SPANISH ASSISTANCE IN AFRICA: NOT THE SAME AS PLAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 000336

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

EUR/WE FOR ANGELA CERVETTI
YAOUNDE FOR MALABO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2017
TAGS: PREL EAID SP XA
SUBJECT: SPANISH ASSISTANCE IN AFRICA: NOT THE SAME AS PLAN
AFRICA

REF: 2006 MADRID 1966

MADRID 00000336 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Following on the 2006 conversations and
correspondence between Assistant Secretary Frazer and Spanish
Director General Alvaro Iranzo, Emboffs met February 20 with
Cristina Diaz Fernandez-Gil, Deputy Director General for
Spanish International Cooperation in Africa and Asia, to
discuss avenues for possible bilateral cooperation in
Sub-Saharan Africa. According to Diaz (PLEASE PROTECT),
Spanish development assistance priorities in Sub-Saharan
Africa are divorced from Spanish foreign policy priorities.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' vaunted Plan Africa is
primarily a foreign policy document and should not be
interpreted as a directive for Spanish cooperation
assistance. While Plan Africa overlaps to some extent with
the "Plan Director" of the Spanish Agency for International
Cooperation (AECI),AECI's assistance package is more limited
and targeted in scope than the wide ranging diplomatic
initiative. Nevertheless, Diaz expressed interest in
possible bilateral collaboration/cooperation in Africa and
asked for more details on U.S. programs and priorities.
Spain's assistance budget in Sub-Saharan Africa has nearly
tripled since 2004. END SUMMARY.

//ELEMENT, NOT INSTRUMENT//


2. (C) POLOFF and ESTOFF met with Cristina Diaz
Fernandez-Gil, AECI's Deputy Director General for Africa and
Asia, on February 20 to request more specific details of
Spanish assistance priorities in Africa, with the end of
identifying areas of mutual interest and potential bilateral
cooperation. Embassy reporting (reftel) has interpreted the
MFA's "Plan Africa" as a signal that Spain is increasing its
assistance and diplomatic presence in Sub-Saharan Africa, but
Diaz told Emboffs that Spanish assistance priorities were set
well before Plan Africa and have not changed significantly
since the Plan's announcement. She characterized Plan Africa
as primarily a foreign policy document and not an assistance
directive. For example, she noted that Plan Africa lists
Gabon and Nigeria as countries of concern for Spain, but
Spain has no current or planned assistance involvement in
either country.


3. (C) Diaz referenced AECI's "Plan Director" as the
definitive document on AECI assistance, and she stated
emphatically that AECI's assistance goals are an "element" of
Spain's foreign policy, not an "instrument" of Spanish
foreign policy. To that end, Spain's assistance goals are in
line with the Millennium goals, countering hunger and
poverty, increasing health and improving education. While
Spain's recent problems with immigration have created a
temptation to use foreign assistance as an enticement for
countries to rein in their migrant populations, AECI firmly
believes that assistance cannot stop migration in the short
term; therefore, Diaz intimated that counter-migration
initiatives remain under the purview of the MFA without
significant input from AECI or its budget. She underlined
that AECI interest in Senegal has long predated the recent
diplomatic offensive in Dakar seeking a bilateral
repatriation agreement.

//PRIORITY, SPECIAL ATTENTION, AND PREFERRED COUNTRIES//


4. (SBU) Diaz told Emboffs that Spanish cooperation in
Africa is focused on 14 nations divided into three groups.
Priority countries are those in which AECI has an office as
well as a bilateral MoU on cooperation. These nations are
Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal and Cape Verde.

MADRID 00000336 002.2 OF 003


Countries of special attention include Sudan, Ethiopia, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial
Guinea, Mali, and Niger. Diaz said that Equatorial Guinea
had been demoted to the second category due to its newfound
oil wealth, and she said that Mali and Niger had only
recently been added to AECI's agenda. Diaz called the third
group "preferred countries" and said this category, which
consists of South Africa and San Tome and Principe, included
nations with pockets of overpopulation, poverty and hunger
problems.


5. (SBU) Additionally, Diaz indicated that AECI has
latitude to take timely action in the world's least developed
countries and of course to provide humanitarian aid in times
of crisis. In this category she included drought relief and
health projects in Ethiopia and Kenya. Some of its
international cooperation package takes the form of
contributions to the EU, UN, UNHCR, UNDP, and the African
Union. The EU has only recently begun focusing on pooling
its resources to launch collaborative efforts in Africa,
including in Mali, Ethiopia and Senegal. She also indicated
that AECI is looking to increase its involvement with
sub-regional African organizations, naming SADC and ECOWAS as
examples. AECI's mandate does not include Spanish military
assistance and debt forgiveness. Because Spain's assistance
effort is relatively small compared to some actors, AECI has
tried to maintain a concentrated and geographically-limited
approach rather than overextending itself, though Diaz
conceded that involvement in 14 Sub-Saharan African nations
seems rather broad.

//HEALTH, EDUCATION, STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONS, WOMEN//


6. (SBU) Spain has traditionally focused on health and
education, but Diaz said that this focus has expanded to
include potable water and sanitation projects, food security,
agriculture and fishing programs, and building institutional
capacity. Spain has little in the way of environmental
programs, though they are involved in small projects in
Kenya. Spain has worked on institution building in the
health, education, administration, and justice sectors, and
with the police in Mozambique. AECI has also paid for
demining operations in both Angola and Mozambique, and it has
provided some direct budget support in Mozambique (health
sector),Namibia, Ethiopia, and Cape Verde. Lastly, Diaz
noted that Vice President Fernandez de la Vega has launched
an initiative for African women and will be celebrating this
initiative at an event on March 8, International Women's Day.

//BUDGET NEARLY TRIPLED SINCE 2004//


7. (SBU) While Diaz did not have figures on hand for total
Spanish assistance in Africa (including military support,
debt relief, etc.),she said that AECI's planned budget for
Sub-Saharan Africa for 2007 is 120 million euros, and she
indicated that they would likely exceed that target. She
highlighted a steady increase in aid for Sub-Saharan Africa
since 2004 (2004 - 44 million, 2005 - 67 million, 2006 - 103
million) and suggested this constituted a trend.

//WORD OF CAUTION//


8. (SBU) ESToff concluded the meeting by asking whether
AECI would be amenable to exploring areas for assistance
coordination with USG, and Diaz said absolutely. However,
she noted that, like any assistance agency, most of Spain's
programs are formalized by bilateral MoU's with host
governments which lay out three-year work plans. In
countries with no AECI presence, the agency contracts with
NGO's who in turn formalize their work plans with host

MADRID 00000336 003.2 OF 003


countries. Therefore, she asked for details of U.S.
assistance programs and priorities in Africa as well as any
ideas on avenues for bilateral cooperation. Emboffs agreed
to relay the request to Washington.


9. (C) COMMENT: Emboffs were surprised to hear the
discrepancy between MFA's gung-ho attitude on Plan Africa and
Diaz's somewhat cooler assessment, considering that AECI
forms part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Cooperation. More surprising, however, was Diaz's admission
that she was completely unaware of the exchange of
correspondence between the Secretary and Foreign Minister
Moratinos, and between A/S Frazer and Director General Iranzo
on bilateral cooperation in Africa. She indicated that
neither Iranzo nor Sub-DG Antonio Sanchez-Benedito Gaspar had
mentioned the idea to her, and she speculated that perhaps
the bilateral discussions had been more geo-political and
strategic in nature and less assistance-oriented. She said
she would seek more information from Sanchez-Benedito. END
COMMENT.

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