Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09DARESSALAAM294
2009-05-06 13:43:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Dar Es Salaam
Cable title:  

SCENESETTER FOR VISIT OF GENERAL WARD TO TANZANIA

Tags:  PGOV PREL ECON EAID MARR TZ 
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VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDR #0294/01 1261343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061343Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8484
INFO RUEWMFC/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA//J3
UNCLAS DAR ES SALAAM 000294 

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPT AF/E FOR JLIDDLE
AFRICOM FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EAID MARR TZ
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR VISIT OF GENERAL WARD TO TANZANIA

UNCLAS DAR ES SALAAM 000294

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPT AF/E FOR JLIDDLE
AFRICOM FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EAID MARR TZ
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR VISIT OF GENERAL WARD TO TANZANIA


1. (SBU) Your visit to Tanzania comes at a time of expanding
military relations between our countries, in particular through
increased ACOTA equipment and training for Tanzanian battalions
deploying to Darfur. President Kikwete's positive attitude towards
the U.S. is increasingly reflected in public opinion, as Tanzanians
see the benefits of our development assistance. However, the legacy
of socialism and non-alignment has not faded altogether. Many
Tanzanians, including in the government, remain skeptical of U.S.
military motives. Our efforts to demonstrate the value of AFRICOM
to Tanzania and the continent are bearing fruit, but gradually.
President Kikwete plans to visit Washington, D.C. in late May; he
has expressed an interest in visiting Walter Reed Army Hospital
during his stay.

Political and Economic Background
--------------

2. (SBU) Tanzania's long record of peace and stability make it an
example for the region. Multi-party democracy was restored in the
early 1990s, and with President Kikwete's landslide election in
2005, Tanzania has seen three peaceful presidential transitions.
Macroeconomic reforms since the 1980s, marking a transition from
socialism towards a free-market system, have provided a basis for
sustained moderately high economic growth. President Kikwete, a
Muslim, governs a population approximately 65 percent Christian;
relations between religious communities have generally been
harmonious. The site of a 1998 terrorist attack on the U.S.
Embassy, Tanzania has porous borders with its eight neighbors and an
800 mile coastline.


3. (SBU) Tanzania remains among the worlds' poorest countries, with
per capita GDP of approximately USD 415 and 80 percent of the
population engaged in mostly small-scale agriculture. Despite
overall economic growth, recently released data shows over one
million more people living in poverty as compared to 2001.
Infrastructure remains rudimentary; red tape and corruption impede
private sector development. The recent worldwide economic shocks
have contributed to increased inflation, over ten percent for the

first time in several years, as well as concerns about sustaining
economic growth. The tourism industry, one of Tanzania's main
foreign exchange earners, expects a significant decrease in demand;
Americans account for half of all high-end tourists. There are
positive signs that HIV/AIDS prevalence is not increasing and may be
on a downward trend, as the HIV prevalence rate for 15-49 year-olds
has decreased from seven percent (2003) to 5.7 percent (2007).


4. (SBU) Politically, Tanzania is still dominated by the ruling
Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party. While elections on the mainland
have generally been free and fair, serious irregularities and
sporadic violence have marred elections in the autonomous islands of
Zanzibar. President Kikwete is expected to stand for election again
in 2010, while Zanzibar's President is term-limited and will step
down. Parliament, long dormant, is increasingly exercising its
oversight function on an executive branch accustomed to governing
unchecked.


5. (SBU) While a substantial majority of mainland Tanzanians support
the ruling CCM over opposition parties, on Zanzibar support for CCM
and the main opposition, the Civic United Front (CUF) is evenly
divided. Bitter conflict between the two parties, and between
Zanzibar's two islands of Unguja and Pemba, persist, with CUF
refusing to recognize the outcome of the flawed 2005 elections.
President Kikwete announced reconciliation on Zanzibar as a priority
for his government in 2005, but talks between the parties started
slowly and stalled in 2008. CUF leaders' insistence on a
power-sharing government prior to the 2010 elections was rebuffed by
the islands' CCM rulers. While President Kikwete personally
monitored progress of the talks, he has not wielded his position as
CCM party chairman or his offices as Head of State to successfully
broker an agreement that would be fair and equitable to both sides.
CUF leaders have warned that the party membership is increasingly
disillusioned with the democratic process.

U.S.-Tanzanian Bilateral Relationship
--------------

6. (SBU) Since the election of President Kikwete in December 2005,
U.S.-Tanzanian bilateral relations have significantly deepened.
President Kikwete's pro-Western stance, coupled with an increasing
level of U.S. assistance, has been the catalyst for this change,
enhancing cooperation in sectors from health and education, to
counterterrorism and military affairs. President Kikwete has
visited the U.S. several times since taking office, including an
official visit with President Bush in Washington, D.C., in August

2008. The public signing of the MCC compact during President Bush's
February 2008 visit to Tanzania, and the favorable public reaction
to the visit, further cemented the relationship. A 2008 Pew Global
Attitudes Poll showed a 19 percent increase, to 65 percent, of
Tanzanians who have a favorable attitude towards the U.S.


