NIGERIA: A PARTICIPANT'S PERSPECTIVE ON NEPAD

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001346

SIPDIS


AF FOR DAS PERRY; AF/W FOR BOOTH, EPSTEIN
E FOR ANN PENCE
DAKAR FOR POL/ECON


E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2012
TAGS: PREL EFIN ECIN ECON EAID PGOV NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: A PARTICIPANT'S PERSPECTIVE ON NEPAD


REF: A. STATE 35582

B. PERRY-JETER FAX 03/29/02

C. ABUJA 1027


Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter; Reason 1.5 (b/d).



1. (C) SUMMARY: PolMilOff met on April 9 with Egyptian First
Secretary Gamal Metwally for a read-out on the NEPAD meeting

SIPDIS
in Abuja March 26. While the achievements of the young
organization have been more rhetorical than real, some
progress has thus far apparently been achieved in defining
the group's organizational structure and in refining the
various mandates that will ultimately be NEPAD's task to
fulfill. END SUMMARY.


=========
STRUCTURE
=========



2. (U) Organizationally, NEPAD consists of three main bodies,
the NEPAD Secretariat, a Steering Committee and an
Implementation Committee. The Secretariat (www.nepad.org) is
based in Pretoria, and logistical support for the
Secretariat's operations is the responsibility of the SAG.

SIPDIS
The Steering Committee is composed of five countries (Egypt,
Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa). Each member of
this quintet has been tasked with developing policy papers
and proposals on various aspects of NEPAD's development
mandate:


--Egypt: Market Access, Diversification of Products and
Agriculture
--Algeria: Human Development (education, health, etc.)
--Nigeria: Economic Governance and Capital Flows
--Senegal: Infrastructure (energy, IT, etc.)
--South Africa: Political Governance: Peace, Security and
Democracy



3. (U) Fifteen countries comprise the Implementation
Committee; three from each of the five African sub-regions
(as decided by the Lusaka Summit in July 2001). This
Committee is responsible for reviewing and making
recommendations based upon the papers by the Steering
Committee. The breakdown is as follows:


-NORTH AFRICA: Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia
-EAST AFRICA: Ethiopia, Mauritius and Rwanda
-WEST AFRICA: Nigeria, Senegal and Mali
-CENTRAL AFRICA: Cameroon, Gabon and Congo
-SOUTHERN AFRICA: South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana


In addition to holding a separate Implementation Committee
gathering on the margins of the Dakar Private Sector NEPAD
Meeting (15-17 April),the Committee plans to conduct similar
sidebars at the Rome World Food Summit (10-13 June),the
Ottawa G-8 Meeting (26-28 June) and the Durban OAU Summit (8
July).



4. (C) COMMENT: Ref B sparked some concern in Washington,
particularly the document listing Liberia, Libya and Sudan as
members of a Committee on Peace, Governance and Democracy
(Political Governance). The Egyptian explained that the
groupings in reftel B were ad hoc formulations for the
meetings at the World Economic Forum in New York only. While
the designation of the chairmen of the committees (i.e. South
Africa's Thabo Mbeki for Political Governance) is firm, the
rest of the committees' membership remains a work in
progress. Those that helped fill the Political Governance
Committee during the World Economic Forum will likely not be
replicated when NEPAD permanently fills the committee,
particularly those countries that have not participated in
any NEPAD deliberations thus far. END COMMENT.


==========
HIGHLIGHTS
==========



5. (C) Prior to the Summit, the Steering Committee met March
23, and agreed on the need for a code of standards on good
governance, human rights, democracy and freedom of
expression. The group also agreed that they should propose
that the OAU/AU establish a special committee that would
undertake a peer review every three years, and would report
its findings and recommendations to NEPAD.



6. (C) According to the Egyptian diplomat, there were six
significant points raised at the Summit itself.


a) Nigeria urged the attendees that NEPAD should rebuff any
donor attempts to interfere in African domestic affairs as a
precondition for supporting NEPAD (i.e. Zimbabwe).


b) The assembly agreed on the need for African civil society
to participate in the work of the Implementation Committee.


c) The attendees agreed to expand NEPAD to include
participation of all African countries.


d) They decided that NEPAD was not a new, independent
organization, but that it falls under the aegis of the OAU/AU.


e) The Summit identified as priority the need to develop an
assessment paper to distribute at the G-8 Summit explaining
the goals of NEPAD.


f) Summiteers stressed the utility of regional and
sub-regional organizations' participation in implementing the
NEPAD program.



7. (C) During the Summit, Algerian President Bouteflika
proposed the establishment of an African Penal Court, which
will be discussed further at the OAU Summit in July in
Durban. Additionally, Nigeria presented a draft declaration
on democracy and good governance, and requested the document
be endorsed by NEPAD.


=======
COMMENT
=======



8. (C) Nigeria and other African states were somewhat rattled
by Washington's linkage of our support for NEPAD to African
Governments' positions on the Zimbabwean election. As stated
to us by a Canadian diplomat reflecting on PM Chretien's
visit to Nigeria April 4-7, Obasanjo sees himself as one of
the good guys in Africa, and thus expects additional latitude
from his partners such as the United States when dealing with
African issues. He also expects strong Western support for
NEPAD.



9. (C) The Egyptian diplomat confided that while African
leaders had a tradition of making grand statements while
doing little to implement their ideas, they now appeared to
understand the importance of doing the necessary but
difficult work of making NEPAD a reality.
JETER