OBASANJO ON LIBERIA SANCTIONS, CONTE AND THE RUF

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001048 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2011 TAGS: PREL PBTS MASS SL GV NI SUBJECT: OBASANJO ON LIBERIA SANCTIONS, CONTE AND THE RUF REF: ABUJA 959 CLASSIFIED BY CDA ANDREWS. REASON: 1.5 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) President Obasanjo told Ambassador Jeter May 5 that he was increasingly optimistic that the GOSL and the RUF could reach an accommodation. At the conclusion of their visit to Abuja (reftel),the two sides had decided to return to Sierra Leone on the same aircraft. Obasanjo opined that the RUF had made a shrewd choice in bringing Omrie Golley forward as their leader. He had not been impressed with Issa Sesay. ¶2. (C) Obasanjo said he planned to tell Charles Taylor that ECOWAS would support UN sanctions and that these would be "nothing" by comparison to what would come if Taylor did not change his behavior. ¶3. (C) Nigeria President sought U.S. assistance to encourage Lansana Conte toward greater flexibility. Obasanjo believed that, at this point, Guinea President (who did not send a representative from Conakry or even from the Guinean Mission in Abuja),was exhibiting "unreasonable intransigence." Andrews