US embassy cable - 03ABUJA1367

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001367 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/11/13 
TAGS: PREL, MASS, MOPS, PHUM, LI 
SUBJECT: MEETING WITH PRESIDENT OBASANJO 
 
 
REF: A) State 217935 
B) State 226543 
C) Monrovia 902 
D) Telcon Charge-Ambassador Bogosian 8/10/03 and 
E) Telcon Liberi-Arrieti 8/10/03 
 
 
Classified By Charge Dawn Liberi. Reasons 1.5 (b) and 
d). 
 
 
1) (C) Summary: In private meeting with Charge, 
President Obasanjo disclosed plans for Charles Taylor 
arrival in Nigeria; confirmed meeting with LURD leader 
Conneh on 8/10/03; and indicated some next steps he 
proposes to take to deal with security issues in the 
Delta.  Charge was able to deliver all demarches 
outlined in reftels during this meeting.  In addition, 
Charge was able to inform President Obasanjo about the 
change in Ambassador Steinberg's scheduled arrival at 
post.  End Summary. 
 
 
2) (SBU) Charge Liberi held a private one on one 
meeting with President Obasanjo at his Villa residence 
Sunday evening August 10.  The meeting lasted about 
twenty minutes during which time the four subjects 
indicated in the Summary paragraph were discussed. 
After thanking President Obasanjo for granting the 
meeting, Charge opened the discussion by explaining 
the change with Ambassador Steinberg's arrival at Post 
originally scheduled for later this month.  President 
Obasanjo understood and was sympathetic to the issue. 
He appreciated being informed personally by the Charge 
and indicated that the arrangement for Embassy 
representation proposed by DOS would be acceptable to 
him.  Charge confirmed that a Diplomatic Note would be 
forthcoming. 
 
 
3) (C) Turning attention to Liberia, President 
Obasanjo confirmed that Charles Taylor would be 
arriving in Nigeria on Monday August 11 after 
resigning from office, accompanied by President Kufour 
and possibly President Mbeki.  President Obasanjo 
indicated he would welcome the party at the Abuja 
airport, before it flew on to its Calabar destination. 
He also indicated that Taylor had already sent 17 
members of his entourage to Calabar and that the 
Nigerians had agreed to take in a total of up to 35 
members of the contingent.  Charge thanked Obasanjo 
for his leadership on the issue and per the demarche 
in refs (a) and (b) reiterated the need to ensure that 
Taylor left Liberia asap after resigning as President. 
 
 
4) (C) As a side note, President Obasanjo said that a 
Nigerian C-130 had taken "materials" for NIBATT 2 
deployment to Monrovia that day and had returned with 
(some of) Taylor's household effects.  He said it was 
cheaper than paying for commercial shipment of 
Taylor's HHE, and that it addressed Taylor's concerns 
about receiving his goods intact.  When queried 
specifically about whether or not the "materials" 
shipped to Monrovia included APCs, Obasanjo said 
"yes."  (Comment: it was not clear that Obasanjo was 
focussed on the question related to APCs, and probably 
just said yes inadvertently.  In subsequent 
discussions with the DATT, it has been ascertained 
that APCs can't fit on C-130s, so Obasanjo was clearly 
referring to other materials. End comment) 
 
 
5) (C) Obasanjo then indicated he had met earlier in 
the day with "one of the other boys" - LURD leader 
Sekou Conneh.  Conneh had requested assistance from 
Obasanjo in the form of money and a four wheel vehicle 
to eventually drive from Conakry to Monrovia, to which 
Obasanjo agreed.  Obasanjo also indicated that Conneh 
had assured him that LURD would allow peaceful access 
to Freeport.  Per telcon, ref (c) Charge asked if 
Conneh had signed the "unilateral agreement." 
Obasanjo indicated he wasn't sure Conneh had signed 
the document, though didn't think so.  However, 
Obasanjo said he felt Conneh would be good to his word 
on allowing access to the port, particularly since it 
would essentially involve turning it over to Nigerian 
ECOMIL troops. 
 
 
6) (C) On the peace agreement and transition phase, 
Obasanjo indicated that Conneh had conceded to having 
"technocrats" as opposed to "politicals" in the three 
key positions of President, Vice-president and Speaker 
(though Conneh wanted them named Chair and Vice-Chair 
in lieu of the presidential titles).  Obasanjo 
confirmed that the total transition would be an 18-24 
month endeavor.  (Comment:  Conneh clearly played to 
Obasanjo as a major powerbroker in this equation, 
referring to him as "Father" though Obasanjo's retort 
to Charge was "I'm not sure I want to be seen as a 
"father" to a rebel."  End comment).  Obasanjo summed 
up the discussion on Liberia saying he was pleased 
with how things were moving and that "no major 
problems or issues had occurred and that deployment 
would continue as scheduled."  (Comment: The clear 
implication was that deployment would occur on the 
Nigerian timetable, and that they were in the driver's 
seat on this issue. End comment) 
7) (C) Moving the conversation closer to home, Charge 
referred to the meeting earlier in the week (when 
Obasanjo convoked members of the diplomatic corps to 
discuss oil bunkering and fighting in the Delta) and 
asked Obasanjo how he thought the situation was 
evolving in the Delta region.  Obasanjo indicated that 
he would intervene personally and shortly call all of 
the Nigerian principals to Abuja to iron out a 
solution to the fighting and oil bunkering.  He 
indicated discussions would take place over a 2-3 day 
marathon session in Abuja until there was an agreed 
upon "solution."  Somewhat vexed, Obasanjo indicated 
he was doing this because there was a "stupid" 
governor in Delta State (James Ibori) who was off 
travelling instead of dealing with the situation. 
(Ibori is said to be on a 45th birthday vacation and 
is out of the country for two weeks).  (Comment: 
Obasanjo's indignation at Ibori's travel schedule 
during a tense political time is a bit of the pot 
calling the kettle black, given past criticism of his 
own frequent flyer miles.  End comment).  Obasanjo did 
not refer to any imminent military intervention nor 
did he indicate that he had deployed additional troops 
to the area. 
 
 
8) (C) The situation in the Delta remains tense and 
significant military presence has been moved to the 
region.  It is now thought that a military 
intervention is planned for later this week, after 
Charles Taylor's move and the visit of the British 
Deputy Minister of Defense who will be in Abuja August 
12 and 13.  This could take place as early as Thursday 
but more likely Friday/Saturday. 
 
 
9) (C) At the end of the meeting Charge asked if 
Obasanjo wanted to send any message to Washington to 
which he replied "just that we are doing what we are 
supposed to be doing (vis a vis Liberia)".  Charge 
thanked the President again for his time and indicated 
the message would be passed on as requested. 
 
 
LIBERI