SCENESETTER FOR BENIN VISIT OF USN VICE ADMIRAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 COTONOU 000366

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/W AND AF/RSA
DAKAR AND TOGO, PLEASE PASS TO USN/USCG PARTY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: MASS MARR PREL PINR EWWT BN
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR BENIN VISIT OF USN VICE ADMIRAL
STUFFLEBEAM/USCG VICE ADMIRAL PETERMAN

REF: (A) COMLANTAREA 161845Z APR 07; (B) BONE-ANKI DOSSO LETTER AND
ATTACHED REPORT (delivered May 10, 2007); (C) STATE 59359; (D) 06
STATE 201852

COTONOU 00000366 001.2 OF 004



1. (U) SUMMARY: Your visit to Benin on May 22 to discuss
International Port Security and maritime cooperation and safety
issues (REF A) will help emphasize to Beninese authorities the
importance that the US government places on these two subjects in
the Gulf of Guinea region. You will find your Beninese
interlocutors eager and willing to cooperate with us in both
regards, but plagued by a lack of capacity as regards meeting the
necessary standards. END SUMMARY.

INTERNATIONAL PORT SECURITY
--------------


2. (U) On port security, the Autonomous Port of Cotonou (PAC) has
been aware since the out-briefing by the USCG evaluation team at the
end of their August 28-30, 2006 visit to Cotonou of the significant
deficiencies of the PAC as regards meeting the minimum requirements
of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.
Key deficiencies described were, most importantly, in the areas of
access control, perimeter barriers and training of stakeholders on
the PAC's security plan. Over the past eight months, however, we
have seen little success at addressing these areas. Some work has
been done on extending the perimeter wall, but it remains
incomplete. Various decrees have been issued to tighten up
personnel access to the Port, and there is some evidence that guards
at the gates are now more rigorous about demanding identification,
but the port is still congested and teeming with people who do not
appear to have any legitimate need to be there.


3. (U) We hope that delivery of the complete report by the USCG team
(REF B) to the PAC's Designated Authority on ISPS at the Merchant
Marine on May 10, and to the Director General of the PAC on May 14,
will energize them. We are currently trying to schedule
appointments at the Foreign Ministry and with the Minister of
Transportation to deliver the formal demarche (REF C) that will
begin the 90-day period after which conditions of entry will be
imposed on vessels coming to the U.S. from Benin. Both the DG of
the Merchant Marine and the DG of the Port are aware the demarche is
coming. We hope that we will be able to deliver this demarche prior
to your May 22 meeting with the Transport Minister and Port
officials. We will update you on this during your in-brief that
morning.


4. (U) In our discussions with the Port officials on ISPS, we have
repeatedly stressed that the measures necessary to meet ISPS Code
standards are not costly. They require only the administrative
capacity to elaborate them and the will to implement them. We have
also stressed, however, that failure to achieve them would have
serious consequences, as the conditions of entry that the US Coast
Guard would be required to apply could well discourage shippers from
using the Port of Cotonou.


5. (U) Related to, but separate from, these efforts to meet minimum
ISPS standards, the Millennium Challenge Corporation is in the first
year of implementation of a $307 million Compact with Benin. The
single largest area of MCC activity is in improving the Port of
Cotonou. Some of the MCC projects will help the PAC to adhere to
ISPS standards, including possible projects such as video
surveillance equipment. These improvements, however, are unlikely
to be completed for another two to three years. Our message to the
Port officials is that the MCC-funded improvements, while they would
contribute to port security and are important to the efficient
functioning of the port, are not needed to meet the minimum
standards required by the US Coast Guard. The Port officials have
understood this message, but still note that some measures, such as
radios or other communications equipment for security personnel, do
cost money.

MARITIME SECURITY AND DOMAIN AWARENESS
--------------


6. (U) Benin was an eager and active host for the November 15, 2006,
Gulf of Guinea Maritime Security Ministerial. Beninese officials are
aware of the content of the Communique and Action Plan adopted at
that meeting (REF D). Implementation of the Action Plan, however,
has been lacking. As far as we are informed Benin has not issued an

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executive directive on maritime security, conducted a public
awareness campaign, or designated a national maritime authority.
Nor has it established an inter-agency working group on maritime
safety beyond that which was set up to organize the November
Ministerial, and which we do not believe has met since the event
concluded.


7. (U) The one area where we are aware of some activity has been in
acquiring and installing appropriate systems, such as AIS, to
improve maritime domain awareness. The French Government has
established a project to provide Benin (along with Togo) with an AIS
and ground-based radar capacity. According to a conversation with
the French DATT, LtCol Patrick Joleaud, on May 9, however, the
project has not progressed as smoothly as he had hoped. The French
have the funding approved and available for the system, and are
ready to install at least the initial station at the Port of
Cotonou. He reported, however, that the Beninese side has been
unable to confirm the details for the system's operation and
maintenance, and therefore installation is on hold. Joleaud added
that the French plan is currently to install just the one station at
Cotonou. If that goes well, he said, the French would then be
prepared to finance installation of other stations along the coast
to provide complete coverage. We hope the French will be able to
provide more details on the project's status in advance of your
visit.

OTHER MARITIME AND MILITARY COOPERATION
--------------


8. (U) Despite these capacity challenges, the Beninese are very
interested in exploring additional possibilities for military
assistance and cooperation. Their interest in restarting IMET
programs was a major factor in convincing them to agree to a
"non-surrender" (Article 98) agreement with us in August 2005. They
have been keen to get a larger IMET allocation, in part to be able
to send more officers to staff or war college programs. Benin
currently has an IMET student at the Naval Staff College, who is due
to return to Benin next month. Ship visits, by the FFG USS ELROD in
September 2006 and the USCG Cutter LEGARE in March 2007, have also
gone very well. In particular, these visits have helped reinforce
the November Ministerial's message of USG interest in promoting
maritime domain awareness.


