PRIME MINISTER STILL SEES CONSPIRACY IN BORDER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 000425 SIPDIS DEPT PLEASE PASS USTR, AADLER AND VKADER E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PINR PINS ETRD ECON PHUM BG SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER STILL SEES CONSPIRACY IN BORDER GUARD MUTINY; PROMISES ACTION ON ENERGY AND SHIPPING REF: A. DHAKA 263 ¶B. DHAKA 420 ¶C. DHAKA 421 DHAKA 00000425 001.2 OF 003 Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina still sees a conspiracy behind the border guard mutiny that dealt a huge blow to her government in February. She told the Ambassador on April 27 she welcomed U.S. Government efforts to facilitate better civilian-military relations and strengthen Bangladesh's security forces. She also underlined the importance of solving Bangladesh's crippling daily electricity outages, and discussed specific energy projects involving U.S. companies. The Prime Minister also promised to look into concerns raised by the Ambassador over a proposal to force foreign shipping companies to partner with Bangladeshi counterparts. Reftels B and C cover the Prime Minister's request to meet President Obama and Secretary Clinton during her upcoming private visit to the U.S. and her comments on terrorism; septel will discuss her plans to impose Government control over unregulated Islamic schools. -------------- BORDER GUARD MUTINY -------------- ¶2. (C) During their April 27 meeting, the Ambassador expressed concern over the continuing custodial deaths of Bangladesh Rifles border guards accused of participating in the February mutiny that left more than 50 army officers dead. He said U.S. Government and human rights organizations were concerned that the deaths, officially reported as suicides and heart attacks, were actually extrajudicial killings. The Prime Minister agreed there was "something fishy" about the deaths and said she had raised the issue with Chief of Army Staff Gen. Moeen Uddin Ahmed. She claimed security personnel also were forcing captured border guards to make statements implicating government officials from her Awami League in the mutiny. ¶3. (C) Hasina insisted, however, others were behind the mutiny. She believed some members of the outlawed terrorist group Jamaat-ul-Mujahidin Bangladesh (JMB) were recruited into the Bangladesh Rifles during the last Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) administration (2001-2006). (Note: The Awami League often accuses the BNP of being in cahoots with Islamist terrorists. End note.) She also noted some of the mutineers wore sandals and had long hair and thus could not have been members of the Bangladesh Rifles, who were required to trim their hair short. ¶4. (C) To date, none of the official investigations into the mutiny is known to have uncovered links to outside conspirators. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has provided technical assistance to the main government investigation led by the Bangladesh police, and the Ambassador told the Prime Minister FBI agents looked forward to returning to help further. Hasina expressed exasperation at a separate army probe that initially was to be limited to strictly military issues such as accounting for arms and ammunition lost during the mutiny. She related with evident anger how military investigators had sent a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs demanding to question senior government officials, including the Prime Minister herself. She said she had rejected the request, noting such interviews were the responsibility of the police investigators. -------------- CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS -------------- ¶5. (C) The Ambassador gave Hasina a read-out of the recent Pacific Area Special Operations Conference in Hawaii he had attended along with State Minister of Home Affairs Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj. The Ambassador said they had visited the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, which wanted to facilitate a workshop on civilian-military relations for Bangladeshi government, military and political leaders. The Prime Minister voiced support for the proposal. (Note: The DHAKA 00000425 002.2 OF 003 Embassy will follow up with her advisers in the next few days. End note.) -------------- ENERGY -------------- 6.(C) With daily power failures beginning to trigger street protests, the Ambassador discussed several energy projects with potential U.S. investment. He said the Phulbari coal extraction project, which involved U.K.-U.S. venture Asia Energy, could help solve the energy problem. He said Asia Energy would fairly compenate any Bangladeshis relocated as part of the project. He also discussed the Bibiyana gas field, which contained 4.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, more than twice as much as Government of Bangladesh figures suggested. Chevron already is involved in Bibiyana, and General Electric was participating in a tender to construct a gas-fired power plant there. The Prime Minister replied that when she had first won election in 1996, Bangladesh had faced similar energy problems. Her government had solved the energy problem then and would do so again this time. ¶7. (C) The Ambassador also said ConocoPhillips was keen to drill for offshore gas. ConocoPhillips had submitted low bids to explore eight blocks for offshore gas, but the Government of Bangladesh had yet to officially notify the U.S. company of its winning bids. Hasina at first told the Ambassador the Government planned to award ConocoPhillips rights to drill in two blocks, with a new tender going out for exploring the other six. Later she said the Government could not immediately award the other six blocks because of maritime border disputes with Burma and India. She said her Government would adopt a "different strategy" but did not elaborate. -------------- SHIPPING -------------- ¶8. (C) The Ambassador voiced opposition to a proposal to force wholly foreign-owned shipping companies to take on Bangladeshi partners. Such forced sales of assets amounted to thievery, he said, and would send a chilling signal to foreign investors. The Prime Minister replied she had not realized the negative consequences of the proposal, and seemed particularly appalled that some of the Bangladeshi shipping company owners who stood to reap a windfall were opposition party members. (Note: One of the richest Bangladeshi shippers is S.Q. Chowdhury, a BNP member of Parliament who is reviled by the Awami League, which claims he runs guns and is involved in other nefarious activities. End note.) -------------- TRADE -------------- ¶9. (C) Hasina and her senior foreign policy adviser, Ambassador Md. Ziauddin, argued the U.S. should lift tariffs on Bangladesh's vital ready-made garment exports, saying the U.S. already extended to African nations with higher per-capita income such preferential treatment. Noting that the recession made such a move unlikely. the Ambassador said that under the Generalized System of Preferences Bangladesh already had duty-free status for about 3,600 items, which he said represented a huge opportunity to broaden its export mix. He suggested Bangladesh look at the example of several East Asian nations, which had begun as garment and textile exporters but then had diversified to shoes, plastics and electronics. -------------- COMMENT: REGAINING HER FOOTING -------------- ¶10. (C) Although still harboring suspicions that an anti-government conspiracy was responsible for the border guard mutiny, the Prime Minister appears to be regaining her footing. In at least some areas, such as Islamic education reform, the government is moving ahead with sensible policies (Septel). She seemed relatively relaxed during her meeting with the Ambassador and spoke with great pleasure of her upcoming trip to Canada to see her newborn granddaughter. She was clearly pleased with U.S. efforts to help Bangladesh DHAKA 00000425 003.2 OF 003 improve its civil-military relations and security; she also expressed support for new U.S. programs to help the Bangladesh Navy establish a Special Operations Unit and to promote community policing. At the end of the meeting, Post offered a non-paper outlining several security sector reforms that the U.S. Government could help Bangladesh pursue. Post will follow up in the coming days with adviser Ziauddin and other senior security officials. MORIARTY