CORRECTED COPY: NIGERIA: EMBASSY REVISITS ISSUE OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 002566 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR DAS PERRY, LONDON FOR GURNEY, PARIS FOR NEARY E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/03/2012 TAGS: PREL MOPS XY LI IV NI ECOWAS SUBJECT: CORRECTED COPY: NIGERIA: EMBASSY REVISITS ISSUE OF FALSE ECOWAS REPORT CLAIMING US/UK LURD CONNECTION REF: A. ABUJA 02016 ¶B. PERRY-BROWNE EMAIL CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR HOWARD F. JETER. REASON 1.5 (B) and (D). Corrected Copy: Tags, text corrections. ¶1. This is an action message; see paragraph 7. ¶2. (C) Summary. Ambassador again raised allegations of U.S./ UK support for Lurd in Liberia with ECOWAS Deputy Executive Secretary, General Cheick Diarra. After reiterating that the SIPDIS U.S. and UK do not support Lurd rebels in any way, the Ambassador asked that ECOWAS publicly deny GOL claims that their information came from an official, authorized, and approved ECOWAS report. Diarra agreed to present USG position to Executive Secretary Chambas, and requested that U.S. provide ECOWAS with a copy of the report being disseminated by GOL Embassy in Abidjan. End Summary ¶3. (C) In an August 29 meeting with ECOWAS Deputy Executive Secretary Diarra, Ambassador Jeter recalled his July 3 SIPDIS meeting on the same subject and reemphasized that GOL claims of U.S. and UK support of Lurd forces were both false and malicious. The U.S. was concerned because continued propagation of these false allegations could harm U.S. relations and interests in the West African sub-region and damage U.S. relations with ECOWAS just as those relations were at their strongest. Because the claims were allegedly based on an official ECOWAS report, the Ambassador asked that ECOWAS join the USG in publicly "clearing the air". ¶4. (C) General Diarra explained that the report being cited was a raw draft crafted by the Ecowas-mandated Military Mission to Liberia. He explained that the ECOWAS Secretariat rejected the claims of U.S./UK complicity with the Lurd and its final report made no mention of the allegations. To reinforce his sincerity, Diarra gave the Ambassador a copy of the Executive Secretariat Memorandum and the Military Assessment Mission to Liberia, and the final Report of the Ninth Ministerial Meeting of the Mediation and Security Council, held on the margins of the AU summit in Durban. (Both will be faxed to AF/W.) ¶5. (C) Ambassador Jeter stated that, since the allegations were being made in the name of ECOWAS, it seemed to be incumbent on ECOWAS to refute publicly the allegations now being peddled anew by the GOL. He also endorsed Diarra's suggestion that ECOWAS write officially to member-state governments that the ECOWAS Secretariat did not concur with statements made in the report of the Military Mission to Liberia alleging U.S./UK support and complicity with the Lurd. The Ambassador also said that he would recommend that the U.S. issue its own public statement denying the allegations. General Diarra agreed to present our request to Executive Secretary Chambas as soon as possible, and promised to report the Executive Secretary's views as soon as possible. ¶6. (C) Later on the evening of August 29, Ambassador spoke with ECOWAS Executive Secretary Chambas, who is currently traveling in Sweden. It was agreed that the following steps should be taken:(a)the U.S. should lodge a formal written protest of the allegations made in the ECOWAS Military Mission Report; (b) the ECOWAS Secretariat would circulate the U.S. protest to all ECOWAS member-states; and (c) the Secretariat would then issue a public statement acknowledging SIPDIS the U.S. protest and indicate that the official ECOWAS Report on the Military Mission did not include subject allegations against the U.S. and UK. Chambas said the wording of the ECOWAS public statement would be coordinated with the Embassy. 7.(C) Action Request: Please provide the text of the protest that the Embassy can then convey to the ECOWAS Secretariat, in the form of a letter or diplomatic note. JETER