Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09YAOUNDE370
2009-04-22 14:28:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Yaounde
Cable title:  

(C) CAMEROON: AMBASSADOR MEETS BIYA TO TALK 212F,

Tags:  KCOR PREL CVIS PINR CM 
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RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHYD #0370/01 1121428
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 221428Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9856
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 YAOUNDE 000370 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C AND INL/C DIANE KOHN, ROBERT LEVENTHAL AND
JANE BECKER
COMMERCE FOR ITA KAREN BURRESS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2019
TAGS: KCOR PREL CVIS PINR CM
SUBJECT: (C) CAMEROON: AMBASSADOR MEETS BIYA TO TALK 212F,
GETS EARFUL

Classified By: Political Officer Tad Brown for Reasons 1.4 b and d.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 YAOUNDE 000370

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C AND INL/C DIANE KOHN, ROBERT LEVENTHAL AND
JANE BECKER
COMMERCE FOR ITA KAREN BURRESS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2019
TAGS: KCOR PREL CVIS PINR CM
SUBJECT: (C) CAMEROON: AMBASSADOR MEETS BIYA TO TALK 212F,
GETS EARFUL

Classified By: Political Officer Tad Brown for Reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (C) Summary. Ambassador called on Cameroonian President
Paul Biya on April 3 to signal the USG's continued commitment
to applying aggressively U.S. laws against corruption,
including a travel ban against a sitting member of Biya's
cabinet. Although the Ambassador avoided specifics, Biya
immediately divined that the subject of the determination was
Minister Delegate for Defense Remy Ze Meka and, presumably
referring to a cabinet shuffle, said the USG action would
"force me to accelerate my plans." Biya was unhurried and
spoke for almost an hour about politics, the security forces,
and the impact of the economic crisis. Biya said ELECAM
would be fully funded and the Senate and Constitutional Court
established by December 2009, but gave no hint as to his
plans for presidential elections slated for 2011. Biya was
less focused and more rambling than in previous meetings and
did not seem fully seized with the numerous pressing
challenges his government faces. End summary.

Reminding Biya of the USG's
Anti-Corruption Commitments
--------------


2. (C) Post requested a call for the Ambassador on
Cameroonian President Paul Biya, specifying that the
Ambassador would need only fifteen minutes and would prefer
to dispense with the heavy press coverage that usually
accompanies Biya's audiences. Ambassador reminded Biya of
their previous conversations regarding USG anti-corruption
policies, especially Presidential Proclamation 7750, which
calls on the Department of State to refuse entry to corrupt
officials and those who corrupt them. Without providing any
specifics, Ambassador told Biya she wanted to inform him that
Washington had recently found a current member of Biya's
cabinet ineligible to travel to the U.S. and cautioned Biya
that the USG's decision might make its way into the public
domain.

The Likely Suspect
--------------


3. (C) Perhaps because so many previous conversations had
focused on the corruption of Minister Delegate for Defense

Remy Ze Meka, Biya immediately fixated on Ze Meka as the
likely target, saying "I am not surprised. He is so bad."
Biya professed bewilderment at Ze Meka's seemingly insatiable
greed. "He stole so much while he was the Secretary General
at the Prime Minister's office," Biya mused, "you would think
he would have enough." Biya told the Ambassador that the
USG's actions would "force me to accelerate my plans."

Problems in Defense and Security
--------------


4. (C) Biya wondered aloud who he might nominate to succeed
Ze Meka, complaining that there was a shortage of trustworthy
and competent candidates. Biya expressed a high level of
confidence in current Minister for Justice/Vice Prime
Minister Amadou Ali, who was Defense Minister in the late
1990s, and mused about nominating Ali to head Defense again.
Biya said he was aware of the problems within the regular
military, including growing frustrations over the increased
responsibility and resources being given to the Rapid
Intervention Brigades (BIR) that operate under Biya's direct
command, independent of the regular military. Biya said his
decision to give the BIR control over Bakassi Peninsula along
Cameroon's coast had left Cameroon's northern hinterlands
more vulnerable to banditry since the BIR's departure.

Biya "Grateful" for Support
from "Our American Friends"
--------------


5. (C) Despite the Ambassador's stated desire to avoid
taking too much of his time, Biya was unhurried and spoke at
length about a broad range of topics. Biya asked the
Ambassador to carry a message on her upcoming visit to
Washington that Cameroon is committed to developing its
democracy and "grateful" for the support it receives from its
"American friends." Still glowing from the March visit of
Pope Benedict, Biya said he hoped Cameroon's "next visitor"
would be President Obama and waxed reminiscent of his own
modest upbringing, which he seemed to believe likened him to
Obama.


