MFA ON DARFUR AU PROTECTION FORCE, BAKASSI

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001657

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/RSA AND PM/RSAT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/25/2014
TAGS: PREL MOPS SU NI CM DARFUR
SUBJECT: MFA ON DARFUR AU PROTECTION FORCE, BAKASSI

REF: A. STATE 205152


B. STATE 199577

C. ABUJA 1648 AND PREVIOUS

D. YAOUNDE 1443 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Political Counselor James Maxstadt for Reasons 1.5 b and
d.


1. (C) Polcouns met September 24 in the evening with the MFA
UnderSecretary for African Affairs, Ambassador Ukonga, to
make the Ref A demarche on Darfur and discuss Bakassi per Ref

B. U/S Ukonga said President Obasanjo was pleased that our
joint efforts on Darfur were succeeding. She was rather
surprised that the AU Peace and Security Council would be
meeting on Monday, September 27, as Nigeria is the PSC chair.
After stepping out to make a few phone calls, she said she
thought that if such a meeting were held that day it would
have been arranged by AU officials who are in New York for
the UNGA.


2. (C) As to the update on forces for Darfur, U/S Ukonga
noted that Nigeria has long been advocating, and planning
for, an expanded AU protection mission. She said Nigeria had
one battalion, between 750 and 1000 soldiers depending on the
exact configuration needed, ready for deployment to Darfur
"on very short notice." She said she thought the AU's
consideration of 3500 protectors, monitors, special units,
police and staff was a bit larger than what was likely to be
deployed in the short term, noting that an extra Nigerian
battalion and an extra Rwandan battalion would bring the
numbers closer to 2000 than 3500.


3. (C) On Bakassi, U/S Ukonga noted the points from Ref B and
reiterated Nigeria's commitment to working with Cameroon and
other affected countries to finishing the demarcation of
borders and transfer of authority. PolCouns asked about
timing for progress, especially in the context of President
Obasanjo's recent public reference to working maritime border
issues at the Gulf of Guinea Commission. Ukonga said she
thought that Obasanjo meant the Gulf of Guinea Commission
would be a good place to work out future maritime border
issues, but that Obasanjo did not/not mean that the return of
Bakassi should wait until the Gulf of Guinea Commission was
operating. "In any case," she laughed, "Cameroon would never
let this issue be brought before the Gulf of Guinea
Commission; Cameroon does not like the Gulf of Guinea
Commission to begin with, the Gulf of Guinea Commission will
be in Sao Tome, and Cameroon would sooner take it (the
boundaries issue) back to the ICJ."


4. (C) U/S Ukonga said she believed Presidents Obasanjo and
Biya would resume working the issue as soon as the
Cameroonian election was over, and that the next meeting of
the Mixed Commission would be soon thereafter, most likely in
early November. Ukonga made no mention of Nigerian domestic
politics, other than that Cameroon had kept Bakassi from
becoming an issue during Obasanjo's election in 2003, and the
GON was returning the favor by helping keep it from becoming
an issue in the Cameroonian election next month. There
remained much work to be done on the maritime boundaries, she
said, and it would be accomplished in a reasonably short time.


5. (U) Minimize considered.
CAMPBELL