ETHIOPIA STUDYING" APPROPRIATE RESPONSE ON NIGER

C O N F I D E N T I A L ADDIS ABABA 002643 SIPDIS AF/W FOR DENNISON E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/05/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL ET SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA STUDYING" APPROPRIATE RESPONSE ON NIGER REF: (A) STATE 110957 (B) ADDIS ABABA 02622 Classified By: CDA Tuli Mushingi for Reasons 1.4 B/D ¶1. (C) Pol/Econ Counselor discussed Niger with Diector of the Americas Directorate Tesfaye Wilma on November 2 and with Ethiopian Ambassador to the African Union Konjit Sinegiorgis on November 6. Tesfaye said Ethiopia is very concerned about the situation in Niger and welcomes ECOWAS activism on it. He said, however, that the Niger problem is quite different from the coups in Mauritania, Guinea, and Madagascar and Ethiopia and the AU does not have the same set of legal options in dealing with misconduct by a continuously sitting government. ¶2. (C) Ambassador Konjit said the AU has taken the only action obviously open to it regarding Niger in issuing a communique from Abuja on October 30 endorsing the October 17 decision of ECOWAS to suspend Niger's membership. Like Tesfaye, however, she insisted that the AU's rules would not allow it to readily follow suit. She said Ethiopia had not taken a position within the AUPSC for or against suspending Niger but would continue to study AU options in consultation with ECOWAS regional leadership. She closed by mentioning that the AU Peace and Security Council meets on November 9 but that Niger is not on the agenda. To Pol/Econ Counselor's question about Niger possibly being raised under "other business" at that meeting, Konjit said that was a possibility but she had no instructions to do so for Ethiopia. MUSHINGI