Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10BAMAKO46
2010-01-28 11:46:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

CHARGE AND MCC SENIOR ADVISOR CASSANDRA BUTTS MEET

Tags:  EAGR EAID ECON MCC ML 
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ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 281146Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1070
INFO RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0013
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHLMC/MCC WASHINGTON DC 0130
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000046 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2021
TAGS: EAGR EAID ECON MCC ML
SUBJECT: CHARGE AND MCC SENIOR ADVISOR CASSANDRA BUTTS MEET
WITH MALIAN PRESIDENT

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Peter Henry Barlerin, for reasons 1.4
(b) (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000046

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2021
TAGS: EAGR EAID ECON MCC ML
SUBJECT: CHARGE AND MCC SENIOR ADVISOR CASSANDRA BUTTS MEET
WITH MALIAN PRESIDENT

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Peter Henry Barlerin, for reasons 1.4
(b) (d).


1. (C) On January 14, Charge and Senior Advisor to the Chief
Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation
(MCC) Cassandra Butts met with Malian President Amadou
Toumani Toure (ATT). The President was accompanied by his
Secretary General, Mr. Diango Cissoko, the Chair of the
MCA-Mali Board Minister, Marimantia Diarra, and the Director
General of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) for Mali,
Nene Traore. MCC Mali Resident Country Director Jon Anderson
and PAO Kate Sharp also participated from the U.S. side.

2. (C) ATT said he had not yet had the opportunity to meet
President Obama, but when he does he will tell him about all
of the good things the United States is doing in Mali. He
likened the compact to a Marshall Plan for Mali, and said a
number of other African heads of state have approached him to
ask how he secured a compact. ATT noted that the Alatona
Irrigation Project addresses one of his major preoccupations,
food security. Erratic rainfall and drought in the Sahel
region poses a constant threat.

3. (C) ATT noted that MCC's funding of the upgrading and
paving of 81 kilometers of road between the towns of Niono
and Goma Coura will give villagers better access to markets,
putting producers in closer contact with consumers. He
emphasized that this road is a key link to the isolated
northern areas of Mali. MCC's expansion of the main
conveyance system bringing water from the Niger River into
the Alatona zone, and its construction of irrigation canals
servicing some 5,200 hectares will raise revenues for
hundreds of thousands of people. Securing land rights and
titles for small farmers will help immeasurably, but in
particular women and young people, ATT said. He pointed
out that the Director General for MCA Mali is a woman, and is
an example of the importance the nation attaches to the
advancement of women.

4. (C) Regarding the MCC-funded project to renovate the
runway of Bamako's airport and to construct a new terminal,
ATT said that Mali is at the center of West Africa, and his

dream is to turn Bamako into a hub. He said 16 countries are
within 90 minutes flight from Bamako, and that the airport
expansion project will help make this dream a reality.

5. (C) ATT said he is very grateful to the United States for
what it is doing, and asked Butts to convey to the President
his deep appreciation. He asked her to convey the hope, as
well, that the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR) and the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) be
continued. He said thanks to PEPFAR, HIV/AIDS is no longer a
killer in Africa. He noted that in Mali, malaria is a far
biggeBQ+6a^MCC Compact. "You make the difference,"
she said. MCC is excited at the potential of this compact to
reduce poverty in Mali. In spite of the challenges over the
first two years of the compact, we cannot lose sight of the
progress that has been achieved. And, while there is much
work that remains to be done, Butts said, MCC is confident
that working with the MCA board and the director general, it
will be able to address the challenges of finishing the
airport project within the time limit of the compact and of
identifying the additional financing required to complete the
Alatona irrigation project. The President said he is fully
aware of the challenges of the program and is satisfied that
the teams are working together to solve them. He said he and
his staff "are here for that, and solutions to problems will
be found".

7. (C) Butts expressed the hope that, if the current projects
are completed successfully within the five-year timeframe
dictated by the terms of the agreement, MCC may be able to
entertain the prospect of entering a second compact agreement
with Mali. Butts said that ATT should continue to feel free
to contact the Ambassador or MCC Mali Resident Country
Director at any time.

8. (C) ATT responded that MCC presents an historic
opportunity. It is for this reason, he said, that he decided
to retain oversight of the program within the presidency, and
appointed his secretary general to work with the Board and
MCA to manage the portfolio. He personally named the
supervisory board president, a former minister with a great
deal of development program experience , and pointed out that
the MCA director general was selected in an open,
transparent, and competitive bid process. MCC and MCA make a
great team. We pledge to succeed, he concluded.

9. (C) The following day, the Charge and Butts accompanied

BAMAKO 00000046 002 OF 002


the President, together with Anderson and the staff of MCC
and MCA-Mali, to a spot near the town of Diabaly for the
groundbreaking ceremony of the USD 79 million irrigation
construction project. ATT and the rest of the party next
toured the point where water from the Niger River is diverted
to three large canals that provide water to all areas of the
vast Office du Niger scheme. The point is the beginning of a
USD 46 million expansion of the main conveyance system, which
will essentially double the capacity of the irrigation in the
scheme, as well as a USD 1 million activity to repair and
rehabilitate the hydraulic structure. The conveyance
contract was signed only the previous week, so work had not
yet begun. To access the sites, the group drove up and back
the length of the road construction project, which is
already underway.

BARLERIN