US embassy cable - 05ACCRA136

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ACCRA 000136 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/18/2014 
TAGS: ASEC, EFIN, GH, PREL, PTER, UK, terrorism 
SUBJECT: CTAG MEETING IN GHANA 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates for reasons 1.5 d and e. 
 
1.  (C)  Summary:  The British High Commission convened a 
CTAG meeting January 12 in preparation for a UK meeting on 
January 28.  The group agreed that there had been no 
deterioration of the terrorist potential in Ghana, although 
there were isolated concerns.  The GOG has not presented 
proposals for CT funding and appears more concerned about 
cross-border trafficking of weapons and people than about 
terrorism.  The donors might push for a more proactive GOG 
response, as well as progress on anti-money laundering.  End 
summary. 
 
2.  (C)  The British High Commission convened his first CTAG 
meeting January 12, 2004 in Accra in preparation for the UK 
meeting scheduled for January 28 in London.  High 
Commissioner Gordon Weatherall informed the assembled G-8 
plus colleagues that the January 28 meeting would focus on 
Africa (Maghreb/Sahel/West, East and Horn of Africa) and on 
Document Security.  He said that UK missions in North, West 
and East Africa were instructed to convene this meeting in 
preparation.  In attendance were representatives from G-8 
countries plus Spanish, Swiss, Australian, and EU mission 
heads. 
 
3.  (C)  The four CTAG priorities for the UK's presidency 
were as follows: 
 
a) Greater operational focus: we will concentrate discussions 
more on identifying specific needs and deciding how donors 
can most effectively fill them, and less on general overviews 
and theoretical frameworks. 
 
b) More systematic use of the local meetings to inform the 
main CTAG meetings and decisions about UK assistance. 
 
c) Improve practical links between CTAG and relevant 
international organizations, particularly the CTC and (on 
terrorist financing) the IFIs; 
 
d) Well prepared and focused discussion of areas (both 
geographical and functional) which are priorities for us: the 
January meeting will look particularly at Africa and at 
Document Security; the April meeting at the Middle East and 
at Terrorist Financing; and the November meeting at 
South-East Asia and at Transport Security. 
 
4.  (C)  The first agenda item was an assessment of the 
current terrorist threat in Ghana.  There was a consensus 
that there had been no deterioration, but individuals related 
stories of some ups and downs.  The German Ambassador had 
traveled widely in the north, meeting with numerous Imans and 
had been told that the numbers of itinerant fundamentalist 
Muslim preachers had diminished in the recent months. He had 
also been told by these Imams that the Iranian and Saudi NGOs 
were providing less money and fewer people to the north. 
Ambassador Yates stated that our mission believed the 
situation in Kumasi had worsened because of the publication 
of several strongly worded anti-American tracks against the 
Embassy's Muslim outreach.   Others noted the increase in 
Osama Bin-Ladin pictures in Ghana.  Several members stated 
that Ghana has more fear of cross-border trafficking of 
weapons, goods and people than of international terrorism. 
One way they counter this problem is to put senior 
ambassadors and intelligence officers in neighboring 
embassies to monitor. 
 
5.  (C)  The participants again discussed on-going assistance 
and the British HC referenced a synopsis of the November Sea 
Island Georgia document which listed assistance by country. 
Several amendments were offered.  Most assistance is to 
police, immigration authorities, and counter narcotics 
efforts. Several mentioned that some bilateral assistance 
would not be listed in a document like this because of the 
nature of the assistance. Ambassador Yates reviewed the 
summary document of similar USG assistance which had been 
disseminated at the Feb 2004 meeting she hosted. 
 
6.  (C)  The discussion on Ghana's anti-terrorism needs was 
similarly frustrating to the discussion this group held in 
February 2004 when the National Intelligence Advisor Francis 
Poku said that Ghana needed almost everything. He promised to 
supply an assessment but has failed to produce it. 
Participants said that similar to other donor areas, we 
should probably prioritize the assistance and then 
collectively and bilaterally inform the Ghanaians. 
 
7.  (C)  We also discussed terrorist financing and resolved 
to examine this more closely at the next CTAG meeting. 
Participants decided that we needed to have Ghana assess 
their money laundering problems, verify the status of Ghana's 
money-laundering legislation, and check with commercial banks 
for their assessment of the local problem.  Various countries 
said that suspicious names were provided to the GoG but what 
procedures Ghana applied to vet these names was unclear. 
 
 
YATES