Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07YAOUNDE667
2007-05-29 11:19:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Yaounde
Cable title:  

KENYA AIR CRASH PUTS CAMEROON'S GOVERNANCE

Tags:  KCOR EAIR PREL CM PGOV 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8586
PP RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHYD #0667/01 1491119
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 291119Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7772
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 YAOUNDE 000667 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/25/2015
TAGS: EPGOV KCOR EAIR PREL CM
SUBJECT: KENYA AIR CRASH PUTS CAMEROON'S GOVERNANCE
PROBLEMS IN STARK RELIEF

REF: A. YAOUNDE 567


B. YAOUNDE 578

C. YAOUNDE 594

D. MAY 15 YAOUNDE WEEKLY E-MAIL

E. MAY 22 YAOUNDE WEEKLY E-MAIL

Classified By: Poloff Tad Brown for 1.5 b and d.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 YAOUNDE 000667

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/25/2015
TAGS: EPGOV KCOR EAIR PREL CM
SUBJECT: KENYA AIR CRASH PUTS CAMEROON'S GOVERNANCE
PROBLEMS IN STARK RELIEF

REF: A. YAOUNDE 567


B. YAOUNDE 578

C. YAOUNDE 594

D. MAY 15 YAOUNDE WEEKLY E-MAIL

E. MAY 22 YAOUNDE WEEKLY E-MAIL

Classified By: Poloff Tad Brown for 1.5 b and d.


1. (C) Summary. The May 5 crash of Kenya Airways flight
507 (reftels) brought to stark relief some of the worst
characteristics of governance in Cameroon. Although the
event would have challenged even a capable government,
Cameroon's response was hampered by many of the same factors
that impede progress on development and reforms: an aversion
to public communication, a stifling regard for hierarchy and
protocol, a crippling regard for style over substance, and an
inability to react to events in a timely manner. For the few
days when the world's attention was focused on Cameroon, the
Government was left looking lost, uncaring, and incompetent.
End Summary.

--------------
Not That This is Easy...
--------------


2. (U) The Kenya Airways crash would have been challenging
to even a capable government. The six-month old Boeing 737,
registered to a foreign carrier and including 114 passengers
from more than thirty countries, disappeared in the middle of
a tropical storm in the deep of the night into an area that
can best be described as thick mangrove swamp. To further
complicate matters, the plane's homing beacon (intended to
guide search efforts) appears to have been destroyed by the
impact, and signal intelligence provided by a credible
international agency led Cameroon's limited search resources
-- and those of France, the U.S., and South Africa -- on a
wild goose chase far from the crash site for more than 24
hours.

--------------
...But It Doesn't Have to Be This Difficult
--------------


3. (C) The Government of Cameroon (GRC) got off to a bad
start by not starting at all. During the crucial first hours
after the disappearance of the plane, the highest levels of
the GRC were all personally participating in the funeral
services for a recently departed former vice prime minister.
Phoned Saturday morning by the Ambassador with an offer to

help, Prime Minister Inoni saiod he was required to be
present as the representative of President Biya, which meant
that almost the entire cabinet was too. In addition to the
compulsions of protocol, personal political futures were at
stake as, with elections looming and a government reshuffle
on the horizon, the many hours of mourning would be as much a
ruling CPDM party congress as funeral rites. The first
interministerial meeting to address the crash did not take
place until late Sunday, May 6, more than 36 hours after the
plane went missing. Interior Minister Marafa, to whom the
Governor of the Littoral province (where the accident
occurred) reports, tried to mobilize resources but could not
do so over the Prime Minister's head. Indeed, at our
suggestion, Marafa convened a meeting with the Communication
Minister and the French and U.S. ambassadors on Sunday
afternoon, but it had no impact.

--------------
Who is in Charge Here?
--------------


4. (C) The GRC's efforts were further crippled before they
began by the lack of an effective government spokesperson and
the complete absence of the Minister of Transportation. The
public could be forgiven for thinking that Kenya Airways CEO
Titus Naikuni was leading the search and relief efforts as
his public statements--immediately issued from Nairobi and
then from Douala where he arrived the next day--were the only
authoritative information available to the Cameroonian and
international public. President Biya, off in his village,
was entirely absent from the public eye (and, as far as we
can tell, from internal deliberations as well) for the
duration of the crisis and he never made any public statement
of condolence (though he did call a day or mourning two weeks
later). Biya's silence appeared even worse as he did find
time to congratulate the French and Nigerian
presidents-elect. Further embarrassing to Cameroon, the
Kenyan Minister of Transport was the most visible and active
public official on the scene. Cameroon's Minister of
Transport and a notorious drunk, Dakole Daissala, only
recently emerged from his village in the Far North where he
had been campaigning for July Parliamentary elections. In a
May 14 meeting with the Ambassador, Prime Minister Inoni

YAOUNDE 00000667 002 OF 003


wearily recounted having left numerous unanswered messages on
Dakole's voice mail over the 10 days since the crash
informing him of the plane crash and the need for his
presence.