9. (U) Benin is also on tap to receive $200,000 worth of equipment
under FMF for border and coastal security functions. We need to
work with them further to define their specific needs for this
funding. We are also working together with the DAO and ODC in Accra
on a possible 1206 program for Benin that would supply two 27-foot
boats to the Navy. (NOTE: The GoB has been notified of the FMF
funds, but we have not formally discussed the 1206 possibility with
them, as the availability of those funds is not yet certain. END
NOTE). The patrol boats would be particularly welcome. The
Beninese Navy has gone long periods without any seaworthy craft,
although CNO Ahoyo recently told the Ambassador of the
refurbishement of two small ships so that the ships can now patrol.



10. (U) The Beninese remain eager participants in other military
cooperation areas. US-provided (ACOTA) training for peacekeeping
has played an important role in helping the Beninese maintain their
peacekeeping troop deployments of one battalion each in the UN
missions in Cote d'Ivoire and DR Congo. So far, Benin has balked
when asked to consider a third simultaneous large deployment to
other possible missions in Somalia or Sudan. It has made
contributions of smaller contingents of military observers or civpol
in Darfur and Haiti, respectively. We hope that at some point in
the future the GoB may be able to muster a third concurrent
multilateral mission as well.


11. (U) President Yayi, Defense Minister N'Douro, and Chief of the
General Staff General Mathieu Boni have all stressed their desire to
increase military cooperation with the U.S. N'Douro asked to pay an
official visit to Washington to have such discussions at the
Pentagon in April, but the timing did not work. They are
particularly keen on enhancing their communications and border
security capabilities. We expect he will raise his desire to visit
Washington with you. While we cannot promise a meeting with the
Defense Secretary, Washington tells us that meetings with DASD
Whelan and principals in the Africa Bureau at State would be

COTONOU 00000366 003.2 OF 004


possible, if mutually agreeable dates could be found.


12. (U) In a meeting with the Ambassador, General Boni specifically
requested U.S. assistance with equipment, notably items such as
boots and parachutes, as well as trucks that could be used for
peacekeeping deployments' transportation requirements. He also
requested additional training opportunities, including: i) increased
IMET programs; ii) slots at US War College programs (he said no
Beninese had ever attended); iii) parachute training and equipment,
including use of a plane for training; and iv) up to a half dozen
college or university scholarships for Beninese girls who have
completed the Beninese military high school program (Boni noted that
Belgium provided 6 scholarship slots each year at its military
academy, to which Benin sends three boys and three girls).

POLITICAL CONTEXT
--------------


13. (U) Benin is one of the most stable and democratic countries in
Africa. The Yayi Administration, in office since April 2006,
appears genuinely determined to promote a reform agenda, fight
corruption and spend more of its resources on basic human needs.
Its performance so far, however, has not always met its ambitions,
in large part because of the same sorts of administrative capacity
challenges that have hobbled military cooperation. With just under
four years remaining in its term, it still has great potential to
achieve real reform and create the conditions for economic growth.


14. (U) Legislative elections in March 2007, while not producing a
landslide of support for Yayi, did show that he still has strong
political appeal, and the coalition he supported has been able to
cobble together a majority in the National Assembly. One outcome,
however, is that a reshuffle of government ministers is imminent,
although it has not yet been announced as of this writing. Both of
the Ministers you are scheduled to meet, Transport and National
Defense, are likely to keep their jobs, but nothing is guaranteed,
and we will be able to update you at your in-briefing on May 22.

SECURITY NOTES
--------------


15. (U) Benin is rated HIGH for crime and MEDIUM for transnational
terrorism. The community in general is affected most by street
crime in all parts of Benin. There has been a slight increase over
the past two years in carjackings carried out by gangs of criminals.
There are no known terrorist organizations operating in Benin, and
the Beninese government supports the United States in the War
Against Terrorism.

BIO NOTES
--------------


16. (U) Defense Minister Issifou Kogui N'DOURO has been Defense
Minister since the beginning of the Yayi Administration in April

2006. A former official of the International Organization of La
Francophonie, he speaks only limited English, but in all of our
meetings has been effusive in his praise of the United States,
stressing his appreciation of American values and the American work
ethic. He brought only a limited background in military affairs to
his current position, but he is among the closer confidantes of the
President in the cabinet. We have heard no reports that his lack of
a military background has caused him any problems with the members
of the Beninese Armed Forces, who have adopted a strongly apolitical
nature since the difficult days of Benin's Marxist revolutionary era
in the 1970's and 1980's.


17. (U) Transport Minister Richard Senou originally served as an
Economic Advisor to President Yayi, and was named a minister when
Yayi dismissed his predecessor in November 2006. This after both
the GoG Maritime Safety Ministerial and the USCG ISPS evaluation
visit, so Minister Senou was not directly involved in either event.
An outspoken public figure, Senou was a presidential candidate in
March 2006, where he came around 20th out of 26 candidates in the
first round and was among the first of the defeated candidates to
endorse Yayi for the second round. A former World Bank official,
Senou speaks decent English, and still has a house and children in
the U.S.


18. (U) Director General of the Port of Cotonou Christophe Aguessy

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is, like many Yayi appointees and the President himself, a former
banker. He has been in his current position at the PAC
approximately one year. He says he has tried hard to institute
reforms at the Port, but expresses some frustration that his
decisions and policies are not always respected or implemented by
his subordinates.

BROWN