AFRICA UNION CENTER WANTS OUR HELP FOR ITS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 000464 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/23/2018 TAGS: PTER PREL ASEC AG SUBJECT: AFRICA UNION CENTER WANTS OUR HELP FOR ITS COUNTER-TERROR EFFORTS Classified By: Ambassador Robert Ford, reason 1.4 (d) ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Since early 2008 a number of U.S. official delegations have visited the African Center for the Research and Study of Terrorism (CAERT) in Algiers, all of which have departed leaving the impression that U.S. assistance in the form of training or seminars would be forthcoming. Visitors have included State Department S/CT, National Defense University's Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS),and AFRICOM's J-5. The visits have provided insight into the workings and needs of CAERT, which the African Union and Algerian government are seeking to develop into a forum for counter-terror cooperation on the African continent. The visits thus are useful, but we are now hearing unhappy bleats that U.S. visits have not been matched by action. On April 8, the CAERT director claimed that the only planned U.S. support for CAERT in 2008 was an ACSS seminar on terrorist finance. In 2008, CAERT hopes to offer seven training seminars and is in need of sponsorship and funds to make them happen. CAERT also passed us a list of its technical assistance needs. We recommend that in order to preserve our credibility with the center's leadership, future U.S. Government visitors be prepared to talk about tangible assistance if they want to visit the CAERT. End Summary. ¶2. (C) CAERT Director Amb. Boubakeur Diarra joined an April 8 meeting with DATT and ODC Chief at CAERT to express his frustration with what he viewed as a lack of substantive U.S. support for the center. He claimed that the only planned U.S. support for CAERT in 2008 was a CESA seminar on financing terrorism. CAERT needed, he said, additional funds/resources to manage the center and to offer seven seminars this year. The seminars would occur on average every two months and last approximately three days each. Diarra emphasized that there had been many U.S. official visits to and inquiries about the center in the past two years, but other than in the case of ACSS, U.S. intentions had not translated into action for CAERT. He also asserted that he told an OSD official during a visit to the U.S. that American aid for CAERT was not sufficient. WHAT THEY WANT -------------- ¶3. (SBU) According to CAERT official Idriss Lallali, the primary areas in which the CAERT would like to receive assistance are: -- Technical Assistance: CAERT requires resources to develop courses and training programs, such as train-the-trainer courses. CAERT would like AU member states to be able to send participants to be trained in CT subjects in which they could subsequently train people in their home countries. -- Building infrastructure and increased capacity, such as a larger conference center and accommodations: CAERT ultimately envisions renovating an adjacent housing structure that would allow them to provide lodging for conference and training attendees from across the continent so as to cut down the cost of putting up visitors at local hotels. By reducing the overhead costs of seminars and training events, CAERT will be able to offer additional programs on a more frequent basis. ¶4. (SBU) The four specific areas that CAERT has identified as training needs are: -- Counter IED training to build member states' capacity to detect and neutralize explosive devices. CAERT hosted a training course on this subject in 2006 which they often highlight as one of their most successful and well received courses to date. CAERT made a formal request to Embassy for trainers to provide a two-week "train-the-trainers" course for interested member states. -- Analytical Capabilities: To build the intelligence capabilities of member states geared towards counter terrorist operations. Training courses on such subjects as Operational Analysis and Exploitation of Information (Post Raid Document Exploitation),Forensics, and Terrorist Finance are sought. -- Technological or Technical Capabilities: CAERT requested funding to upgrade its operational databases, build an on-site print and digital library, and facilitate the sharing of information on-line between member states. -- Operational concepts, assets, security capacity, intervention response and hostage negotiation. Courses on such subjects as VIP protection and investigative training were requested. ¶5. (U) CAERT representatives also believe that there is good potential for cooperation with U.S. think tanks, and they plan to examine opportunities to link center activities with an external masters degree in security studies. CAERT has been building its capacity steadily if slowly in the nearly three years since its inception and is long on vision. It is short on funding, however, and this appears to be the recurring message that visitors have taken away from meetings with the center. ¶6. (C) COMMENT: Other countries, such as Britain, have provided help with technical training for security officials through CAERT. The center has become a regular stop for official U.S. visitors who come to Algiers to talk about counterterrorism. Diarra has come away from these American meetings with the impression that the U.S. visitors were indeed going to provide assistance to his fledgling center. Thus, we are starting to see questions about our credibility. Future U.S. officials requesting a call on CAERT should expect to be hit up aggressively if they express a willingness to provide assistance. Diarra, meanwhile, will wonder why the American visitors are at the CAERT if they are not prepared to discuss tangible assistance. FORD