KHADAFI MAKES WAVES AT CEN-SAD SUMMIT IN BENIN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COTONOU 000348 SIPDIS AF/W FOR DANA BANKS, LONDON FOR PETER LORD, PARIS FOR KANEDA E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2018 TAGS: PREL EAID SENV EAGR PINR XA LY BN SUBJECT: KHADAFI MAKES WAVES AT CEN-SAD SUMMIT IN BENIN Classified By: Ambassador Gayleatha B. Brown. Reasons 1.4 (b&d). 1.(C) Summary: In Benin June 16-18, 2008 for the 10th annual summit of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), Libya's Col. Khadafi reportedly offended and alienated many of the African heads of state, ministers and representatives in attendance. His visceral attack on regional African organizations at the June 17 opening session (attended by the diplomatic corps) apparently intensified in later closed-door sessions. The summit's purported dedication to rural development and food security was overshadowed by Khadafi's polemics against regional political groupings, including ECOWAS and the African Union (AU),and repeated calls for a United States of Africa. While Khadafi arrived bearing gifts, he only attracted the heads of state of ten (Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Liberia, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, the Central African Republic, Libya and Sierra Leone) of CEN-SAD's 25 members. At the end of the summit, Benin's President Yayi is left in a difficult position as CEN-SAD's new chairperson - a job which could very well leave him twisting in the wind between Khadafi, the regional blocs, and his foreign partners, particularly Nigeria, target of Khadafi's ire. End Summary. -------------- -------------- Khadafi launches an attack on regional organizations -------------- -------------- 2.(C) In his public remarks at the June 17 opening of the CEN-SAD summit attended by foreign heads of state, ministers and representatives and the diplomatic corps, Khadafi repeatedly condemned the regional political and economic groupings and called for a United States of Africa. In private, reportedly, he went further. Akwasi Osei Adjei, Ghana's Foreign Minister (please protect),told the Ambassador that Khadafi's verbal diatribes berated Africans for what Khadafi termed their do-nothing regional organizations that should be abolished and replaced with a United States of Africa. Adjei stated that Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa were targeted for very harsh treatment to the extent that the Liberian President walked out of one closed session. The Nigerian delegation was similarly offended. According to Adjei, Hassan Aboubacar, the head of the Nigerian delegation and Nigeria's CDA in Cotonou, read a ;statement that repudiated Khadafi's remarks and re-affirmed Nigeria's sovereign right to take independent action when and where it pleased. 3.(C) Khadafi also condemned Blaise Compoare, Burkina Faso's President, for his attendance at Israel's 60th anniversary celebration. Reportedly, he left Cotonou much earlier than other participants. Adjei also told the Ambassador that, Khadafi threatened to target any African country that did not follow his line and deny them Libyan development assistance. According to Khadafi, those "slaves" who followed the U.S. and European line should leave Africa and go to America and Europe. Additionally, Khadafi told the heads of state that he had terminated discussions with France about a Mediterranean Union regional grouping once Sarkozy included non-African countries. 4.(C) Clearly upset, Adjei said that many of his colleagues were worried about Khadafi's threat to go directly to the "people" and advocate revolution in those countries who did not follow him and so declare at the upcoming AU meeting in Egypt. He said those countries particularly worried included The Gambia, Togo, and Cote d'Ivoire. The Ghanaian ForMin noted Benin's awkward position as the current host and the fact that Yayi is slated to be CEN-SAD's next chairperson. Cotonou received a taste of Khadafi's threat to go to the people on June 19 during a giant mass rally and concert at the main stadium. 5.(C) During the rally, attended by approximately 300,000 people, Khadafi repeated his call for a United States of Africa and told Benin's youth and women to not trust their politicians and instead put their trust in a United States of Africa. During his discourse, which meandered and jumped rapidly from topic to topic, he condemned the United States for exploiting Africa through the slave trade and Europe for its colonial policies. 6.