US embassy cable - 04ROME4620

UNCLAS  ROME 004620 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
FROM U.S. MISSION IN ROME 
 
USDA/FAS FOR U/S JPENN, MCHAMBLISS AND LREICH 
USAID FOR AA/DCHA RWINTER, DAA/DCHA WGARVELINK, DCHA/OFDA, 
DCHA/FFP, ANE/MEA 
STATE FOR A/S IO KHOLMES, A/S PRM ADEWEY, IO/EDA, NEA/ENA 
NSC FOR EABRAMS, JMELINE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, PREF, EAGR, PHUM, AORC, WFP, FAO 
SUBJECT: IN THE DESERT OF LIBYA, AMBASSADOR TONY P. HALL 
GREETS U.S. FOOD AID DESTINED FOR DARFUR REFUGEES IN CHAD 
 
REF: Rome 4582 
 
1.   During a visit to al-Kufrah on November 22, Ambassador 
Tony Hall witnessed the first shipment of U.S. food 
assistance moving through the "Libyan Corridor" on its way 
to Sudanese refugees in Chad.  The first 40 truckloads of 
an estimated 350 made their way on the 2,800 kilometer 
journey starting in Benghazi and ending at refugee camps in 
eastern Chad.  The 6,540 MT supply of emergency food aid 
from the U.S. will feed some 200,000 Sudanese refugees for 
the next eight weeks.  Through a ten-year Memorandum of 
Understanding with the World Food Program, the Government 
of Libya has made available its routes and lines of 
transportation for emergency programs in Africa.  The GOL 
warmly hosted the delegation, providing whatever resources 
were needed to make the visit and the operation a success. 
End Summary. 
 
2.  As the next leg to a November 18-21 visit to Darfur 
(reftel), Ambassador Tony Hall flew on November 22 to Libya 
to greet the first U.S. food aid shipment transiting the 
new Libyan corridor.  With some facilitation from the USG, 
Libya and WFP signed an agreement in August 2004, in which 
the GOL permits the use of its ports, roads, warehouses, 
vehicles, and other transportation facilities for emergency 
food operations in Africa.  This free-of-charge arrangement 
is for a ten-year period.  In return, WFP will calculate 
the approximate value of the in-kind contributions and 
record them as humanitarian aid from Libya. 
 
3.  Upon arriving in Tripoli, Ambassador Hall, along with 
Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office Greg Berry, met with 
Libya's acting foreign minister Mohamed Siyalah.  Also in 
attendance from the Libyan government were Mohamed El- 
Krekshi, the Director of the Economic Development Office 
and primary interlocutor with WFP, and Dr. Abdosalam Dou, a 
foreign ministry official who had previously served as 
Libya's ambassador to Sudan.  The Ambassador thanked Libya 
for its cooperation and support to the humanitarian crisis 
in Darfur, which he said was another manifestation of 
improved relations between the U.S. and Libya.  He briefed 
the Libyan officials on his trip to Darfur and his meetings 
with Sudanese officials (see reftel).  When the Ambassador 
asked the acting foreign minister whether Libya would 
consider opening its border with Sudan, if necessary, for 
the delivery of humanitarian aid into Darfur, Siyalah said 
it was the Sudanese government that had closed the border. 
If it made an official request, the GOL would likely 
approve it, he added. 
 
4.  Accompanied by Dou and other Libyan officials, 
Ambassador Hall flew to al-Kufrah aboard a GOL-chartered 
plane.  The group, about thirty in number, included many 
international journalists from organizations such as BBC, 
CBS, Italy's RAI-TV, Libyan Broadcasting Corporation and 
others.  Assembled in the desert a few kilometers from the 
end of paved road were forty 1960s-vintage trucks loaded 
with U.S.-donated food, along with enough fuel and supplies 
(including live goats) to endure a twenty-two day roundtrip 
to eastern Chad and back.  (The trucks average 13 miles an 
hour as they frequently break down or become bogged down in 
the desert sand.  Each evening a goat was slaughtered for 
food.) 
 
5.  With the backdrop of forty trucks motoring along, 
albeit slowly, Ambassador Hall explained to the media the 
importance of opening a new transport corridor.  Only two 
options currently exist for moving food into Sudan and 
Darfur: Port Sudan on the east coast, and Cameroon on the 
west.  The roads from the ports to Darfur, though adequate, 
normally become impassable during the rainy season.  The 
north-south route from al-Kufrah is usually dry most of the 
year, allowing year-round use.  The Ambassador publicly 
thanked the GOL for its generosity and humanitarian concern 
for its neighbors. The Ambassador's remarks and the visit 
 
 
more generally received widespread coverage in the 
international press (see septel). 
6.  The delegation received first-class treatment from its 
Libyan hosts.  Protocol officers facilitated arrival and 
departure at the airport; the Libyan government, through 
Afirqiyah Airways, leased a commercial airliner from a 
Tunisian company for transport to al-Kufrah; a military 
helicopter flew the delegation over the desert affording a 
bird's eye view of the convoy plowing through the sand path 
to Chad; and the governor and mayor of al-Kufrah hosted a 
luncheon reception after the press event.  The Libyans told 
us they wanted improved relations with the west.  The 
following day they hosted Venezuelan President Chavez and 
French President Chirac the day after that. 
 
7.  Ambassador's comment:  I was pleased to participate in 
this historic humanitarian event.  Our contacts with Libyan 
officials indicated their keen interest in improved 
relations with the United States and in assisting with 
crises in neighboring countries.  American food aid was 
again helping to generate good will, even if the Libyans 
were not the direct recipients. 
 
8. MINIMIZE CONSIDERED. 
Cleverley 
 
 
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 2004ROME04620 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED