GABON: ASSESSMENT OF THE NEED FOR INCREASED LAW

C O N F I D E N T I A L LIBREVILLE 000061


DEPT ALSO FOR AF/RSA: C. POMMERER;INL/AAE: A. ALTON;
DS/T/ATA: T. GONZALEZ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2019
TAGS: PGOV SOCI KCRM ASEC GB
SUBJECT: GABON: ASSESSMENT OF THE NEED FOR INCREASED LAW
ENFORCEMENT AND JUDICIAL TRAINING

REF: STATE 5448

Classified By: Poloff Leslie Doumbia for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (U) Per reftel, please find the requested information to
help further define law enforcement and judicial training
needs for Gabon.


2. (C) All responses are keyed to questions from paragraph 2
in reftel:

-- Controlling the flow of illegal immigrants (including
trafficking victims) and goods across Gabon's extensive
maritime and land borders, with the Republic of Congo,
Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, poses a significant challenge
for Gabon's non-military security apparatus. Likewise, local
crime is on the rise but generally limited to street crimes
in high crime areas and non-confrontational burglaries
committed primarily at night. Recent reporting also
indicates that Gabon might be seeing an increase in drug
trafficking (cocaine and marijuana) through its sea port at
Port Gentil.

-- Gabon's non-military sector's capabilities to effectively
respond to these challenges is hampered due to corruption,
lack of resources and training, and manpower issues.
Specifically, law enforcement entities are generally
ineffective at deterring crime. Response to alarms or
emergency calls is often too slow (15 minutes or longer) to
disrupt burglaries or invasive crimes. Police have a
mediocre record in apprehending suspects after arrest.
Communication and information sharing between the two major
law enforcement agencies, the Gabon National Police (GNP) and
the Gabon National Gendarmerie (GNG),has not been fully
established.

-- The police and related agencies could benefit from
training in basic criminal investigations, interviewing
techniques, the interpretation and application of existing
laws, computer and software training and the development of
an effective case management system.

-- Gabon is generally an effective partner in the
implementation of USG assistance. Currently, the government
is working closely with a U.S. Department of Justice
representative in the planning of an upcoming International
Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP)
project that will provide training, technical assistance, and
limited material support to security forces and others
involved in the government's anti-trafficking-in-persons
efforts. The government has made several contributions to
the overall effort, including providing meeting spaces and
related materials, preparing presentations for the
interagency workshop, and identifying and supplying qualified
candidates for the training-of-trainers workshop.

Also, post continues to send officers of both the GNP and GNG
to the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in
Gaborone, Botswana. To date, approximately 25 members of
Gabonese law enforcement agencies have completed either the
advanced or basic ILEA courses. The training has been
well-received and the feedback from the participants has been
very positive. It is too early to assess fully the
effectiveness of the training and its impact on host country
agencies.

-- France frequently provides bilateral assistance, including
training for Gabon's non-military security apparatus. The
French recently conducted a train-the-trainers workshop with
20 officers from the GNP.

-- Currently, there is no existing or planned non-military
regional training center in Gabon.

--The Embassy POC for this initiative is Poloff Leslie
Doumbia. Email: DoumbiaLW@state.gov. Phone: 241 76-20-03
ext. 4221.


REDDICK