NIGERIA: AMBASSADOR YATES MEETING WITH SGF YAHYALE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000707

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/23/2024
TAGS: PREL PGOV KCOR MARR MASS ECOWAS NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: AMBASSADOR YATES MEETING WITH SGF YAHYALE
AHMED

REF: A. A. 08 ABUJA 01870

B. B. ABUJA 682

Classified By: Classified by Ambassador Robin R. Sanders for Reason 1.4
B & D


1. (C) Summary: During her April 20-22 visit, Ambassador
Mary Yates, Africa Command Deputy for Civil and Military
Activities, had a brief late evening meeting April 21 with
Nigeria's Secretary to the Government of the Federation
(SGF),Yahyale Ahmed. Ambassador Sanders and Colonel Peter
Teil accompanied her to the meeting. Yates discussed a range
of issues on the development of the Command, as well as noted
highlights from her speech on security sector reform (SSR)
which she had given before the ECOWAS-ACSS meeting just prior
to meeting with Ahmed. For his part Yahyale Ahmed warmly
welcomed Ambassador Yates' visit and the very positive
military-to-military cooperation between our two countries.
He also noted the strong bilateral relationship between the
United States and Nigeria even though there were differences
on some issues (a less than subtle reference to Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission),and restated his interest in
having meetings in the U.S. that he had mentioned to
Ambassador Sanders in their last meeting (Ref A). In
addition to Ref B, see other septels on Ambassador Yates'
additional meetings in Abuja. End summary.


2. (C) On the evening of April 21, Ambassador Mary Yates,
visiting Deputy of Africa Command for Civil and Military
Activities, had a brief meeting with Yahyale Ahmed, Nigeria's
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Yahyale
Ahmed, who previously served as Nigeria's Defense Minister
from 2007-November 2008 and currently holds the all powerful
SGF position which functions in a de facto manner like a
combination of Presidential Chief of Staff, Vice President,
Special Advisor to the President, and ministerial
coordinator, is consider one of President Yar'Adua's closest
personal friends and confidants. The two are also former
university classmates.


3. (C) Ambassador Yates began her discussion with Ahmed by
noting the positive forward movement in building the
U.S.-Nigerian military-to-military cooperation over the last
year, which culminated in the March 2009 visit of the African
Partnership Station (APS) to Lagos. She described the
benefits of the APS/USS Nashville platform to regional
maritime and security training and the importance of this
type of capacity building for not only the nations of the
West Africa region, but for the militaries and civilians of
the many other nations from Europe to Australia who
participate in APS. Yates noted that the next round of the
APS will include a Dutch ship and that the multi-nation
presence, particularly for Africa, will be equally as
impressive, stressing that it was important again to have
Nigeria participate. Ambassador Sanders noted that while the
Nashville was in Lagos port, it trained more than 300
Nigerian civilian and military officers, providing in many
ways the type of capacity building that President Yar'Adua
had envisioned for initiatives in the Gulf of Guinea.


4. (C) Turning to programmatic developments at the Africa
Command, Ambassador Yates first reiterated that the Command
will remain in Stuttgart for the foreseeable future, as has
been stated by the Secretary of Defense and by AFRICOM
Commander General Ward. She emphasized that Africa Command
was unique in what it brought to the table because of its
focus on cooperation and coordination among militaries,
including looking at development programs and projects on
issues ranging from fisheries to counter narcotics. She
highlighted Nigeria's strategic position in the region,
noting that on the last APS, the Deputy to the Commodore had
been a Nigerian Navy Commander. Nigeria's leadership in the
region and now in ECOWAS, she stressed, was critical to how
West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea addressed some of the key
challenges that the Gulf area is facing now, particularly
regarding maritime security and piracy, as we are all very
concerned about the latter. Yahyale Ahmed chimed in to

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mention the worrying signs of more piracy in the Gulf, and
Nigeria's concerns to avoid the situation in the Gulf seas
morphing into the kind of piracy that is now seen off the
coast of Somalia.


5. (C) Ambassador Yates agreed and then went on to highlight
the importance of the ongoing ACSS conference where she had
just given a presentation on security sector reform (SSR) in
the region. She stressed how important SSR was to ensuring
stability in West Africa overall, mentioning that she would
be on her way to Guinea-Bissau when she left Nigeria. Africa
Command looks forward to being supportive with programs on
SSR in the region as well, Yates commented, but its role also
is to listen to what Africans are saying they need to make
SSR successful.


6. (C) The SGF added that he was pleased to hear about this
positive range of activities on the military side given his
past position as Minister of Defense, and that it had always
been clear to him that the U.S. and Nigeria needed each
other. In his view, the U.S. and UK were the two most
important countries for Nigeria. It was always important for
them to work together, particularly regarding military
cooperation, but also to work through differences, he said.
He emphasized that he was impressed with Ambassador Yates'
presentation on what Africa Command is doing and trying to do
in order to be helpful to the countries of the region.


7. (C) Yahyale Ahmed informed the two Ambassadors that
President Yar'Adua had recently formed a commission to review
Nigeria's foreign relations policies, which is chaired by
former Commonwealth Secretary General (and former Nigerian
FonMin) Emeke Anyaoku. He said that Anyaoku would be
visiting embassies to discuss their views of bilateral
relations with Nigeria. Without being direct, Yahyale Ahmed
noted that there was "one troublesome issue" in the bilateral
relationship, but other than that, he believed that the
relationship was strong and that there was a lot of good
will. (Note: The "troublesome issue" to which Yahyale Ahmed
was referring is the GON's continuing unhappiness with our
position on not engaging with the leadership of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC).


8. (C) Ambassador Sanders said she had briefed Ambassador
Yates on our differences on the issue to which he was
referring, and in changing the subject, asked Ahmed whether
he still had plans in his new capacity as SGF to travel to
the U.S. as he had mentioned to her in their last meeting
(Ref A). The SGF replied that he had been approached by
several prominent Nigerians both in and out of government
about such a possibility. "I say this humbly," he continued,
"that a number of people are pushing me in this direction and
believe that it would be beneficial for me to meet with some
of the leadership of the new U.S. Administration." In
response, Ambassador Sanders offered to help set up meetings
in Washington if and when the SGF decided to travel.


9. (C) Comment: Given that Yahyale Ahmed is one of the most
senior people in the recently reshuffled GON cabinet, is
close to Yar'Adua, and was previous Defense Minister, it
would be important to have him meet with Department officials
and others when he travels to Washington. End Comment.


10. (U) Ambassador Yates departed before cable was drafted.
SANDERS