US embassy cable - 02ABUJA1185

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001185 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
AF/W FOR BOOTH, FRENCH 
AF/RAS FOR ENGLE, BITTRICK 
OSD FOR WHELAN, TIDLER 
CJCS FOR DOM 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, MASS, NI, ECOWAS 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: POST-ACRI/OFR PROGRAMMING - NIGERIA IS IN 
 
 
REF: ADDIS ABABA 1425 
 
 
1. (U) SUMMARY: The inter-agency team consulting with African 
countries and sub-regional organizations on future planning 
for an Africa peace support program met with ECOWAS 
Secretariat staff and GON officials during their April 10-12 
 
SIPDIS 
visit to Nigeria.  The team presented initial program 
planning based on the notions of flexibility, sustainability, 
and making the program compatible with other forms of 
security assistance.  Moreover, they raised the importance of 
coordinating with regional/sub-regional organizations.  The 
program ideas received strong support at each of the stops 
during the visit, as well as useful suggestions from 
interlocutors.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
2. (U) Gregory Engle (Coordinator of the Africa Crisis 
Response Initiative, ACRI), Theresa Whelan (Director, 
OSD/ISA/Africa) and CAPT George Dom, USN (Joint Staff) 
visited Abuja April 10-12 to consult with the ECOWAS 
Secretariat and GON officials regarding future planning for 
 
SIPDIS 
an Africa peace support program. (They were accompanied 
throughout by Defense Attache and PolMilOff, and to the 
Ministry of Defense by the Ambassador.)  Because of the 
number of consultations, this message is divided by meeting, 
and serves to highlight reactions and comments of 
interlocutors. 
 
 
====== 
ECOWAS 
====== 
 
 
3. (U) The team met with ECOWAS Deputy Executive Secretary MG 
Cheikh Diarra and his staff at the ECOWAS Secretariat on 
April 10.  Diarra and his team expressed support for the new 
program.  Suggestions included: 
 
 
- The program should include training to improve the 
cooperation between military forces and their political 
leadership, emphasizing the chain of command in a democracy. 
 
 
- The program needs to be responsive to realities in Africa, 
training for peace enforcement and non-permissive 
environments. 
 
 
- A framework could be created whereby the training could be 
done under the ECOWAS umbrella. 
 
 
- Any equipment provided should be interoperable among 
member-states.  Other donor programs should therefore be 
considered. 
 
 
- OFR was ideal since it created discrete units that did not 
require a long logistics tail. 
 
 
- The training should include proper treatment of refugees, 
IDPs and should emphasize human rights. 
 
 
=================== 
MINISTRY OF DEFENSE 
=================== 
 
 
4. (U) Minister of Defense LTG (ret.) T.Y. Danjuma and 
Minister of State for Army, Lawal Batagarawa, expressed 
support for the program.  Noting that Nigeria's views towards 
ACRI had not changed, the Defense Officials wanted the 
program to mirror Operation Focus Relief as closely as 
possible.  Batagarawa asked about the financial, human and 
time resources available, and while accepting that it was too 
early to nail these down, emphasized that this would be 
important to define.  Danjuma said that detailed planning for 
the program would be the responsibility of the Defense 
Chiefs.  Additionally, the MOD Officials: 
 
 
- Expressed strong support for the train-the-trainer concept. 
 
 
- Wanted disaster relief training included in Nigeria's 
program. 
 
 
- Warned us not to spread the program's resources too thin. 
 
 
======== 
SERVICES 
======== 
 
 
5. (U) The team saw Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) Admiral 
Ibrahim Ogohi and his general staff, as well as Chief of Army 
Staff (COAS), LTG Alexander Ogomudia next.  Ogomudia was the 
most animated, but the assembled all reacted positively to 
the program, and to the early consultation.  The CDS said he 
and his Chiefs would welcome a visit by the program planning 
team, and looked forward to the program development process. 
The CDS and COAS emphasized: 
 
 
- The importance of logistics training. 
 
 
- That humanitarian and disaster assistance could not be 
solely the responsibility of the military -- civilian 
agencies had to lead. 
 
 
- The need for civilian agencies and NGOs to play arbitration 
and other non-military roles in peace operations 
 
 
================= 
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 
================= 
 
 
6. (U) The legislators, including the Chairman of the House 
Defense Committee and the Chairmen of the Senate Committees 
on Army, Navy and Air Force (Representative Ahmed Maiwada and 
Senators Salisu Maitori, Bello Yusuf and Sylvanus Ngele) 
thanked the team profusely for including them in their 
consultations.  While offering few suggestions regarding the 
program, the Chairmen said they would offer their full 
support and looked forward to their additional involvement in 
planning.  Senator Nuhu Aliyu, Chairman of the Senate 
Committee on Security and Intelligence (and former senior 
police officer) asked that planning for the program include 
training for dealing with cases of internal communal violence 
in Nigeria, since the military regularly supports the police 
in that role.  He also requested the program include training 
for the police.  Aliyu understood when Whelan explained that 
this was solely a military program based on regulations under 
U.S. law.  He was also pleased to hear the Embassy was 
starting a program of assistance for the Nigerian police. 
 
 
7. (U) COMMENT: While the modalities of the general program 
for Africa and the Nigeria-specific program have yet to be 
resolved, Nigeria is clearly ready and excited to 
participate.  The more the Nigeria program looks like OFR, 
the more support it will receive here, but all of the 
interlocutors understood the limits of funding, especially 
early on.  In an African context, the decision by the 
inter-agency to consult early in this process was an 
excellent one.  END COMMENT. 
 
 
8. (U) The DOS/DOD/JCS team cleared this cable.a 
Andrews