5. (C) Given his incompetence, it is unlikely that Dakole's
presence would have helped as all levels of the GRC appeared
unable to adapt its strict hierarchical style to allow for
the necessary decentralized, rapid decision-making for a
proper response. Nonetheless, his evident absence only
served to highlight his irrelevance and had Cameroonians --
not to mention foreigners -- openly asking what purpose he
serves. Officials in the capital, up to and including Prime
Minister Inoni, insisted that the officials in the field
(governor and provincial delegate) were in charge of the
operation. But US officials in the field reported that those
officials were paralyzed by an unwillingness or inability to
take any decisions without first receiving instructions from
Yaounde. The absence of clear orders from Yaounde meant the
absence of action or decision on the field. For example,
officials from Kenya Airways and their contracted mortuary
experts were unable to access the local morgue to inspect
recovered remains until they complained to diplomatic
officials in Yaounde who in turn were able to pressure
Yaounde GRC officials to order the mortuary officials to
allow them entry. On May 16, ten days after the crash, this
paralysis continued to the point that National Transportation
and Safety Board (NTSB) team leader Dennis Jones decided to
send the rest of his team of experts back to the US because
they had been unable to start work. Much of the NTSB's
frustration arose from the GRC's failure to transfer the
"black box" voice recorder -- located just two days after the
crash -- to an overseas processing facility. Ambassador
Marquardt pressed Prime Minister Inoni on May 14 to order its
immediate shipment to Canada (the Kenyans' preference),which
he agreed to do, but without effect. Once a decision was
formally made to ship the box to Canada (which itself only
occurred after the ambassador cornered the Prime Minister,
Deputy Transport Minister, Foreign Minister and Director of
Civil Aviation after the mourning ceremony on May 18),the
GRC was still incapable of quickly tackling the logistics of
transferring the box, leaving the ambassador to intervene
with the Canadian High Commission, for example, to help the
box's escorts obtain Canadian visas over what had become a
five-day weekend.

--------------
Now That It's Over, Doing the Right Thing
--------------


6. (SBU) President Biya declared a national day of mourning
for Friday, May 18, 14 days after the crash and 4 days after
his Kenyan counterpart had done the same. A commemorative
ceremony that same day was attended by Prime Minister Inoni
(representing Biya),the entire cabinet, ambassadors, and
perhaps 10,000 mourners. The event was a welcome if overdue
gesture by the GRC, which been pilloried in the press and
public opinion for lack of a timely and compassionate
response to the crash, whose casualties included 34
Cameroonian nationals. While obviously reflecting a lot of
work under pressure at a difficult site, the ceremony itself
was marred by a some significant shortcomings, including an
official program that inexplicably failed to list 32 of the
114 victims (entirely omitting the Kenyan victims, for
example) and the absence of any statement at all from the
government. Likewise, a relatively robust and effective
effort to secure the area, recover remains and improve access
to the remote location was overshadowed by a bureaucratic
incompetence and/or friction with Kenya Airways that
prevented or delayed the visit of many family members to the
crash site. The fact that the GRC never appointed a
spokesman meant that even its legitimate accomplishments went
unnoticed. An initial sortie before the press by the
professorial Communication Minister went over poorly (he
appeared to be blaming the French for the initial false
start),and was not repeated.

-------------- --------------
Comment: Crash Crystallized Cameroon's Governance Problems
-------------- --------------


7. (C) The GRC's handling of the Kenya Airways crash is a
metaphor for the problems that plague Cameroon's governance
more generally and stymie even the best efforts for reform.
Even observers steeped in the peccadilloes of African
governments professed incredulity at what they perceived to
be the GRC's complete disinterest and incompetence in the
face of a terrible and enduring disaster. The
characteristics that manifested themselves so starkly in this
episode -- an inwardly focused ruling elite, a President who
takes all key decisions despite being out of touch, excessive
deference to hierarchy and protocol, no sense of urgency

YAOUNDE 00000667 003 OF 003


(even in an emergency),over-reliance on instructions from
the capital, an abhorence of initiative, the presence in key
jobs of individuals who add nothing other than
regional/tribal "balance", lack of cohesion among ministers,
and an aversion to public communication except by turgid,
untimely presidential decree -- are the same attributes that
prevent Cameroon from being a much better place. What is
even more distressing is that the GRC, with a few exceptions,
is probably unaware of -- and unconcerned about -- its
lamentable performance. Minister Marafa, one of the few
senior actors who gets it here, told the Ambassador
afterwards that he was "fed-up with this entire operation."
MARQUARDT