7. (SBU) Under the leadership of President Kikwete, a former Foreign
Minister, Tanzania has played an increasingly prominent role in
regional issues. Kikwete finished a one-year term as Chairman of
the African Union (AU) in January 2009. In that role, he overcame
South African reticence to proceed with an AU mission to Comoros
that restored national rule on the island of Anjouan. He has also
spoken out against military coups in Mauritania and Guinea and the
unconstitutional change in power in Madagascar. Within the Southern
Africa Development Community (SADC),Tanzania has played a
relatively quiet but positive role with respect to Zimbabwe.
Tanzania is also a member of the East African Community, whose
hesitant steps towards economic integration have been limited by
Tanzanian concerns about competition from Kenya. Tanzania has long
played a constructive role in the Burundi peace process. Tanzania
has expressed interest in participating in efforts to control Somali
piracy.


8. (SBU) Tanzania has long hosted refugees from the region's
conflict areas. The number has declined from more than a million in
the late 1990s to about 100,000 currently (the U.S. has provided
significant support for UN operations in the refugee camps and is
one of the main resettlement destinations),mainly from Burundi and
the Democratic Republic of Congo. Over ninety thousand Burundian
refugees returned home in 2008. Tanzania is also host to the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Military-to-Military Relations
--------------

9. (SBU) After a long period in which Tanzania's avowed
non-alignment meant minimal interaction with the U.S. military, in
the past several years U.S.-Tanzanian military-to-military relations
have improved significantly. In 2006, the Tanzanian People's
Defense Force (TPDF) gave permission to CJTF-HOA to establish a
Civil Affairs presence in the Tanga region of Tanzania. U.S. naval
ship visits to Dar es Salaam in September 2007 and February 2009
were the first since Tanzanian independence. Just last month the
Tanzanian Chief of Defense Forces, Gen. Mwamunyange, made the first
ever official visit by a sitting Tanzanian Chief of Defense Forces
to the U.S. During his visit, General Mwamunyange stressed the
value of high level engagement (visits and training) as the best way
to continue building trust in the bilateral military relationship.
In 1999 the GOT permitted DOD (through the Walter Reed Army
Institute for Research - WRAIR) to conduct research and build
laboratory capacity with a focus on HIV vaccine development. Since
2005, DOD's PEPFAR program - the largest in Africa - has renovated
and refurbished military hospitals and laboratories for provision of
comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care services.
This partnership, which is now expanding into malaria and influenza
control activities, is the reason President Kikwete may visit Walter
Reed hospital during his upcoming visit to the U.S. As a result of
our increased military-to-military cooperation, President Kikwete
has expressed interest in signing a Status of Forces Agreement
between the U.S. and Tanzania.


10. (SBU) The USG is also supporting Tanzania as the TPDF
increasingly participates in international peacekeeping operations.
Tanzania deployed 75 military police to Lebanon in 2007 in support
of the UNIFIL mission. The USG provided training to this company
under the African Contingency Training and Assistance (ACOTA)
program, and this fall will train 75 TPDF military police in
preparation for a third successive UNIFIL mission. Through ACOTA,
the USG is also supporting Tanzania as it prepares to deploy an
initial battalion to Darfur as part of the UN peacekeeping mission.
Training for an additional two battalions, which will also
constitute part of an AU regional standby brigade, will follow later
in 2009.

U.S. Strategic Priorities
--------------

11. (SBU) The USG's strategic priorities in Tanzania are:
(i) building the GOT's counterterrorism (CT) capacity and promoting
security;
(ii) strengthening Tanzania's democratic institutions and
accountability, through parliamentary capacity building and
anti-corruption efforts;
(iii) improving education by ensuring equal access and improved
opportunities to remote and underserved communities, especially
focused on girls in Muslim and pastoralist areas;
(iv) improving health by preventing the spread and mitigating the
impact of HIV/AIDS, combating malaria, enhancing reproductive,
maternal and child health services, ensuring access to clean water
and sanitation, and strengthening health systems;
(v) spurring sustainable economic growth through significant
investments in transport, energy and water infrastructure, policy
reform, agriculture, natural resources and biodiversity; and
(vi) influencing public opinion, especially among Tanzania's
Muslims, who tend to view U.S. policy as anti-Islam.


12. (SBU) The USG supports these strategic priorities with active
diplomatic engagement and a generous foreign assistance program.
Although Tanzania enjoys the support of numerous donor countries,
the U.S. is one of the top donors in Tanzania in dollar amounts. In
FY08, total USG bilateral assistance ran to nearly USD 400 million,
including initiatives such as PEPFAR and PMI. Taking into account
the U.S. share of contributions from multilateral donors such as the
World Bank and African Development Bank, U.S. assistance totaled USD
662 million in 2008. This does not include major private U.S.
benefactors such as the Gates Foundation. Other major donors
include the U.K., Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and the
European Commission.


