US embassy cable - 01ABUJA2449

UNCLAS ABUJA 002449 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF AND EB 
WHITE HOUSE PASS TO USTR 
PARIS AND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, EAID, XA 
SUBJECT: AFRICAN MINISTERS DISMAYED BY FORUM POSTPONEMENT 
 
 
1. African trade ministers participating in the September 
22-23 Organization of African unity (OAU) meeting in Abuja, 
Nigeria nearly unanimously told the delegation led by 
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative (AUSTR) for Africa Rosa 
Whitaker they wanted the United States to hold the 
US-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum on 
October 4-5 as planned. "This event would have given African 
countries an opportunity to show solidarity with the U.S. at 
this difficult time," said Ethiopian Trade   Minister Ayele 
Kassahun. 
 
 
2.  The forum was postponed on September 18 at the urging of 
African Ambassadors to Washington.  But in a series of 
bilateral meetings with the U.S. delegation on the margins of 
the OAU event, trade ministers and representatives of 
regional economic organizations claimed that Ambassadors 
spoke without consulting their capitals.  "It's a lie to say 
African Countries weren,t ready to come to Washington after 
September 11," ECOWAS Executive Secretary Lasana Kouyate 
said.  "On the contrary, Ministers told their staff not to 
stop preparing for the Forum." 
 
 
3.  It may prove difficult to find new dates for the Forum in 
the Ministers' crowded fourth quarter schedules.  As Nigerian 
Trade Minister Mustafa Bello put it,  "We were ready to come 
to the U.S. in early October, but now it may have to be late 
December or January. However, African Trade Ministers 
responded favorably to the notion of a U.S. - Africa Trade 
Ministerial before Doha, focused on AGOA and the WTO 
Andrews