US embassy cable - 04ABUJA1657

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001657 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/RSA AND PM/RSAT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/25/2014 
TAGS: PREL, MOPS, SU, NI, CM, DARFUR 
SUBJECT: MFA ON DARFUR AU PROTECTION FORCE, BAKASSI 
 
REF: A. STATE 205152 
 
     B. STATE 199577 
     C. ABUJA 1648 AND PREVIOUS 
     D. YAOUNDE 1443 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor James Maxstadt for Reasons 1.5 b and 
 d. 
 
1. (C) Polcouns met September 24 in the evening with the MFA 
UnderSecretary for African Affairs, Ambassador Ukonga, to 
make the Ref A demarche on Darfur and discuss Bakassi per Ref 
B.  U/S Ukonga said President Obasanjo was pleased that our 
joint efforts on Darfur were succeeding.  She was rather 
surprised that the AU Peace and Security Council would be 
meeting on Monday, September 27, as Nigeria is the PSC chair. 
 After stepping out to make a few phone calls, she said she 
thought that if such a meeting were held that day it would 
have been arranged by AU officials who are in New York for 
the UNGA. 
 
2. (C) As to the update on forces for Darfur, U/S Ukonga 
noted that Nigeria has long been advocating, and planning 
for, an expanded AU protection mission.  She said Nigeria had 
one battalion, between 750 and 1000 soldiers depending on the 
exact configuration needed, ready for deployment to Darfur 
"on very short notice."  She said she thought the AU's 
consideration of 3500 protectors, monitors, special units, 
police and staff was a bit larger than what was likely to be 
deployed in the short term, noting that an extra Nigerian 
battalion and an extra Rwandan battalion would bring the 
numbers closer to 2000 than 3500. 
 
3. (C) On Bakassi, U/S Ukonga noted the points from Ref B and 
reiterated Nigeria's commitment to working with Cameroon and 
other affected countries to finishing the demarcation of 
borders and transfer of authority.  PolCouns asked about 
timing for progress, especially in the context of President 
Obasanjo's recent public reference to working maritime border 
issues at the Gulf of Guinea Commission.  Ukonga said she 
thought that Obasanjo meant the Gulf of Guinea Commission 
would be a good place to work out future maritime border 
issues, but that Obasanjo did not/not mean that the return of 
Bakassi should wait until the Gulf of Guinea Commission was 
operating.  "In any case," she laughed, "Cameroon would never 
let this issue be brought before the Gulf of Guinea 
Commission; Cameroon does not like the Gulf of Guinea 
Commission to begin with, the Gulf of Guinea Commission will 
be in Sao Tome, and Cameroon would sooner take it (the 
boundaries issue) back to the ICJ." 
 
4. (C) U/S Ukonga said she believed Presidents Obasanjo and 
Biya would resume working the issue as soon as the 
Cameroonian election was over, and that the next meeting of 
the Mixed Commission would be soon thereafter, most likely in 
early November.  Ukonga made no mention of Nigerian domestic 
politics, other than that Cameroon had kept Bakassi from 
becoming an issue during Obasanjo's election in 2003, and the 
GON was returning the favor by helping keep it from becoming 
an issue in the Cameroonian election next month.  There 
remained much work to be done on the maritime boundaries, she 
said, and it would be accomplished in a reasonably short time. 
 
5. (U) Minimize considered. 
CAMPBELL