regional

context. The EC supports incorporating all comers into the

government, provided they wish to reconcile. AA/S Carter

agreed that inclusiveness could help the Transitional Federal

Government (TFG) deal with the &spoilers,8 but warned that

al Shabab,s hard core, allied with &foreign fighters,8

will likely have to be dealt with in another way, which

President Sheik Sharif understands.   On AMISOM, the EC said

the operation was absorbing more and more money. Carter

challenged this characterization of AMISOM saying the

operation was if anything constrained and underfunded, and

needed to be made more robust. He cited poor management by

the African Union, notably available AU funding for AMISOM

which has not been used . The need for better management

does not absolve the donor community of the need to increase

funding to the operation. To the EC,s expressed concern

that all the Horn of Africa conflicts were growing

interrelated and would necessitate a regional solution,

Carter said there are more immediate threats, such as the

security situation in Somalia, that we can deal with

directly. Mentioning Ethiopia and Eritrea, he said

approaching the Horn as a region raises more chronic issues

that we can treat over time and with a different tool kit.

Ethiopia

¶3. (C) Both the EC and U.S. voiced similar concerns about

Ethiopia. The EC said there was currently internal EU debate

over how to support elections next year, given the

restrictive NGO law, among other things. The EC said it was

taking proposals from NGOs to test the Ethiopian

Government,s interpretation of that law. The EC also voiced

concerns about Eritrea, saying a solution to the border issue

would improve the situation there. AA/S Carter agreed that

Ethiopia,s failure to address legitimate opposition and

civil society demands creates the danger of widespread social

unrest, and expressed concern about PM Meles,s steps to

reduce the political space in advance of the 2010 elections.

He welcomed the move to test the NGO law, and encouraged the

EU to press the Government of Ethiopia to allow the

international community to develop capacity-building programs

for local governments, and to establish an international

observer presence in key cities and rural areas at least six

months in advance of national elections. He also cast doubt

on whether resolving the border issue would truly solve the

problem in Eritrea, saying the problem was one of leadership

rather than the border.

Sudan (and Chad)

¶4. (C) Bronislava Tomasova, Africa Director in the Czech

MFA, led off the discussion of Sudan for the Czech Presidency

by saying that the EU is considering how the likely ICC

arrest warrant for Bashir would impact the country and is

contemplating how the EU as a whole should react. She said

the Council had agreed to keep the EU reaction low profile in

order not to derail the peace process; the EU will simply

release a declaration. The Council is also discussing how

the EU should conduct business with the Sudanese Government

if Bashir stays in power. Tomasova said the EU and Member

States would continue to engage the government to keep the

Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) dialogue going, but

contact with Bashir himself would be restricted. AA/S Carter

said the U.S. would have a muted response to the indictment

and was encouraging others to follow suit. He informed the

EU that Sudanese Government officials intend for there to be

a restrained response in Sudan, and do not anticipate hostile

acts against foreigners or UNAMID. AA/S Carter said the ICC

has to follow its course and address impunity. He said that

the U.S. would continue high-level engagement with the

Government of Sudan on a range of issues, including

counterterrorism and the CPA, but would not look for

BRUSSELS 00000318 002 OF 004

opportunities to &grip and grin8 with Bashir. He also

warned that CPA implementation is the linchpin keeping Sudan

from collapsing into widespread conflict again. He added

that the EU was uniquely placed to help resolve a range of

issues in Chad, and thanked the EU for its EUFOR operation in

eastern Chad.

¶5. (C) Czech Director Tomasova and Carter exchanged views

on the challenges facing credible elections in 2009 and their

sequencing with a referendum in Southern Sudan, Carter saying

the latter should not be held without the former. If a

referendum were held today, he added, Southern Sudan would

separate. But how would the Southern Sudanese survive,

Carter asked rhetorically, noting a disconcerting split among

the Dinka themselves. .

¶6. (SBU) Closing the Horn of Africa discussions, the Czech

Presidency said the Member States were in the midst of

developing a strategy toward the Horn, and that the U.S.

perspective would be important. AA/S Carter urged more

coordination than normal as both the EU and the U.S. conduct

policy reviews.

Zimbabwe

¶7. (C) Tomasova said Zimbabwe is a difficult issue for the

European Union, which is in a wait-and-see mode at the

moment. The EU Member States see the value in a unity

government that includes Morgan Tsvangirai, but only if that

government is effective. The EU is willing to provide

financial assistance to the Government of Zimbabwe, but only

if it responds to the will of the eople and improves its

human rights practices. The Member States agree on

maintaining inormal contacts with members of the ZimbabweanGovernment, watching for signals that the humanrights and

political conditions are improving. Noting that Robert

Mugabe called for an end of sanctions, but offered no

reforms, AA/S Carter stressed that there should be no new

development assistance and no easing of sanctions, absent,

for example, the release of 30 political prisoners, which he

termed a precondition. Carter reassured our EU interlocutors

that U.S. sanctions are targeted against specific individuals

and institutions, and that it is his hope that we can

overcome problems delivering humanitarian assistance.

