Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BANJUL100
2007-02-26 16:48:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Banjul
Cable title:  

THE GAMBIA: GOTG DEFENDS ITS RECORD FOLLOWING MCA

Tags:  PREL KMCA PGOV EAID PHUM GA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7951
RR RUEHLMC
DE RUEHJL #0100 0571648
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 261648Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY BANJUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7334
INFO RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP
C O N F I D E N T I A L BANJUL 000100 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2017
TAGS: PREL KMCA PGOV EAID PHUM GA
SUBJECT: THE GAMBIA: GOTG DEFENDS ITS RECORD FOLLOWING MCA
SUSPENSION

REF: 06 BANJUL 717 ET AL

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOSEPH STAFFORD, REASON 1.4 (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANJUL 000100

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2017
TAGS: PREL KMCA PGOV EAID PHUM GA
SUBJECT: THE GAMBIA: GOTG DEFENDS ITS RECORD FOLLOWING MCA
SUSPENSION

REF: 06 BANJUL 717 ET AL

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOSEPH STAFFORD, REASON 1.4 (D)


1. (SBU) On February 23, the Embassy received a letter, dated
February 13, addressed to Millenium Challenge Corporation
(MCC) CEO Danilovich from the Gambian President's senior
adviser, Secretary General Elizabeth Harding. In the letter,
Ms. Harding asserts that the GOTG is "perplexed" over the
Millenium Challenge Corporation's June 2006 decision to
suspend The Gambia's eligibility for the Millenium Challenge
Account (MCA) program due to slippage in the GOTG's
performance on various eligibility criteria. Attached to the
letter is a lengthy statement challenging the negative
trends and associated data on the criteria that prompted the
suspension. (The letter and attachment are being faxed to
Department, AF/W, and MCC; originals are being pouched to
MCC.) Although in the letter the Secretary General conveys
the GOTG's desire to "set the record straight" regarding its
performance on the MCA eligibility criteria in question, the
attached statement fails to address the areas of policy
slippage in any convincing way.


2. (C) COMMENT: The letter and attachment follow a November
2006 letter from the Secretary General's office to the
Ambassador advising that the GOTG "is no longer interested in
pursuing the MCA criteria" or otherwise consulting on "MCA
matters" (reftel). That earlier letter came in response to
Ambassador's notification to the GOTG that The Gambia had not
been re-selected for MCA eligibility for FY 2007 due to its
suspension, but that the Embassy remained at the GOTG's
disposal on steps it could take in pursuit of reinstatement.
Judging from the defiant, defensive tone and content of this
latest letter, the erratic and irascible President Jammeh
remains as resentful as ever over the suspension and as yet
unwilling to engage with us in any meaningful way on the
reinstatement process. END COMMENT.
STAFFORD