NIGERIA: AMBASSADOR YATES MEETING WITH FONMIN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 000682

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCOR NI PU TO
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: AMBASSADOR YATES MEETING WITH FONMIN
MADUEKWE -- BISSAU AND TOGO DISCUSSED

REF: A. SECSTATE 28079

B. ABUJA 418

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


1. (C) Summary: Deputy Commander for Civil Military Affairs
for the Africa Command, Ambassador Mary Yates, along with
Ambassador Sander, met with Nigerian Foreign Minister Ojo
Maduekwe at his home on April 21 where Yates briefed the
FonMin on the new programmatic developments at Africa
Command. Yates also highlighted her participation in the
April 17-24 ECOWAS-Africa Strategic Studies Center (ACSS)
conference on security sector reform (SSR) and her upcoming
trip to Guinea Bissau. She also took advantage of the
opportunity to ask the FonMin his views on other simmering
issues in the Africa region, most notably the recent
developments in Togo. The FonMin briefed Yates on his March
2009 trip to the U.S. and his meetings with the Secretary of
State and Senator Feingold, noting that his primary desire
was to ensure that they understood that Nigeria was not all
bad, and that the Government of President Yar'Adua was
committed to issues such as electoral reform and the fight
against corruption. End Summary.

New Programs at Africa Command:
-------------- --------------

2. (C) Ambassador Yates began the dialogue by restating the
purpose and structure of Africa Command, and emphasizing the
position of the Secretary of Defense and General Ward that
the Command would remain in Germany for the immediate future.
She added that in her April 20 press conference at
Ambassador Sanders, residence, she had explained this
similar point, noting also that the current focus is more on
ensuring that the Command structure is right and that the
programs being developed supported and were responsive to
what African civilian and military leaders said they need in
the region. As a result, the programmatic efforts of the
Command had matured and there were a number of new projects
that addressed maritime awareness, security, fisheries, and
the ever-growing threats from drug trafficking in the region.
Yates then highlighted the recent U.S. Navy Africa
Partnership Station (APS) visit to Lagos and how this kind of
platform provides a positive way to encourage and foster
cooperation and coordination with all militaries in general,
and African militaries in particular. She noted the three
Nigerian APS participants who held leadership positions on
the recent APS, including one serving as a deputy to the
Commodore of the APS/USS Nashville.

ACSS Conference, Guinea Bissau and Togo:
-------------- --------------

3. (C) Ambassador Yates then turned to highlight her specific
reasons for being in Nigeria as regards to the joint
conference sponsored by ECOWAS, ACSS, and the National
Defense College of Nigeria (NDC). She explained to the FonMin
that the seminar focused on security sector reform which was
very apropos given recent instability issues in
Guinea-Bissau, the coup in Mauritania, and problems in Togo.
Yates noted that that the focus of her speech later on the
evening of April 21 would be on how Africa Command can be
supportive of African civilian and military leaders as they
try to address these issues under the umbrella of ECOWAS.
Yates also highlighted ECOWAS,s leadership and its ability
to be pro-active on these issues. She then asked the FonMin
for his assessment of Guinea-Bissau as she was headed there
in a few days. Ambassador Sanders added that Nigeria as
chairman of ECOWAS had been helpful in making public
statements against any effort to turn back the tide on
democracy on the continent, and that the FonMin had been very
vocal on issues ranges from Zimbabwe to the coup in
Mauritania, to participating in two ECOWAS assessment
missions to Guinea-Bissau. The FonMin began by noting that
it was very important to keep forward movement in
Guinea-Bissau as he too was very worried that any political
vacuum would provide more fertile ground for
narco-traffickers. Similar to previous comments in ref B,
Maduekwe recounted his analysis that the personal animosity

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between the late Bissauan President Vieira, and his Chief of
Defense Staff (CDS) had been exploited. Although there was
no proof, he opined that the late Bissauan President was
smart enough to know that if anything had happen to his CDS,
then he was a "dead man," so Vieira, he believed, could not
have been behind the CDS,s assassination. He told Yates
that Vieira had sought Nigeria's help in personal protection
just prior to his assassination, more out of fear of the
narco-traffickers. In addition Maduekwe added that it was
important to ensure that the inquiry into what actually
happen as regards to the assassinations continued, as it
would help the healing process of the country.


4. (C) Yates followed by asking the FonMin what suggestions
he would have for specifically addressing military reform
issues that were needed in Bissau. She highlighted ECOWAS
President Chambas's comments (see septel) that some sort of
pension fund was needed to take care of any military elements
affected by reform, which would include reduction of force
size, noting Chambas said ECOWAS had committed $5 million for
this purpose. Maduekwe agreed that reducing of force size
and addressing pension needs were critical to making this
work. He also explained that he would add improving the
standard of living for the military, including building or
refurbishing their barracks. The Nigerian FonMin, similar to
Chambas earlier that morning, said he was hopeful that, with
these things and the international community's continued
interest, successful elections could possibly get things
moving in the right direction. Yates said she planned to
listen to all sides on the reform issues, including a former
retired U.S. Ambassador who had been living in the country
for 15 years or more.


5. (C) Turning to Togo, Ambassador Sanders thanked Maduekwe
for squeezing the meeting in prior to the latter,s departure
for Lome. She noted that she and Ambassador Yates had just
left President Chambas' s office and understood that they
would be traveling together. The FonMin said that he and
Chambas would be taking one of the planes in the Yar'Adua
presidential fleet, and that the Nigerian President
specifically had asked him to go to Togo as developments
there were cause for concern. Ambassador Yates asked Maduekwe
what his current take of the situation was. She highlighted
recent concerns the USG has with the build up of resident
Columbian drug traffickers as well as the narco-trafficking
there overall, and that if Togo did not find a way to
strengthen its security framework on this issue, it could
overwhelm and spiral out of control. Maduekwe agreed, adding
that he thought the current Togolese President was doing
everything right to combat narco-traffickers, but on the
internal political side that he may need to look at allowing
for more openness. The Nigeria Foreign Minister closed out
the discussion by noting that ECOWAS and the international
community needed to watch the issues in Togo very closely so
that it did not develop further into another unstable country
in the region.

EFCC:
--------------

6. (C) Never losing an opportunity to discuss the GON's
continuing unhappiness with our position on the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),the Foreign Minister
highlighted his recent trip to the United States and his
meetings with both SecState and Senator Feingold. He said
that there was still a lot of concern in his government over
the USG's non-interaction with the EFCC, but that he had an
opportunity to openly discuss his government views with both
the Secretary and the Senator. On the latter, he noted that
he expected to have a difficult meeting, but said that he and
the Senator had a frank discussion where he told the Senator
that there were a lot of challenges in Nigeria, but
everything and everyone in Nigeria was not all bad. He
concluded that the GON desire, given the US-GON partnership,
is for the two countries to at least reopen engagement with
the EFCC, even if we do not agree, noting that friendly
nations should still be able to have a dialogue with the EFCC
leadership. (Note: Ambassador Yates was briefed on the GON's

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views on our stance on the EFCC prior to any meetings with
GON officials).


7. (U) Ambassador Yates departed prior to this cable being
drafted.
SANDERS