NIGERIA: GAMBARI TO LEAD NEW NIGER DELTA COMMITTEE?

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001083

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA
DOE FOR GEORGE PERSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2018
TAGS: PGOV NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: GAMBARI TO LEAD NEW NIGER DELTA COMMITTEE?


Classified By: Political Counselor Walter Pflaumer for reasons 1.4. (b
& d).


1. (C) Poloff met May 19 with Dr. Sam Amadi, a Special
Assistant to Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe. Amadi said that
Vice President Goodluck Jonathan's office is planning a
"Consultative Steering Committee" (CSC) on the Niger Delta,
which would be led by Professor Ibrahim Gambari, a Nigerian
diplomat and scholar currently serving as Under Secretary
General (Department of Political Affairs) at the United
Nations. According to Amadi, in early May Gambari
tentatively agreed to return to Nigeria and lead the CSC
effort for the GON. However, the start of work was delayed
while Gambari "wrapped up things in New York and obtained
clearances from the UN for his leave of absence." (Note:
According to Amadi, Gambari will be doing this work
independently and not under UN auspices. End Note.) Dr.
Amadi himself claims to be in discussions with Professor
Gambari about becoming the Secretary of the CSC under
Gambari's leadership. (NOTE: Ambassador was told by Foreign
Minister Maduekwe May 29 that he was dispatched by President
Yar,Adua to go and meet directly with the UNSEC General in
order to secure Gambari,s temporary release for July 2008 to
begin the role to lead the CSC. The UNSEC General had been
reluctant to do so prior to their meeting according to the
Foreign Minister. END NOTE.)


2. (C) Amadi told Poloff that the GON already has a draft
action plan which outlines ideas to improve security and
pursue development in the Niger Delta. He said that the
purpose of the Consultative Steering Committee is to gain the
support of key stakeholders for this plan, refining it as
necessary. The CSC will send "trained facilitators" out to
individual villages and communities in the Niger Delta to
explain the draft plan. Each community or interest group
will be asked to look at the plan point by point, make
suggested edits as needed, and then appoint one person to
"sign off" on the plan as the community's official
representative. After several months of exposing the plan to
the public and obtaining grassroots support, the process is
supposed to culminate in a "Niger Delta Summit" in Abuja, to
which all the plan's "signatory representatives" will be
invited. Dr. Amadi estimated that the consultation process
would last several months, so the summit itself was not
likely to happen before August 2008.


3. (C) Amadi stressed that in his view, the proposed CSC
process is fundamentally different from past attempts to
solve the Niger Delta crisis. The GON has realized that they
cannot make any progress by simply negotiating with
militants, because doing so ignores the needs and wants of
the ordinary citizens of the Niger Delta. Amadi contended
that in the CSC process, militants will be treated as just
another stakeholder, with no greater voice than ethnic
groups, youth organizations, or villages.


4. (C) Comment: While we cannot confirm the details of Dr.
Amadi's description of the CSC process, newspaper accounts in
early June confirm that Ibrahim Gambari is indeed returning
to Nigeria to play a role in the GON's Niger Delta
initiatives. It appears that the GON has been making some
plans to move forward on Niger Delta talks, albeit quietly
and largely under the media radar screen. It remains to be
seen whether Professor Gambari will be seen as a credible
interlocutor by Niger Deltans, including militants, and it is
not clear whether the consultation process described above
will in practice be any different than previous meetings and
summits, which have accomplished little. End Comment.
SANDERS