¶8. (C) While the international community needs to be firm

on conditions for reengagement, we should not get blamed for

a unity government,s collapse, Carter said, noting that

Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC party were now under duress in

having to deliver the IC . The Commission,s Roger Moore

said it would indeed be &disastrous8 for the international

community to fall for &Come-and-save-Morgan! blackmail.8

Still, Moore said the IC should not miss this opportunity to

influence &a delicate phase when things could go right8

and when South Africa is desperate to solve the Zimbabwe

crisis. Accordingly, he said, the EC,s Head of Mission in

Harare is talking daily to select government ministers, at

Morgan Tsvangirai,s recommendation. AA/S Carter responded

that our Ambassador in Harare is also engaging all elements.

Carter noted South Africa,s regrettable lack of leadership,

however; it instead pays 100 million dollars a month for

salaries in Zimbabwe as a down payment for tranquillity for

the World Cup South Africa will host in 2010. Carter said

the Department will host a meeting on Zimbabwe in Washington

of like-minded8 donors, o/a March 20, to which the Czech EU

presidency would be invited.

Mauritania and Guinea

¶9. (C) AA/S Carter emphasized that the U.S. and EU need to

take a strong position against extra-constitutional changes

of government in general, and coups in particular, especially

given troubling signs of regression in democracy,

particularly in West Africa. He argued that the EU,s

worries about illegal immigration will not be solved by

acquiescing to a military coup. He said that the

international community needs to hold Guinean coup leader

Dadis Camara to his commitments to lift the ban on political

party and union activity and to commit to a specific

timetable for elections, as well as to stand by his pledge

not to run for office himself. Carter urged the EU to

maintain firm opposition to the Mauritanian coup by cutting

off all but humanitarian assistance and announcing the

consideration of targeted sanctions against the junta.

¶10. (C) Tomasova and Manuel Lopez-Blanco of the Commission

said that the EU,s reaction to the Mauritanian coup included

a freezing of non-humanitarian assistance, but not an

imposition of new restrictive measures, which presently

lacked a required EU-27 consensus . While the EU called for

the restoration of Abdallahi,s presidency when he was

overthrown, said Tomasova, &We now see that Abdallahi may

not have had necessary democratic support;8 therefore, the

EU now favors a process of internal political dialogue by all

parties.   If there were consensual agreement &to discuss a

return to the path of democracy,8 Lopez-Blanco said, then

BRUSSELS 00000318 003 OF 004

that would be a sign of progress which could trigger

unfreezing some assistance. He said the Commission, in fact,

was proposing to the Council a plan to restart development

assistance incrementally as certain conditions are met. He

added that such step-by-step reengagement would create

incentives for further reform. Lopez-Blanco went on to say

that the solution should be an African one, adding that the

EU and U.S. should stand behind the AU and ECOWAS and not

lecture them.   On Guinea, the EC said it was trying to keep

ECOWAS and the AU out front, while maintaining the conditions

stipulated by the Cotonou agreement.

¶11. (C) AA/S Carter responded that the U.S. does not share

this gradual, incremental view, but rather viewed the

restoration of democracy as a prerequisite. He said that

Aziz should not have a seat at the negotiating table and the

EU,s approach takes the pressure off him. Carter said the

AU is urging us to keep the pressure on; it is not a question

of imposing outside standards. The same is the case for

Guinea, where ECOWAS leaders have been shocked at the

behavior of junta leader Camara.

Great Lakes

¶12. (C) AA/S Carter said the key issue for the Great Lakes

region is the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He said

that the humiliation of the FARDC and the erosion of his

political base in the east led Kabila to propose that Kagame

cooperate against the CNDP of Laurent Nkunda and the FDLR, in

a real &game changer.8 Carter said DRC collaboration with

Uganda and Southern Sudan against the Lord,s Resistance Army

had provided a model for DRC-Rwandan cooperation against the

CNDP and FDLR. Responding to questions, he said Kagame,s

interest in cooperating with Kabila stems from the desire to

attract investors to Rwanda by increasing security in the

neighborhood. Carter noted that this was a &marriage of

convenience,8 but suggested it could be a long marriage.

Responding to further questions, he said Rwanda sees its

involvement in eastern Congo against the FDLR as an

intelligence operation, and that troops could come back into

the area for targeted operations as necessary. While the

focus is now on North Kivu, South Kivu, where the FDLR is

well entrenched, is a longer-term problem, which Rwanda would

like to help solve without violence. Carter said the USG has

a military team in the east working to promote the message of

a peaceful solution to the long-standing problem of the FDLR,

many of whose current members are too young to have been

involved in the Rwandan genocide. He said MONUC needs to be

enlarged with combat-capable forces, and called for greater

international coordination on security sector reform, voicing

support for the EU,s EUSEC and EUPOL missions.

