C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001131

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/W, INR/AA
BAGHDAD FOR DMCCULLOUGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECOWAS NI
SUBJECT: ECOWAS CONVENES 36TH SUMMIT IN ABUJA

REF: ABUJA 984

Classified By: Ambassador Robin R. Sanders for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (SBU) The Ambassador attended the opening session of the
36th ordinary meeting of the Heads of State (HoS) of ECOWAS.
Nigerian President (and current ECOWAS Chairman) Umaru Musa
Yar'Adua opened the session with a 15-minute speech on the
issues which have been, and will continue to be, the focus of
his leadership as Chairman. With an unusually strong voice,
though a few of his usual coughing spells, the president
cited his efforts to ensure that the ECOWAS Commission
engaged in seeking to restore peace and security in the
region, particularly in both Guineas. He highlighted Guinea
Bissau,s upcoming election on June 28, 2009 as an example of
ECOWAS, success and stated he would call for an
international donors conference on Guinea Bissau in Abuja
after their election. In addition, Yar'Adua also said he
hoped to see elections later this year in Guinea Conakry and
in Cote d'Ivoire.


2. (U) President Yar'Adua then turned his remarks to his
heads of state (HoS) colleagues, calling for them to have
more political will to implement the ECOWAS protocols and
conventions on the free movement of goods and services, a
common currency and the common tariff regimes. He noted that
it had been 30 years since many of these protocols had been
signed, but that many states continued to fail to meet the
obligations contained in these protocols. He hoped that,
during this period of a global financial crisis, member
states would come together on these pressing issues in order
to secure a better economic and development future for the
people of the West African region. Yar'Adua also said that
he wanted the Summit to develop a plan for projects that
could tap into the $100 million infrastructure fund recently
announced at the G-20 Summit in London. Yar'Adua said the
closed-door session with the assembled HoS's would also
discuss improving peace and security in the region, reducing
the number of coups, and improving economic development so
that the lives of all the peoples of West Africa will be
better.


3. (SBU) This meeting is another of the twice-yearly summits
of ECOWAS HoS, and, in addition to security issues, will
discuss expansion of the ECOWAS tariff regime, and common
policies on mining. It is the first of three HoS-level
meetings which ECOWAS will conduct on successive days; that
of June 23 will discuss moves to establish a West African
Monetary zone. That of June 24 is to be a special summit
between ECOWAS and the visiting Spanish Head of Government,
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.


4. (C) Comment: Yar'Adua was certainly in better physical
form than in Ambassador's last encounter with him, as his
voice was certainly much stronger, he walked with a little
more vigor, and he even joked during his initial opening
remarks. Nonetheless, he still remains physically very
frail. We know that he has dialysis at least two times per
week, so it is possible that reftel meeting took place on one
of the days of the treatment, leaving him in a pretty weak
state. End comment.


5. (U) This cable was coordinated with Consulate Lagos.
SANDERS