MAURITANIA BEGINS TO REFORM TROUBLED GLOBAL FUND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000060

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

ACCRA FOR USAID/WA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PGOV SOCI TBIO MR
SUBJECT: MAURITANIA BEGINS TO REFORM TROUBLED GLOBAL FUND
COUNTRY COORDINATING MECHANISM

REF: 2009 NOUAKCHOTT 577


1. (U) Summary. After Mauritania's September 2009
suspension from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis
and malaria, the Global Fund presented a list of requirements
to be met by Mauritania before its suspension could be
lifted, including a reformed Country Coordinating Mechanism
(CCM),the repayment of USD 1.73 million of misappropriated
disbursements and a full accounting of an additional USD 2.69
million of unaccounted funds before March 31, 2010. The USG
through the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, in
conjunction with Embassy Nouakchott encouragement, agreed to
finance a technical assistance program to help bring the
Mauritanian CCM into compliance with international Global
Fund regulations. The technical assistance team visited
Mauritania to begin the controversial process of reforming
the Mauritanian CCM. The visit of the technical assistance
team yielded a surprising number of welcome changes to the
CCM, including a change of headquarters from the Ministry of
Health to the Ministry of Economy and Development, the
designation of a senior inspector from the government's
credible Office of the Inspector General at the head of the
CCM selection committee, and greater civil society and female
representation. While there are many obstacles to be
addressed in the remaining two technical assistance visits,
there is widespread agreement among donor partners and GIRM
and American Embassy officials, that significant progress has
been made to reform the Mauritanian CCM in line with Global
Fund standards. End Summary.


2. (SBU) The USG's technical assistance program is lead by
Grant Management Solutions (GMS),an American contractor that
has previously worked with other suspended Global Fund
countries. The GMS team visited Mauritania from January 11 -
22, 2010 to begin the task of restructuring Mauritania's CCM.
The Global Fund previously expressed concerns that the CCM
was located inside the Mauritanian Ministry of Health and was
chaired by a senior Ministry of Health official. The
Ministry of Health's significant influence over the CCM
presented a conflict of interest as the Ministry of Health
was both the administrator of the local oversight committee
(CCM) and one of the largest recipients of Global Fund
financing.


3. (SBU) The GMS team noted that their assistance was
enthusiastically welcomed by the Minister of Health. This is
a positive sign, because it indicates the Ministry of Health
and by extension the GIRM are open to USG assistance to
resolve this publicly embarrassing and domestically
controversial problem. The Minister of Health expressed to
the technical assistance team his disappointment with the
handling of the Global Fund suspension of Mauritania.
According to the Minister of Health, the GIRM immediately
repaid USD 1.73 million of fraudulently spent Global Fund
payments and arrested certain figures charged with
embezzlement of Global Fund disbursements only to be told by
the Global Fund headquarters that the GIRM was responsible
for reimbursing an additional USD 2.5 million of funds which
were not accounted for in the initial 2009 financial audit.
It should be noted that the Global Fund clearly put the
burden upon the Mauritanian government to trace the
additional USD 2.69 of missing funds when the suspension was
initially announced in September 2009. Despite being given
an extension by the Global Fund to allow for a full
accounting of all Global Fund disbursements, the GIRM was
only asked to reimburse the additional USD 2.5 million in
missing funds after it failed to give a satisfactory
accounting of all previous disbursements. The Minister of
Health has responded to the Global Fund calling for an
independent audit by a recognized international auditing firm
to validate the amount of funds that cannot be accurately
accounted for. The Mauritanians are not refusing to pay, but
they have serious doubts that nearly two thirds of the total
funds could have been misappropriated as suggested by the
Global Fund.


4. (SBU) The Mauritanians appointed a senior inspector of
the Office of the Inspector General to lead the steering
committee which will help to select the new CCM for
Mauritania. This was viewed as a wise choice, because the
Office of the Inspector General is known as an office that
does not tolerate corrupt practices. Under the oversight of
the Inspector General and with guidance from the GMS team,
the steering committee undertook the complicated process of
disassembling the dysfunctional CCM and laying the groundwork
for the establishment of the new CCM in advance of the March
31, 2010 Global Fund deadline. This process was surprisingly

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smooth and brought widespread agreement from the members of
the donor community and steering committee members, which
included two U.S. Embassy members. By the end of the GMS
visit, the steering committee agreed that the newly formed
CCM will no longer be located in the Ministry of Health, but
rather in the Ministry of Economy and Development, viewed by
the Embassy as a positive move. The steering committee also
noted that there was a consensus to allow the GIRM to lose
one seat on the CCM and replace that seat with a member of a
Mauritanian civil society group. There was also a consensus
that 30% of the CCM members will be women.


5. (SBU) Working with civil society also offered challenges
for the GMS team. Previously, the civil society members of
the CCM were also implementing partners. The GMS team
stressed that membership on the Board would be incompatible
with receiving funding through the CCM (indeed, much of the
misappropriation of funds found by the Global Fund was
misused by civil society organizations). Civil society is
now looking for respected representatives who do not have
activities directly relate to CCM funding.


6. (SBU) While far from solving all of Mauritania's
problems with the Global Fund, the GMS visit was the first
time, despite previous USG and donor community encouragement,
that Mauritania made any concrete progress to reform its CCM.
The GMS team will return for two more visits in advance of
the Global Fund's March 31st deadline to be sure the new CCM
is fully formed, trained and operational. Their next visit,
in early February will focus on the difficult task of
selecting civil society members to participate in the CCM.
The technical assistance team's final visit in late March
will be to oversee the CCM membership elections and provide
training to the elected CCM members to be sure that
Mauritania is prepared to have a functional and accountable
CCM overseeing any future Global Fund disbursements. A
reformed CCM is not the only obstacle to the lifting of
Mauritania's Global Fund suspension. The repayment of the
missing USD 2.5 million in Global Fund disbursements will
also have to be rectified between the Global Fund and the
GIRM in advance of the March 31, 2010 deadline, but the
recent progress on the CCM reform is a much needed action to
support Mauritania's efforts to remove its Global Fund
suspension.


7. (SBU) Although the Global Fund's HIV/AIDS activity in
Mauritania is relatively modest, the Government is taking
this problem very seriously both because it puts other Global
Fund programs at risk but also because it has caused other
donors who have direct funding relationships to worry about
the application of their funds. In this case, the Aziz
government is holding true to its commitment to seriously
confront corruption.
HANKINS