GUINEA-BISSAU: SECURITY COUNCIL CONCERNED WITH

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000999

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DAKAR PLEASE PASS TO BISSAU WATCHER; IO PLEASE SHARE WITH
PM/PPA FOR ACTION REQUEST, IF APPROPRIATE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL UNSC PHUM SNAR XY PU ZA
SUBJECT: GUINEA-BISSAU: SECURITY COUNCIL CONCERNED WITH
SECURITY SECTOR, DRUGS, AND UN TRANSITION

REF: STATE 1140261


1. (SBU) This is an action request. Please see para 15.


2. (SBU) SUMMARY: UN Peacebuilding Support Office in
Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) Representative Joseph Mutaboba on
November 5 told the Security Council in an open session that
there has been progress on national reconcliation, especially
since he has secured a dialogue between President Sanha and
Prime Minister Junior. He reiterated the "window of
opportunity" for Guinea-Bissau, but warned that hegemonic
politics and intra-party divisions threaten stability.
Ambassador Rice during closed consultations said the U.S.
remains deeply committed to helping Guinea-Bissau achieve a
sustainable peace and pushed for progress on the Commission
of Inquiry into the March and June political assassinations.


3. (SBU) SUMMARY CONTINUED: UN Office on Drugs and Cime
Executive Director Costa described a "disturbing" drug
problem in both Guinea-Bissau and in West Africa, and Rice
noted the U.S. concern with drug trafficking. The transition
from UNOGBIS to the integrated mission, UNIOGBIS, planned for
January 1, 2010 is on track, although most of the staff for
the mission probably will not be in Bissau until mid-January
and beyond. Mutaboba in a meeting with Ambassaodor DiCarlo
on October 30 asked for U.S. assistance in obtaining a
biometric passport reader for Guinea-Bissau, and asked the
U.S. to deploy the PISCES program there. Finally, Mutaboba
asked to be put in touch with the Department's Coordinator
for Counter Piracy so UNOGBIS (and UNIOGBIS) can play a role
in that effort. The Council following consultations adopted
S/PRST/2009/29. END SUMMARY.

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POLITICAL RECONCILIATION AND SSR ON TRACK...FOR NOW
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3. (SBU) During the open session, UNOGBIS Representative
Mutaboba told the Council that there has been momentum in
recent days on political reconciliation. President Sanha had
opened the legislature on November 3 and called for a
National Stability Pact. The Speaker of the Parliament also
called on legislators to expedite security sector reform
(SSR) laws. Sanha's appointment of a new Prosecutor General
for the Commission of Inquiry was a positive step, and the
new defense leadership (including the swearing in of the
Chief of General Staff on October 27) has been "legitimized."
Mutaboba reiterated the Secretary-General's sentiment that
there is a "window of opportunity" in Guinea-Bissau, and told
Council members that Guinea-Bissau still needs help.


4. (SBU) Brazilian PermRep Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, as
Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission's (PBC) configuration
on Guinea-Bissau, addressed the Council and flagged
insufficient infrastructure in the country as key to economic
recovery. African Union Acting Permanent Observer Tete
Antonio worried that Guinea-Bissau's army was oversized
compared to the general population; he also said that solving
the problems with the pension fund for retired military was
the key to success on SSR. Guinea-Bissau PermRep Alfredo
Lopes Cabral in unscripted remarks explained that the needs
of his country still warrant the international community's
confidence. He also asked for international partners to help
build prisons, explaining that the people of Guinea-Bissau
need to have faith in their justice system.


5. (SBU) In closed consultations following the open session,
Mutaboba shared two "good news" items with Council members.
First, he said he has been able to secure a dialogue between
President Sanha and Prime Minister Junior. Sanha, according
to Mutaboba, expressed his appreciation to the UN for
bringing the two officials together. Mutaboba suggested this
momentum could help with the national political dialogue and
appealed for Council members to help bilaterally. Second,
Mutaboba has urged the Guinea-Bissau military to break away
from partitions, and called this the "only way to end
impunity." He pleaded with the Council to help fight
organized crime (including drugs, small arms and light
weapons, and human trafficking),as well as to help secure
and monitor Guinea-Bissau's borders.


6. (SBU) Ambassador Rice noted that the U.S. remains deeply
committed to helping Guinea-Bissau achieve a sustainable
peace, and we are encouraged by the June and July elections
in Guinea-Bissau. She also informed Council members that the
U.S. planned to re-open a Mission in Bissau in the near


future. She suggested that the national defense reform plan
adopted by the National Popular Assembly in 2007 serve as the
basis for SSR in Guinea-Bissau. The United Kingdom agreed
that SSR, as well as counter-narcotics, were the "immediate
priorities" for Guinea-Bissau. Most Council members mentioned
elements of SSR in their statements. Mutaboba while
answering wrap-up questions at the end of consultations asked
Council members to be more proactive in their SSR assistance,
and not wait for the Government of Guinea-Bissau to sign off
on a whole strategy. He said he would repeat this message
when he met with the European Union in Brussels on November

9. COMMENT: During negotiations prior to November 5, the
French and UK experts mentioned holding off on SSR until the
Government had a better idea of what it wanted to do. France
took a hard line on protecting European Union equities in the
PRST, which noted the EU's role in SSR. END COMMENT.


7. (SBU) Ambassador Rice also asked for an update on the
Commission of Inquiry into the political assassinations of
March and June, including what could be done to protect
witnesses associated with its work. She flagged the Federal
Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) technical assistance to the
Commission and asked partner countries to do what they can to
assist; Russia specifically thanked the U.S. for the FBI's
work in this area. During Mutaboba's rebuttal, he did not
answer the questions posed about the Commission, deferring
judgment until after the anticipated "progress" the new
Prosecutor General would kick-start.

