GABON: MORE FROM THE DEFENSE MINISTER ON AFRICOM

S E C R E T LIBREVILLE 000463 SIPDIS NOFORN E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2017 TAGS: MARR PREL GB SUBJECT: GABON: MORE FROM THE DEFENSE MINISTER ON AFRICOM REF: A. LIBREVILLE 0449 ¶B. STATE 140052 Classified By: CDA Nathan Holt for reasons 1.4 (a),(b) and (d). ¶1. (S/NF) The AFRICOM site survey team is welcome in Gabon and will receive full cooperation from military authorities, influential Minister of Defense Ali Bongo Ondimba told CDA October 12. CDA and DATT met Bongo as instructed (Ref. A), and to follow up on our meeting with Gabonese Foreign Minister Jean Ping earlier in the week (Ref. B). ¶2. (S/NF) Ali Bongo Ondimba, the son of Gabonese president El Hajj Omar Bongo Ondimba, listened carefully to our explanation of the survey team's plans. As in the past, he emphasized that his father had been briefed on AFRICOM and supports the initiative. The survey team, Ali Bongo said, is a "logical" next step. The defense minister added that he hopes to meet AFRICOM CINC Gen. Ward again soon. ¶3. (C) Senior officials at the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS, or CEEAC in its French acronym) are also watching AFRICOM's progress closely. CDA met separately with CEEAC Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Nelson Cosme on October 12. Cosme said he was preparing an information memo on AFRICOM for a meeting of CEEAC heads of state to be held in Brazzaville later this month. Cosme, who said he is in touch directly with AFRICOM leadership, said there is still considerable misunderstanding within CEEAC on the purpose of AFRICOM. He also claimed to have discussed AFRICOM directly with Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos recently in New York, and said dos Santos is not as antipathetic as some assume. ¶4. (C) Finally, CEEAC head General Lois Sylvain Goma told a visiting EUCOM team in Libreville October 11 that CEEAC is ready to cooperate with AFRICOM, once authorization is received from the political level. CEEAC has had a history plagued by the instability of member states, Goma explained, and still has significant capacity constraints. The EU and the African Development Bank have assistance programs in place, Goma said, but CEEAC still faces significant obstacles in achieving key objectives, including the creation of a brigade-sized standby force authorized by the AU. HOLT