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RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 2557

C O N F I D E N T I A L DILI 000019 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, EUR/WE, AF/S 
USUN FOR RICHARD MCCURRY 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  1/17/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PREL AS JA MZ PO TT
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT GUSMAO DECLINES TO MEET ON JOINT DEMARCHE 
 
REF: (A) DILI 595, (B) STATE 197162 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: W. Gary Gray, Charge d'Affaires, U.S. Embassy 
Dili, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary.  President Gusmao has declined to meet the 
Australian, Japanese, Portuguese, and U.S. chiefs of mission to 
receive the Ref B joint demarche previously delivered to former 
Prime Minister Alkatiri (Ref A). Through his Chief of Staff the 
President conveyed that he was well aware of the contents of the 
demarche, which urges him and Alkatiri to work out an 
accommodation, but saw it as overtaken by events since in his 
view he already had made sufficient overtures to the former 
Prime Minister.  The demarche in the form of a nonpaper 
nevertheless was conveyed to the President's Chief of Staff 
before Gusmao's departure to the U.S. on January 17.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Following the delivery of Ref B joint demarche to former 
Prime Minister Alkatiri on December 14 (Ref A), the four 
missions involved made repeated attempts to obtain an 
appointment with President Gusmao.  A meeting was scheduled for 
December 21, but the President's office cancelled it at the last 
minute. Following Gusmao's absence from the country during most 
of the ensuing holiday period, further attempts were made to 
secure an appointment. On January 12, however, Presidential 
Chief of Staff Agio Perreira informed the Australian Charge 
d'Affaires that the President had made a firm decision not to 
meet with the four chiefs of mission in regard to this demarche. 
 Perreira said the President was well aware of the contents of 
the demarche (this joint demarche has become common knowledge 
among informed diplomatic and government circles in Dili), but 
strongly felt that it had been overtaken by events since he 
already had made sufficient overtures to the former Prime 
Minister.  In subsequent discussions the four missions agreed to 
propose that the demarche at least be delivered to Perreira as a 
nonpaper to ensure that the President had an accurate version of 
what had been conveyed to Alkatiri.  Perreira agreed to this and 
the nonpaper was delivered to him shortly before he and the 
President departed to the U.S. on January 17. 
 
¶3. (C) While Gusmao's refusal to meet is disappointing, it is 
Embassy's assessment that this joint demarche has had a positive 
effect here.  As noted above, it became widely known around Dili 
that four of the major donors were pressing for the two leaders 
to reach an accommodation, and this in itself delivered a strong 
message. The joint demarche also established a valuable 
precedent for further cooperation among the diplomatic missions 
here on such issues.  Since the genesis of this joint demarche, 
the President and the former Prime Minister have indeed taken 
some significant steps, meeting together and appearing jointly 
in public at a December 10 "traditional peace ceremony."   More 
recently, however, the momentum for this mutual accommodation 
process seems to have slowed, and there are indications that 
there is again strong potential for conflict between the two 
leaders on issues such as the timing of the elections.  Embassy 
would therefore recommend that the points of the joint demarche 
be reinforced in any meetings with Gusmao in his upcoming visit 
to Washington. 
 
GRAY