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SOBERING MESSAGE ON DRUGS IN WEST, AND EAST, AFRICA
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8. (SBU) In both the open meeting and closed consultations,
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director
Antonio Maria Costa alerted Council members to what is
becoming a distrubring drug problem in Guinea-Bissau. He
expressed concern that the international community had
"wasted time" since he first alerted members five years ago
about the West Africa drug problem. He also made a link
between the country's rising drug trade and its poor judicial
system, uncontrolled sea and air space, and open land
borders. In closed consultations, Costa highlighted the
intercontinental drug problem, in which drugs originating
from Afghanistan and Pakistan are transiting through East
Africa and converging in the Sahel area with those from West
Africa. He also explained that West Africa is becoming a hub
for drug consumption, not just transit. He posited that
chemical precursors do not originate in West Africa, so are
obviously coming from somewhere (he suggested Asia, coming
through the Democratic Republic of Congo, and then to Mexico
and West Africa).


9. (SBU) Ambassador Rice said that the U.S. is extremely
concerned about drug trafficking in West Africa, and
suggested the Economic Community of West African States
should be encouraged and supported to take the lead on a
coordinated, regional approach to fight drugs. She also
encouraged the UN Office for West Africa to do its part in
the effort. All Council members agreed with Rice, with most
calling for more funding for counter-narcotics efforts.
France asked for regular UNODC briefings on Africa-related
trafficking; Costa in response said he would welcome the
opportunity. Libya said that the drug problem in West Africa
is not only a regional issue, highlighting the role North
Africa plays in fueling the trafficking.

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A HARD FOUGHT PRST
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10. (SBU) The Council following consultations adopted a
Burkinabe-drafted PRST (S/PRST/2009/29) after last-minute
revisions from Russia. In negotiations on the PRST on
November 4, Russia was fine with wording on "shared
responsibility" in paragraph six, but overnight had received
instructions from Moscow that the wording was not okay.
Intense side negotiations during consultations between
Burkina Faso, Mexico (who insisted on inclusion of the
wording),and Russia--as well as the U.S. and France--helped
work out differences.

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TRANSITION TO UNIOGBIS ON TRACK FOR JANUARY 1, 2010
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11. (SBU) Mutaboba told the Council in general terms that the
integrated follow-on mission, UNIOGBIS, would be ready to go
on January 1. He said that UNIOGBIS had been given an
"ambitious" mandate and offered no details on other aspects.
In a meeting with USUN staff on November 2, UN Department of
Political Affairs (DPA) Integrated Peacebuilding Missions
Unit staffer, Vina Najibullah (protect),gave blunt details
about the transition from UNOGBIS to UNIOGBIS. Overall, she
(who is in charge at UN headquarters of all hiring and
administrative aspects of these DPA missions),like Mutaboba,
believes UNIOGBIS will be up and running on January 1, but
full staffing will take a number of months. She said that
DPA was "not good at field work," but has learned lessons
from the integrated peacebuilding mission in Sierra Leone
(the first such integrated mission). DPA has requested $19
million for UNIOGBIS with 119 staff, which includes 35 safety
and security staff and 32 support staff. She said that DPA
has completed 80 percent of the interviews for staff
positions, but the new UN hiring pratices are slowing down
the process.


12. (SBU) The DPA staffer asked for U.S. assistance in
ensuring the ACABQ adopts the proposed budget for UNIOGBIS,
adding that Under-Secretary-General Lynn Pascoe often says
that "we should not continue anemic (peacebuilding) missions;
we need to invest for five years instead of continuing to
trickle a small amount of money in." She also said that
Department of Field Support (DFS) Assistant-Secretary-General
Anthony Banbury (U.S.) was a "breath of fresh air," and
personally spearheads a group in DFS to help with
peacebuilding transition missions. COMMENT: Mutaboba during
his myriad meetings in NY offered no staffing details.
Similarly, the Secretary-General's recent report (S/2009/552)
on Guinea-Bissau lacked adequate information on plans for
UNIOGBIS. Post found out more in the meeting with the DPA
staffer than we had in any other meeting. END COMMENT.

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MUTABOBA ASKS FOR U.S. HELP ON CRIME, DRUGS, AND
COUNTER-PIRACY
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13. (SBU) In a meeting with Ambassador DiCarlo on October 30,
Mutaboba asked explicitly for U.S. assistance to curb
transnational crime and drugs. He expressed frustration that
Guinea-Bissau now has biometric passports, but they do not
have the necessary machine to read them. He also explained
that he had personally visited the airport in Bissau and had
taken a trip to the Senegalese border in an effort to expose
the key problem: lax security associated with having a
diplomatic passport; Bissau authorities do not check a
diplomatic passport holder's bags at all, making drug
trafficking easy.


14. (SBU) Mutaboba also asked for the U.S. to deploy PISCES
(Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation
System) in Guinea-Bissau. In this regard, he commented that
INTERPOL's presence in Bissau is essentially an incompetent
staff and other assistance is needed to make any difference.
He lamented that Guinea-Bissau's police are "close to
nothing," and UNOGBIS has only been able to help with
sporadic training. Separately, Mutaboba took time to thank
the FBI for its work on the Commission of Inquiry.


15. (SBU) Mutaboba asked to be put in touch with the
Department's Coordinator for Counter Piracy, Robert Maggi, to
discuss counter piracy and Guinea-Bissau's role. Ambassador
DiCarlo agreed such a meeting was a good idea. COMMENT:
Mutaboba seemed anxious to carve out a role for himself in
counter piracy, including by working with other UN missions
in West Africa. END COMMENT. Post reqests Department
assistance to arrange such a meeting or telephone call. Post
also requests Department's position on Mutaboba's two
requests above (paras 13 and 14),and whether Post should
seek more information from the UN on these requests.
Rice