A MEETING OF THE MINDS, BUT NOT HEADS OF STATE, ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 000897

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/18/2018
TAGS: PREL PTER ASEC PINS ML
SUBJECT: A MEETING OF THE MINDS, BUT NOT HEADS OF STATE, ON
TRANS-SAHEL SECURITY

REF: BAMAKO 00881

Classified By: Political Officer Aaron Sampson, Embassy Bamako,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1.(U) Ministers from Algeria, Libya, Burkina Faso, Chad,
Niger, and Mali met in Bamako on November 11 to discuss a
joint approach to improved Sahel-Saharan security. The
Ministerial meeting was originally intended to occur on the
eve of President Amadou Toumani Toure's much anticipated Head
of State summit on Trans-Sahel security (Ref. A). Faced with
increasingly complicated presidential scheduling conflicts,
Mali moved ahead with the Ministerial portion but repackaged
it as a "preparatory" meeting for the still unscheduled Head
of State summit. Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs Moctar
Ouane hosted the Ministerial. Other attendees included the
Algerian Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs, Abdelkader
Messahel; the Burkinabe Minister for Regional Cooperation,
Minata Samate; Libya's Secretary for African Affairs and
International Cooperation, Ali Triki; Niger's Foreign
Minister, Aichatou Mindaoudou; and the Chadian Foreign
Minister, Djidda Moussa Outmane. Mali's Minister of
Territorial Administration, General Kafougouna Kone, and
Minister of Defense, Natie Pleah, also participated.

2.(U) During public remarks at the opening of the
conference, Malian Foreign Minister Ouane observed that
participating nations faced a number of threats including
many that are specific to the 21st century. These threats,
said Ouane, "heighten the difficulties States in the region
are already facing in their fight against poverty." Ouane
told the audience that "criminal networks continue to benefit
from this situation, and are organizing to confront our
countries' security forces in order to establish a lawless
space to further illicit activities like cross-border
banditry, terrorism, and trafficking of all kinds including
arms, drugs and human beings." Ouane said the conference's
objective was to turn the Sahel-Saharan region into a zone of
stability and development. He also called for the
"mobilization" of Mali's development partners to support
government initiatives in agriculture, animal husbandry,
water management, transportation, commerce, health,
education, and professional training.

3.(U) The meeting produced two documents: a Bamako
Declaration and an action plan on peace, security, and
development in the region. The declaration and action plan
appear to contain few specific recommendations beyond a
renewed commitment to "taking appropriate measures" to combat
terrorism, a call for greater information sharing, and the
deployment of joint and/or simultaneous military patrols to
strengthen cross-border security. The Ministerial's final
statement also drew attention to shared socio-economic needs
including infrastructure development, agricultural issues,
food security, micro-finance, support for the health and
education sectors, and job creation measures.

4.(C) Comment: Participating Ministers are now expected to
submit the declaration and action plan to their respective
Heads of State for review and ultimate approval. A date for
an actual Head of State summit remains illusive. While the
Ministerial was unfolding, one advisor to President Toure
told the Embassy that a Head of State summit was looking less
and less likely. On November 17 the Foreign Ministry's
Director of Political Affairs, Sekouba Cisse, told the
Embassy that presidential approval of the declaration and
action plan were now top priority and hinted that an eventual
Head of State summit could be reduced to a simple signing
ceremony lasting no more than a few hours - provided there
are no objections to the text drafted during the Ministerial.
Given the evident complexities of scheduling a presidential
summit, together with the challenge of crafting a realistic
plan for Sahel-Saharan security, a simple signing ceremony
with one or two visiting Heads of State, as opposed to the
entire crew of regional leaders as originally planned, may
provide Mali with a face-saving way to claim success more
than one year after President Toure first called for a Head
of State summit.
MILOVANOVIC