13. (SBU) To ensure that corruption does not undermine development
efforts, we are sharply focused on supporting President Kikwete's
anti-corruption campaign. The Kikwete administration has taken
steps to combat corruption, including appointing a new Director of
the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) and passing
two pieces of legislation: the Anti-Money Laundering Bill and the
Anti-Corruption Bill. Recently, the drive against corruption has
picked up again. The first major court cases on grand corruption
began in November 2008, with the arrests of individuals whose
companies were alleged to have fraudulently received funds from the
Bank of Tanzania (BOT),along with several BOT employees. Shortly
thereafter, two long-serving former ministers were jailed on
corruption-related charges.


14. (SBU) In the wake of the 1998 Embassy bombing, we are actively
engaged in furthering counterterrorism (CT) cooperation with the
Tanzanian government. The Mission has an integrated strategy
involving modernization of Tanzania's law enforcement as well as
winning the hearts and minds of the Tanzanian people. Our work in
Pemba--a majority Muslim island--exemplifies this strategy. We have
knit together cultural preservation projects to repair historic
mosques, self-help projects to improve rural livelihoods, and
significant USAID malaria control and education programs. MCC will
rehabilitate and improve up to 36 kilometers of rural roads in Pemba
under the Compact. In addition, CDC is providing HIV prevention and
treatment services at the central hospital in Pemba. DOD/WRAIR is
currently renovating a military clinic and providing HIV/AIDS
services to TPDF officers on the island. USAID and AFRICOM are
partnering to build and furnish a primary school. The Mission
recently inaugurated an American Corner in Pemba to advance Islamic
outreach efforts. Another key component of the Mission's strategy
is helping the government establish its own national, interagency CT
Center to collect, share and analyze CT data.

Health Challenges: HIV/AIDS and Malaria
--------------

15. (SBU) Tanzania faces a mature generalized HIV epidemic, with a
prevalence rate of approximately 5.7 percent and 1.4 million people
living with HIV/AIDS. An estimated 440,000 individuals are
clinically eligible for antiretroviral treatment; however, available
services can support less than half of those in need. In FY 2008,
PEPFAR provided Tanzania with over USD 313 million to support
treatment, care, and prevention programs. In FY 2009, the PEPFAR
planning budget is $308 million. The PEPFAR program is on track to
exceed its original PEPFAR targets: 150,000 individuals on
anti-retroviral drugs; care for 750,000 individuals, including
orphans and vulnerable children; and prevention of 490,000 new HIV
infections. Although the U.S. has fostered positive relationships
with the Tanzanian government in the health sector, significant
challenges remain including: the need for stronger leadership in
line ministries; poor health infrastructure; a shortage of health
care workers; a weak government procurement system; and allegations
of corruption in the public and private sectors. We recently
entered into very productive negotiations with the GOT on a PEPFAR
Partnership Framework Agreement, which would deepen our relationship
over the coming five years.


16. (SBU) Malaria is the number one killer of children in Tanzania
and continues to be a major cause of maternal mortality. As a focus
country under the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI),Tanzania
received USD 34 million in FY 2008 to support the delivery of
long-lasting, insecticide treated bed-nets, the care and treatment
of malaria, the malaria in pregnancy program, and indoor residual
insecticide spraying. Malaria has been eliminated as a public
health problem on Zanzibar: the recent 2007-2008 Malaria Indicator
Survey (MIS) suggests that malaria prevalence is less than 1% on the
islands.

Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)
--------------

17. (SBU) In February 2008, Presidents Kikwete and Bush signed the
largest MCC Compact to date, USD 698 million. The Compact will
strengthen Tanzania's infrastructure network in three key areas:
transportation (roads and the Mafia Island airport),water, and
energy. It entered into full force and effect in September 2008.
Our message continues to be that a Compact is an agreement of
reciprocal responsibilities; to sustain it over five years, Tanzania
must pay heed to its corruption index and be vigilant at all levels
to ensure transparency and accountability in governance.


18. (SBU) Tanzania also received MCC Threshold funds - USD 11.2
million - from FY2005 to 2007. The Threshold program, which closed
in September 2008, focused on, among other things, enhancing civil
society's capacity to demand anti-corruption reform and fighting
corruption in public procurement. The program trained more than 250
journalists in investigative reporting skills; some of these
journalists were involved in breaking grand corruption stories. The
program also enhanced local-level accountability by helping
establish a network of 77 public expenditure tracking committees.
Finally, and most importantly, the Threshold program helped the
country's procurement regulator carry out several audits of the
procurement practices of key GOT entities; in February 2008, one of
these audits sparked and informed a Parliamentary investigation
which resulted in the resignation of the Prime Minister.