YAOUNDE 00000370 002 OF 003


Coming in 2009: ELECAM
Funding and Senate
--------------


6. (C) Biya said he had recently instructed the Ministry of
Finance to provide funding ("whatever they need") to ELECAM,
the newly created elections commission. Sensing that Biya
was unaware of the U.S. Embassy's publicly critical stance on
ELECAM, the Ambassador recalled that the USG had reservations
regarding the leadership of ELECAM, making it all the more
important that ELECAM establish its credibility through
early, effective action to ensure credible and successful
elections. Biya said he intended to have the Senate and
Constitutional Court up and running by the end of 2009 and
wants to "have everything in place by the end of my mandate."
Admitting he had not shared his plans with anyone else, Biya
confided in the Ambassador that he intended to use his own
discretion to nominate Senate members in order to move aging
and corrupt generals out of the military, where they
continued to block progress.

Power, AES and Rio Tinto
--------------


7. (C) Biya returned repeatedly to his concern about
Cameroon's economy, especially the lack of progress on major
investment projects and the potential fallout from the world
economic crisis. Biya had met the previous day with a senior
official from multinational mining giant Rio Tinto.
Referring to the meeting and Rio Tinto's assurances that it
will expand its aluminum production in Cameroon despite
financial constraints, Biya said "I hope they will keep their
promises because they promise, promise, promise." Biya said
he was aware that Rio Tinto and American energy provider AES
were locked in negotiations to fix an energy tariff for
ALUCAM, the Rio Tinto-Government of Cameroon joint venture
operating an aluminum smelter at Edea, but did not provide
any vision for how the dispute would be resolved.


8. (C) Responding to the Ambassador's analysis that the
AES-Rio Tinto negotiations would have an impact on Cameroon's
power sector for the foreseeable future, Biya said he
believed electricity is "the most important thing" for an
economy but offered no vision for the extent to which the GRC
was willing to subsidize Rio Tinto's power needs either
directly or through higher prices to Cameroonian consumers.
Biya said he hoped work would begin soon on a new power plant
slated to be built in Kribi by AES subsidiary Kribi Power
Development Company (KPDC) and expressed frustrations that
the project had already been delayed for more than a year.
Biya said he hadn't realized that the project was hung up by
the lack of an agreement between the Cameroonian National Oil
Company (SNH) and Perenco, the private firm that would
provide gas to the Kribi plant. Biya said he was "cross" to
learn the deal hadn't been signed as he had ordered and told
the Ambassador he would "call in" Laurent Esso, the Secretary
General at the Presidency, and Adolphe Moudiki, the General
Manager of SNH, to express his frustrations.

Comment: Is Biya in Full Command?
--------------


9. (C) Biya was more tired and rambling than usual and did
not seem to be getting fresh information about on-going
events in Cameroon. He came across as better informed
(through French TV) on POTUS' recent visit to Europe than on
the pressing local issues of the day, including Cameroon's
struggles to mitigate the loss of jobs and revenue already
suffered as a result of the international economic crisis.
Biya's account of his engagement in the SNH-Perenco gas
contract is revealing: two of his closest and most powerful
advisors failed to carry out his instructions or keep him
appraised of the situation, causing more than a one-year
delay in the badly needed development of the Kribi power
plant; Biya showed no more than mild irritation and promised
no remedial action.


10. (C) Biya also professed ignorance of First Lady Chantal
Biya's pending trip to Los Angeles for the African First
Ladies' Health Care Summit and the ongoing visit of a World
Bank team working on recovery of stolen corrupt assets
(supposedly one of his highest priorities). As he has with
previous Ambassadors, Biya mused aloud about possible cabinet
nominations and chatted unhurriedly, without apparent purpose
or direction. As the Ambassador excused herself, Biya
beseeched her: "Please call whenever you want to talk. Don't

YAOUNDE 00000370 003 OF 003


go through protocol, but call this office directly." Biya
offered only limpid responses to the pressing issues of the
day: senior officials who disobey or undercut his orders, the
pending cabinet reshuffle, continued kleptocracy, the future
of the energy sector, Cameron's response the economic crisis.
Despite the popular impression of Biya as an all-controlling
strongman, we are increasingly struck by signs of Biya's
laxism, his tenuous grasp of weighty and urgent issues and
his seeming ignorance of, or indifference to, the activities,
at times corrupt, incompetent and disloyal, of his own
closest officials.
FOX