IAEA DECISION ON IRAN: GHANA SYMPATHETIC BUT NOT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ACCRA 001885 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2010 TAGS: KNNP PARM PREL IR TRGY MNUC ENRG AORC GH IAEA SUBJECT: IAEA DECISION ON IRAN: GHANA SYMPATHETIC BUT NOT READY TO COMMIT TO U.S. POSITION REF: A. STATE 168950 ¶B. STATE 159113 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Jerry Lanier for Reasons 1.5 (B and D) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) On September 15, Charge and EconChief delivered Ref A points on reporting Iran to the UN Security Council to the Foreign Ministry. EconChief also delivered these points and Ref B points on safeguards and verification to GoG representatives to the IAEA. Deputy Foreign Minister Kwasi Osei-Adjei said Ghana would "do the right thing" and promised to pass our concerns to President Kufuor. Ghana's IAEA representative, Professor Daniel Bekoe, agreed negotiations with Iran have gone on too long, but highlighted differences between the U.S. and EU3 positions and stated Ghana would need to hear from Iran before making a decision. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Charge Jerry Lanier delivered Ref A talking points and background material to Deputy Foreign Minister Osei-Adjei, urging GoG support for the U.S./EU3 position that it is time for the IAEA to report Iran to the UNSC. Osei-Adjei said Ghana fully supported efforts to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of irresponsible parties, and the U.S. could count on Ghana to "do the right thing." He promised to convey the U.S. position (and non-paper) to President Kufuor's party, which is now in New York City to attend the UN High Level meeting. ¶3. (C) EconChief Chris Landberg delivered Ref A points on Iran as well as Ref B points on the IAEA Committee on Safeguards and Verification to Professor Daniel Bekoe, Chairman of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC),and the GoG's representative to the IAEA Board of Governors. (Note: Bekoe is also Chairman of the Council of State, an advisory body to the Executive branch. End Note). The Director General of the GAEC, Professor Akaho, as well as a Foreign Ministry representative also participated in the meeting. Both Bekoe and Akaho depart Ghana September 16 to attend the upcoming IAEA Board of Governors meeting. ¶4. (C) EconChief emphasized U.S. support for the EU3 position, outlined the legal basis under which the IAEA Board of Governors can report Iran to the IAEA, and stressed that the U.S. fully supports peaceful use of nuclear technology. Professor Bekoe's response was more nuanced than that of the Foreign Ministry. He agreed that negotiations with Iran had gone on for too long, but highlighted differences he perceived between the U.S. and EU3 positions. ¶5. (C) Bekoe said he met on September 14 with the UK's representative to the IAEA Board of Governors, who was visiting Ghana. Bekoe commented that his impression following that meeting was that the EU3 position appeared to leave some room for continuing negotiations without reporting Iran to the UNSC. GAEC Director General Akaho read from the talking points the UK official left behind, and argued that the EU3 position seemed to encourage Iran to return to negotiations. Bekoe added that it appeared the EU3 was open to delaying an IAEA decision to report Iran to the UNSC if Iran agrees to resume negotiations and suspend enrichment of uranium, production of plutonium, and similar activities. Whereas the U.S. position seemed to be the IAEA MUST report Iran to the UNSC now. ¶6. (C) Bekoe stated that Ghana would need to hear from Iran before making a final decision. In particular, he wanted to get Iran's reaction to the IAEA Director General's recent report that there have been clear breaches of the NPT. Bekoe agreed that it did not appear likely that Iran would resume negotiations in good faith. He also seemed to agree that a more likely scenario is Iran would continue to exploit differences on the IAEA Board of Governors and try to keep the possibility of negotiations open, just to delay the process and avoid UNSC involvement. Nevertheless, Bekoe did not explicitly state that the IAEA should report Iran to the UNSC if there is Board of Governor's agreement that negotiations are over. ¶7. (SBU) Professors Bekoe and Akaho expressed full support for the establishment of an IAEA Committee on Safeguards and Verification, and promised to provide any comments they have during the upcoming IAEA Board of Governors meeting. Comment -------------- ¶8. (C) Emboffs conveyed Ref A messages in as strong a tone as possible. We appear to have support at the political level, but the technical-level officials who actually represent Ghana to the IAEA are still hedging their position, pending further discussions in Vienna. Professors Bekoe and Akaho certainly are fed-up with Iran actions over the last few years, but would prefer to find a solution that continues negotiations and holds off on taking this to the level of the UNSC. While we expect the Ghanaian leadership now in New York to raise this issue with Professor Bekoe, we cannot be certain that they will instruct Bekoe to support reporting Iran to the UNSC, or at least not prior to the IAEA Board of Governors meeting. End Comment LANIER