SENATOR INHOFE MEETS WITH GHANA'S PRESIDENT KUFUOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L ACCRA 002251 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2014 TAGS: EPET GH MARR PGOV PTER SUBJECT: SENATOR INHOFE MEETS WITH GHANA'S PRESIDENT KUFUOR Classified By: PolChief Scott Ticknor for reasons 1.5 d and e. ¶1. (U) During a brief overnight visit to Accra on November 11, U.S. Senator James Inhofe met with Ghanaian President John Kufuor and held a private evening meeting. Embassy officers met the Senator at the airport and made transportation, hotel and scheduling arrangements. ¶2. (C) The Ambassador, DCM and PolChief accompanied Senator Inhofe and two of his staffers in a meeting with President Kufuor at the Castle (the President's office). Senator Inhoffe greeted President Kufuor warmly, noting he was a good friend of the President and had visited Africa four times over the past year. The focus of this trip was two-fold: 1) discuss the possible formation of five ®ional brigades8 in Africa, identified by the African Union, which would train for counter-terrorism activity, and 2) discuss Gulf of Guinea oil issues, with a particular interest in stemming the diversion of oil and oil revenues to criminals and terrorists. ¶3. (C) Kufuor noted that West Africa was grappling with its own security challenges. The Government of Ghana believes Ghana has significant oil potential, President Kufuor remarked, hoping that the U.S. would help in oil exploration in Ghana. He repeated this request at the end of the meeting, saying &we should be talking about oil a lot in the next year.8 He said he would want to make more use of businessman and presidential confidant Kwabena Darko as a point man on oil and economic issues. (Note: Darko was in the room and helped in organizing this meeting for Senator Inhofe. Owner of Ghana,s largest chicken business, he appears to be a trusted presidential aide on a range of issues. End note.) ¶4. (C) The Senator said he expected we would be interested in assisting Ghana in oil exploration. He invited President Kufuor to the National Prayer Breakfast in the U.S. in February, 2005. The President was noncommittal, saying he would have to see if he was reelected. YATES YATES