(C) Publicly, several heads of states interviewed by the press on their departure from Cotonou were complimentary of COTONOU 00000348 002 OF 003 Benin's hospitality and well-organized program, arranged by Ambassador Diallo, the President's Special Advisor on Diplomatic Affairs and former ForMin. For example, Liberia's President warmly expressed appreciation for the GOB's welcome and pointedly stated interest in follow-on discussions of substantive issues (see paras 7-9) in regional fora, notably the AU. Privately, European diplomats in Cotonou buzzed about Khadafi's diatribes. One African diplomat observed that the Ambassador's keen interest in Khadafi's opening speech was superseded only by that of the French COM. The new Chinese Ambassador, an expert in Arab Affairs, was nonplused, contending that other Arab leaders do not take Khadafi seriously and the Africans only do so for what they can get. -------------- --- Also discussed: the Great Green Wall and the end of Visas -------------- --- 7.(U) Khadafi's public and private diatribes aside, the Summit touched on some other important issues. The CEN-SAD experts committee met June 12-13 to consider a rural development and natural resources action plan that consists of a regional food security program and water development project. The experts focused on the Great Green Wall project. This project consists of planting a 5 km wide strip of trees over a distance of 7,000 km from Senegal to Djibouti to stop the progress of desertification. To address the food crisis, the experts' committee proposed the creation of a monitoring group for food security which would monitor natural resources, trends in foodstuff prices and investment for agricultural development to prevent potential food crises in the CEN-SAD region. Experts also recommended that the principle of the free movement of people in the CEN-SAD region be gradually formalized through the cancellation of the visa requirements for citizens of member states. The experts' committee selected Niger to host the 1st CEN-SAD Games in February 2009 with an estimated budget of FCFA 2,241,525,000 (USD 5,370,000). CEN-SAD's Executive Committee, composed of member state foreign ministers, approved the experts' report during its June 15-16 meeting. 8.(U) In public the heads of state summit considered the conflicts in Chad and Djibouti and called for dialogue in each country. The heads of state also discussed the proposal for a Trans-Saharan road and agreed to set up an investment guarantee agency within the Sahel-Saharan Investment and Trade Bank. The heads of state accepted Sao Tome and Principe, Kenya, and Mauritania as full members of CEN-SAD. The summit closed with the nomination of President Yayi to chair CEN-SAD until its next meeting in 2009. 9.(U) In addition to President Yayi's ascendancy to the chairmanship of CEN-SAD, Benin also benefited materially from Khadafi's largesse. While in town for the summit Khadafi inaugurated construction on the "Libya Hotel" a planned five star hotel in Cotonou with an estimated price tag of 33 billion FCFA (79 million USD). In the days surrounding the event Khadafi also made gifts of food, minibuses, tractors, and computers to the Beninese people. At the end of the CEN-SAD, Khadafi lauded Benin's organization of the conference and warm welcome in a message reported in the media on June 19. -------------- Comment -------------- 10.(C) Khadafi pushed hard on his concept of a United States of Africa, even if it meant offending those he wants to unify. He was quick to brandish petrodollars as a weapon with threats to withhold aid from anyone who does not tow his line. Khadafi's potential for success with such an initiative probably is limited based on the weak attendance by heads of state at the summit and his willingness to offend fellow leaders. Khadafi delivered direct attacks on regional African organizations, notably the AU, SADC, and ECOWAS, and called for their replacement with United States of Africa structures. His direct attack on Nigeria and its president for attempting "colonization" of Africa via ECOWAS gives ammunition to those who suspect Khadafi of similar intentions in CEN-SAD. These polemics do not serve President Yayi well. Benin's role within CEN-SAD, especially with President Yayi COTONOU 00000348 003 OF 003 as the chairperson, will likely be difficult. He must expend political and diplomatic capital to preserve good neighborly relations with Nigeria, which is essential to Benin's economic well-being. Hosting the CEN-SAD Summit has changed from an opportunity to use Libyan money to spruce up Cotonou to the real danger that Yayi might be seduced into Khadafi's orbit. End Comment. BROWN