ALGERIAN MINSTATE SAYS TRANS-SAHARA LEADERS TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ALGIERS 000765 SIPDIS ADDIS ABABA PASS TO AU WATCHER E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2029 TAGS: PREL PBTS PTER PGOV AG SUBJECT: ALGERIAN MINSTATE SAYS TRANS-SAHARA LEADERS TO MEET IN BAMAKO IN OCTOBER REF: ALGIERS 740 ALGIERS 00000765 001.2 OF 003 Classified By: Ambassador David D. Pearce for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Algerian Minister of State for Africa and the Maghreb Abdelkader Messahel told a visiting Capstone delegation August 14 that trans-Sahara heads of state will meet in Bamako in early October to discuss security cooperation and regional development. Messahel said that Algerian President Bouteflika discussed the timing of such a summit with Malian President Toure and Libyan leader Qadhafi, who all agreed that early October would provide a suitable post-Ramadan timeframe and give the new Mauritanian administration time to prepare. Messahel said that an August 12 meeting of military chiefs of staff in southern Algeria was a functional prelude to the heads of state summit, which will cover security and development issues with the goal of adopting frameworks for greater cooperation and roadmaps for specific actions. A series of follow-up meetings to the summit would bring together ministers of interior, defense, and finance. The threat to the region, Messahel argued, comes not only from terrorists but from a socio-economic environment that allows terrorists to thrive, and it is time for the nations of the region to "reclaim" Islam, which has historically been moderate and tolerant, from the extremists. Messahel also stated that Algeria has committed some USD 13 million toward aid programs in northern Mali. He was firm in stressing that African governments needed to take responsibility for their own security and development and that the U.S. and other friends of the region could help with material aid and technical assistance. The USG, he said, could best assist Africa by supporting African-led initiatives, such as the October summit and the AU-led initiative to strengthen the international legal regime against ransom payments. END SUMMARY. HEADS OF STATE TO BAMAKO EARLY OCTOBER -------------- ¶2. (C) Minister of State for African and Maghreb Affairs Abdelkader Messahel met the Capstone delegation of visiting U.S. military generals and admirals August 14 on their last day in Algiers. In a rare Friday meeting after having just returned from Vienna for talks on the Western Sahara (septel),Messahel, who assembled a team of military and MFA officials for the meeting, told the Capstone group that a summit of heads of state from the trans-Sahara region will likely take place in the beginning of October in Bamako, Mali. He noted that military chiefs of staff had met in the southern Algerian city of Tamanrasset on August 12 to discuss security cooperation. He reiterated, as we had heard in a previous meeting (reftel) that other ministerial and sub-ministerial gatherings were planned in the run-up to a heads of state meeting. ¶3. (C) Messahel said that President Bouteflika, Malian President Toure, and Libyan leader Qadhafi agreed that early October would be the best timeframe for the summit to avoid Ramadan and to give the new Mauritanian administration time to prepare for full engagement on the issues. He said the summit would include the leaders of Niger, Chad, Mauritania, and Burkina Faso in addition to Algeria and Libya (but not Tunisia and Morocco). The summit's primary objective would be a framework for cooperation with a roadmap of specific action items. Ministers of defense, interior, and finance would hold a series of follow-on meetings, he said, to implement agreements made at the summit. Messahel said that after the heads of state summit, there would be an effort to have a dialogue with friends and allies like the USG to develop cooperative efforts. THREATS TO REGIONAL SECURITY BEYOND TERRORISTS -------------- - ¶4. (C) Messahel said that terrorists did not pose the only threat to regional security and stability; the socio-economic environment posed by weak governments in Mali, Niger, and Mauritania allowed terrorism and organized crime, including drug and human trafficking, to thrive in a region that stretched from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. He also listed poverty and poor health conditions as threats in the region ALGIERS 00000765 002.2 OF 003 in addition to terrorism. Messahel affirmed that the time was right for regional heads of state to create a synergy to combat these threats by building capacity within each nation and reestablishing confidence and trust among themselves. He said that the Malians, for example, agreed at the Tamanrasset meeting to take a more aggressive role in pursuing terrorists and that Algeria has already obligated some USD 13 million toward development projects in northern Mali for improved health care and to provide job training to former Tuareg rebels. He also said it was time for the