US embassy cable - 01ABUJA1925

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001925 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2011 
TAGS: PREL, NI, ECOWAS 
SUBJECT: KOUYATE ON U.S. ACCREDITATION TO ECOWAS 
 
REF: A. ABUJA 1745 
     B. BAMAKO 2153 
 
 
Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter, reason 1.5 (b/d). 
 
 
 1. (C)  Summary.  Ambassador met with ECOWAS Executive 
Secretary Kouyate on July 27.  Kouyate indicated that 
 
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accreditation of the American Ambassador to the ECOWAS 
Secretariat should be easily accomplished by the Mediation 
 
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and Security Council, and could occur during its scheduled 
late September session.  He also thanked Ambassador for 
receipt of the certification of ECOWAS to receive security 
assistance, and conveyed Deputy Executive Secretary Diarra's 
thanks for his inclusion in the ACRI exercise in Dakar.  End 
Summary. 
 
 
2.  (C) Ambassador Jeter met ECOWAS Executive Secretary 
Lansana Kouyate in Abuja on July 27, to continue discussion 
of accrediting the American Ambassador to Nigeria to the 
ECOWAS Secretariat (raised earlier by the DCM,in Kouyate's 
absence, with newly-arrived Deputy Executive Secretary Sene. 
Ref A).  Ambassador noted President Konare's reportedly 
enthusiastic support for the idea in his meeting with our 
Embassy in Bamako (Ref B), but emphasized that our discussion 
of the proposal at this point was purely informal.  Kouyate 
warmly welcomed the idea, saying that accreditation would be 
"very useful."  He turned to an ECOWAS official from the 
Legal Affairs Office for her opinion on the feasibility of 
such an accreditation, and she opined that as there was 
"nothing for or against it" in the ECOWAS Treaty, it could 
very likely be done. 
 
 
3.  (C) Ambassador noted that a similar relationship existed 
between our Embassy in Addis and the OAU, and our Embassy in 
Gaborone and the SADC Secretariat.  Kouyate replied that some 
resident Ambassadors from the ECOWAS states in Abuja were 
accredited to the Secretariat, and one other (unnamed) 
western Ambassador had requested accreditation.  Kouyate then 
said that the accreditation could easily be accomplished at 
the next meeting of the Mediation and Security Council, 
scheduled for the last week of September.  The ECOWAS 
Authority of Heads of State could later endorse this 
accreditation, he said, but that would probably not be 
needed.  (Comment.  President Obasanjo has told the 
Ambassador that he endorses the idea, saw no impediment, and 
noted that Ambassadors from  ECOWAS member-states, including 
Nigeria, were working to effect their own accreditation 
before the American request was put forward.  End comment). 
 
 
4.  (C) Kouyate also thanked the Ambassador for receipt of 
the certification of ECOWAS to receive security assistance 
from the USG. He mentioned that the Secretariat was 
installing a sophisticated computerized auditing system, 
which should enhance the comfort level among donors.  The EU 
was particularly welcoming of this move.  Ambassador replied 
that at the June donors meeting in Abuja of missions 
interested in assisting ECOWAS, there was a very strong sense 
of the need to act with "care and consultation" to avoid 
duplification of effort and the imposition of 
counter-productive pressure on the organization. 
 
 
5.  (C)  Kouyate then conveyed Deputy Executive Secretary 
Diarra's thanks for his invitation to the just-completed ACRI 
session in Dakar, saying that Diarra was "very, very 
impressed."  Kouyate also mentioned in passing that, in 
regard to efforts by ECOWAS to enhance telecommunications in 
the region, he had been quite taken by the recent suggestion 
that ECOWAS consider its own communications satellite.  This 
might be possible if costs were shared among the fifteen 
member-states.  A feasibility study would soon be under way, 
he said, and the World Bank was assisting. 
 
 
6.  (C)  Comment.   Kouyate welcomed the accreditation of 
Ambassador Jeter to the Secretariat with enthusiasm equal to 
that of ECOWAS Chairman President Konare of Mali, and 
appeared to suggest it would be easily achieved.  It is also 
significant that President Obasanjo also has endorsed the 
idea.  End comment. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jeter