ECOWAS: COUNCIL OF MINISTERS MEETING IN ABUJA, AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 000967 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/W, INR/AA BAGHDAD FOR DMCCULLOUGH E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV ECOWAS NG NI SUBJECT: ECOWAS: COUNCIL OF MINISTERS MEETING IN ABUJA, AND NEXT STEPS REGARDING NIGER Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Geoffrey J. Martineau for rea sons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) On May 26, the 62nd ordinary session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers opened in Abuja, chaired by Nigeria's Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe. Maduekwe welcomed visiting ministers by challenging them to work together to increase regional efficiency and improve West African infrastructure, rather than simply increasing institutional bureaucracy. He warned them that "increased hugging of (i.e. insistence on) sovereignty could lead to the hugging of sustained poverty" if progress were not made toward these goals. The Council of Ministers dealt primarily with economic issues, deciding to allow member states to create a fifth band of the Common Economic Tariff (CET),augmenting the peak tariff on imported goods from 30% to 35%, up from the previous four-band CET of between 0 to 20%. The Joint Committee on Trade, Customs, and Free Movement will meet at a later date to determine which goods will be reclassified to qualify for the new tariff. The Ministers also considered the ECOWAS Labor Policy and Plan of Action, which proposes to assist the victims of human trafficking, and the implementation of the regional action plan against drug trafficking. ¶2. (C) On May 31, Ambassador spoke with ECOWAS President Mohamed Ibn Chambas to discuss the results of the recent Council of Ministers meeting. Chambas noted his concern about the rollback of democracy in the West African region, and that more needed to be done and said by the international community to help stem this tide. Chambas was particularly focused on ECOWAS' next steps in dealing with the constitutional crisis in Niger, caused May 26 when Nigerien President Mamadou Tandja dissolved his country's National Assembly, apparently in a move toward abrogating Niger's Constitution and seeking a third term in office. Chambas told the Ambassador that ECOWAS was dispatching former Nigerian President Abdulsalami Abubakar to visit Tandja, in order to persuade him to step down in December, 2009, as the law requires. At the end of the discussion, Chambas officially asked for a meeting with POTUS since he will be in Ghana at the same time. A formal written request is to follow. ¶3. (U) This cable was coordinated with Consulate Lagos. SANDERS