countries of the region to reclaim Islam from extremists, noting that the Islam prevalent throughout northwest Africa is one of tolerance and moderation: "We don't know the salafism or wahhabism of the Saudis," he asserted. AFRICANS LEADING AFRICAN-BASED INITIATIVES -------------- ¶5. (C) Messahel stressed that the governments of the region, and in Africa generally, must take primary responsibility to combat the elements of instability in their territories. The United States and other nations interested in the region could best assist by providing support in the form of materials and equipment as well as technical assistance to complement efforts led by the Africans themselves, he said. He highlighted the Algiers Accords of 2006 as an example of a successful regional cooperation mechanism that helped Mali "solve" its problems with Tuareg rebels; and now it must face the AQIM threat squarely. He added that Algeria has told officials in Mali and Niger that each must now take part in broader efforts to strengthen regional security, telling them "You cannot leave it to the United States, France, or others to do it for you. No, you must do it." Without giving specific examples, Messahel described past conferences and meetings on peace and security in the region led by foreign powers as being mostly for show with few concrete results. But, he said, Algeria is ready to help its neighbors develop the capacity to address the security challenges they all face. ¶6. (C) Messahel reiterated a call for support of Algeria's AU-backed initiative at the UN to strengthen the international legal regime against ransom payments. Presidential counter-terrorism advisor Kamel Rezzag Bara gave the same message to the Capstone delegation on August 12 (septel). Messahel said it was important for European countries in particular to recognize that paying ransoms to kidnappers in the region facilitates terrorist activities. ¶7. (C) Describing Algeria's role in Africa, Messahel suggested that the USG should consider Algeria a strategic partner on the continent. His country's roots ran historically and culturally in a horizontal direction along Maghreb, Mediterranean, and Arab lines but also vertically toward the rest of the African continent. He said Algeria is bound by international conventions it has signed to cooperate with its neighbors and it does so regarding intelligence and training. He noted Algeria's responsiveness in the past to requests for airlift support for UN and AU peacekeeping missions but pointed out that Algeria's constitution did not allow for the deployment of Algerian army troops on foreign soil. He also said that Algeria maintains a "discreet" economic relationship with other African countries and that one percent of Algeria's GDP is dedicated to African development. Algeria has regular meetings, what he termed a "system of concertation", with South Africa, Ethiopia, and Nigeria in particular. Algeria maintains close relations with these nations and has growing economic interests across the continent. ¶8. (C) Messahel could not resist taking at least one swipe against Algeria's former colonial master. While referring to Algeria's close involvement with the AU's creation of a North African standby brigade, he related how his country and Cameroon were competing to have the regional base established on their soil. Messahel claimed that the Algerian base was already up and running whereas the base in Cameroon had not yet been built. Worse, he continued, the base in Cameroon was partly French and was a key component of "France's Africa policy." Only the Algerian base, of the two alternatives under consideration, was "100 percent African." ALGIERS 00000765 003.2 OF 003 ¶9. (C) COMMENT: Messahel took the Capstone delegation seriously enough to return from Vienna earlier than he had originally planned and assemble a team on a Friday, Algeria's equivalent to Sunday in the U.S., to discuss regional issues. We believe he also saw the meeting as an opportunity to stress the point that leaders of the trans-Sahara region are taking it upon themselves to improve cooperation on security and related issues. Sharing the projected timetable and goals of the upcoming leadership summit, Messahel took pains to stress that the nations of the Sahel must shoulder responsibility for security in the region, and allies such as the USG should allow them the time and political space to build capacity, find solutions, and implement them. Algeria, according to Messahel, recognizes the breadth of the challenge across the Sahara and is committed to providing development assistance in addition to intelligence cooperation and other material support. But he was also clear in his position that the USG and other friends of the region could best assist Africa by supporting African-led initiatives, like the October Bamako summit and the AU effort on ransom payments that Algeria is spearheading, rather than trying itself to take on Africa's counter-terrorism and regional security challenges. End comment ¶10. (U) Tripoli minimize considered. PEARCE