GHANA RESPONSE TO IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL ELECTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L ACCRA 000423 SIPDIS DEPT FOR IO/T-MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2019 TAGS: AORC IAEA KNNP PREL SUBJECT: GHANA RESPONSE TO IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL ELECTION REF: A. STATE 46302 ¶B. UNVIE 189 Classified By: PolOff Raymond Stephens for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Ghana offers strong support for Japanese candidate Yukiya Amano to be IAEA DG but does not give a definitive "yes". END SUMMARY ¶2. (U) Per reftel, PolOff Raymond Stephens delivered demarche to Dr. Kojo Assan, Director, International Organizations and Multilateral Bureau, Ghana MFA. Assan said the Embassy of Japan is lobbying hard for Amano, and Amano has paid courtesy calls in Accra on VP John Dramani Mahama and Deputy Foreign Minister. ¶3. (U) Assan also said Ghana and Japan enjoy strong relations. VP Mahama worked as Political FSN in Embassy of Japan in Accra for several years before joining government in mid 1990s as a Deputy Minister. ¶4. (U) Assan concluded the meeting by saying that USG support for Amano adds flavor to information about the candidate. ¶5. (C) While Assan gave no concrete indication of how Ghana will vote, he strongly indicated that Ghana will continue to support Assan as it did in previous rounds. TEITELBAUM