GENERAL FOGLESONG'S VISIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001394

SIPDIS

EUCOM FOR USAFE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/27/2014
TAGS: PREL MOPS NI
SUBJECT: GENERAL FOGLESONG'S VISIT


Classified By: Ambassador John Campbell for Reasons 1.5 (B & D).


1. (C) Embassy hosted 8-10 August a visit to Abuja by
General Robert H. Foglesong, Commander, U.S. Air Forces in
Europe (USAFE). His purpose in his first-ever trip to
Nigeria was to establish personal contact with senior
Nigerian military officials and set the stage for greater
security assistance initiatives with the Nigerian Air Force.
General Foglesong and delegation, accompanied by the
Ambassador and DATT, paid office calls August 9 on National
Security Advisor (NSA) Aliyu Mohammed, Minister of Defence
(MOD) Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Minister of State for Defence
Dr. Rowland Oritsejafor, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General
Alexander O. Ogomudia, and Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air
Marshal Jonah D. Wuyup. The Ambassador also hosted a
reception for senior Nigerian military officials and officers
with ambassadors and defense attaches from ECOWAS member
states.

GULF OF GUINEA SECURITY


2. (C) During the office call, NSA Aliyu Mohammed emphasized
that the Gulf of Guinea is Nigeria's "livelihood," and
asserted that its vast petroleum resources established its
considerable and growing importance to the United States. In
light of the Gulf's mutual import to both countries, the NSA
expressed the GON's desire to collaborate with the United
States on securing the Gulf of Guinea. In doing so, the NSA
went further forward than other GON officials in requesting
U.S. assistance in the Gulf. CAS Wuyup also stressed Gulf of
Guinea security, against the backdrop of increasing
instability in the Middle East threatening world and U.S.
access to that region's petroleum reserves. CDS Ogomudia
described the many threats to stability in the Niger Delta
region, including economic and ethnic, but emphasized the
most dire as the criminal, in the form of smuggling, illegal
oil bunkering and kidnapping.

COUNTERTERRORISM


3. (C) The NSA underscored that Nigeria's porous borders
made the country vulnerable to the threat of international
terrorism. Minister Kwankwaso also highlighted the fight
against terrorism as a shared, mutual priority with the U.S.,
as did CDS Ogomudia. The CDS emphasized that
counterterrorism intelligence sharing and what he called
"denial of funds" are important priorities in the mutual
efforts of Nigeria and the United States in the war against
terrorism.

STABILITY IN LIBYA


4. (C) The NSA claimed to have visited Libya over 100 times
in the past few decades. The NSA said Libyans had become
tired of their isolation from the rest of the world. He
described a mellowed President Muammar Qaddafi as now grown
beyond his earlier "revolutionary" days, in part because of
the influence of his Western educated children --
particularly one daughter attending university in London.
The NSA felt the next stage for Libya in the coming years
would include elections with independent parties; but
whatever came, he firmly held that change would happen only
gradually.

CAPACITY BUILDING IN THE NIGERIAN MILITARY


5. (C) Raising Gulf of Guinea stability and Nigeria's border
vulnerabilities, the NSA requested further U.S. assistance in
securing them both, specifically suggesting enhancements in
Nigerian peacekeeping operations capability, and humanitarian
aid and airlift capacity. The CDS saw a need for U.S.
assistance in improving Nigeria's military capacity to
stabilize the Niger Delta region, including improved Nigerian
airlift, C-130 spare parts, buoy tenders and more joint
training. Citing the recent transfer of former U.S. Coast
Guard buoy tenders to the Nigerian Navy, the CAS declared
that now is the time to improve the Nigerian military's
capacity and capability to handle the sources of instability
in the Gulf of Guinea and the Delta. He described improving
Nigerian-U.S. military-to-military relations as a key point
of mutual interest.


6. (C) COMMENT: The meeting with Aliyu Mohammed was the
most substantive, and the National Security Advisor went the
furthest in outlining a possible enhanced U.S.-Nigeria
security relationship. In subsequent remarks to the press,
General Ogomudia, too, foreshadowed an enhanced security
relationship. However, the presence of U.S. security
personnel in anything other than the smallest numbers will be
deeply controversial with President Obasanjo's legion of
critics, and could clearly affect the longer term prospects
for his government. The President is already seen as in our
pocket, and the U.S. is seen as a primary prop for his
government. For that reason, the President and those around
him may be less forward leaning than Aliyu Mohammed or
Ogomudia.


7. (U) General Foglesong and party were unable to clear this
cable prior to departure.
CAMPBELL