Peace and Security

¶13. (U) Sebastien Bergeron, of the Council Secretariat’s

Office for African Peacekeeping Capabilities, provided a

review of the Joint EU-Africa Strategy, emphasizing the peace

and security pillar of that strategy. He said the main

challenge is in building up the African Union,s Peace and

Security architecture and described EU efforts to build the

African Standby Force and to coordinate with the UN, NATO,

and other actors. Given the EU,s involvement, he said a

meeting with AFRICOM might be useful.

¶14. (SBU) AA/S Carter said the primary gaps in African

capacity are adequacy of funding for operations and

equipment, standardized doctrine, strategic lift, logistics

and sustainment, and mission leadership. He underscored the

need to focus donor assistance on filling gaps to meet peace

support operation requirements, increasing the quantity and

quality of police, and augmenting civilian peacebuilding

resources. He acknowledged the important role of the EU,s

Peace Support Facility, noted the EU,s counter-piracy

operation, and underlined the need to focus the AU more on

maritime safety and security and to support capacity building

efforts. Responding to the proposal for an AFRICOM meeting,

he said policy-level EU interaction with AFRICOM should be

conducted via the Department of State, or through U.S.

missions in the field. U.S. diplomatic missions or the

Bureau of African Affairs could then put the EU in touch with

the appropriate people in AFRICOM for military coordination.

Development in Africa

¶15. (SBU) AA/S Carter noted that the USG is undertaking a

review of assistance towards sub-Saharan Africa, but that the

overall commitment is unlikely to change. He said that

programs to fight HIV/AIDS, in particular, enjoy widespread

support in the U.S. He noted that the June 2007 OECD

Development Assistance Peer Review of the European Commission

recommended that the EC emphasize results in its development

agenda. Adopting more coherent operational strategies would

ensure that poverty eradication, the Millennium Development

Goals, and cross-cutting issues such as gender, the

environment, and HIV/AIDS are addressed. He said that we

enjoy good cooperation with the EC in the field and would

BRUSSELS 00000318 004 OF 004

like to advance that cooperation further, focused on

country-led strategies. He noted that the February 20

U.S.-EU dialogue on a common agenda for regional economic

integration in sub-Saharan Africa was a promising first step

in moving collaboration forward.

¶16. (SBU) The EC responded by noting that the U.S. has

taken its &distance8 from multilateral development fora,

something AA/S Carter suggested may change with the new

administration. The EC also expressed its intent to engage

with the U.S. on practical ways to work together.

China

¶17. (C) Before the meeting concluded, AA/S Carter said we

have a unique opportunity to engage China in Africa. He said

the U.S. welcomes economic competition with China,

particularly as the Chinese engage international standards of

accountability and transparency. He noted China,s openness

to working with us on development and praised our ongoing

dialogue with the Chinese on Africa. He also noted that

China is starting to recognize that Africa,s governance

problems can impact Chinese economic interests, so it is not

enough only to seek profit. Tomasova said the EU Member

States are reflecting on China,s role in Africa and

considering the possibility of &trilateral8 cooperation

with China in Africa. The Council Secretariat cautioned that

China maintains that Africans must first accept the concept,

and the Africans are, so far, reticent.

¶18. (U) Participants:

Phillip Carter, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for

African Affairs

Christopher Davis, Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs,

USEU

Robert Blackstone, Political-Military Officer, USEU

Bronislava Tomasova, Africa Director, Czech MFA

Amb. Petr Kopriva, Czech Permanent Representation, Chair of

the EU,s Africa Working Group

Zdenek Beranek, Horn of Africa Desk, Czech MFA

Petra Postlerova, Czech Permanent Representation, National

Delegate to Africa Working Group

Johan Ndisi, Swedish Permanent Representation, National

Delegate to Africa Working Group

Sandra Thorsson, Swedish Permanent Representation, National

Delegate to Africa Working Group

Roger Moore, Director ACP III, European Commission

Manuel Lopez-Blanco, Director ACP II, European Commission

Henriette Geiger, Deputy Head of Unit, Horn of Africa,

Eastern Africa and Indian Ocean, European Commission

Thomas Peyker, Relations with the EU and ACP Institutions

Unit, European Commission

Axel Pougin Maisonneuve, Relations with the EU and ACP

Institutions Unit, European Commission

Marie-Louise Lindorfer, DG External Relations Africa Unit, EU

Council Secretariat

Sebastien Bergeron, SG/HR Office for African Peacekeeping

Capabilitie.

MURRAY

(28 VIEWS)