US embassy cable - 05PRETORIA966

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRETORIA 000966 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  03/07/2015 
TAGS: EAID, EFIN, ETRD, SF 
SUBJECT:  INFORMAL DISCUSSION OF G8 SUMMIT WITH THE 
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS 
 
 
Classified By:  AMBASSADOR FRAZER; REASONS 1.4 (b/d). 
 
1.  (C) Summary.  Ambassador Frazer told Foreign Affairs 
officials that the Monterrey agreements represent the correct 
blend of policies and initiatives to support growth in 
Africa.  This view would again govern the U.S. approach to 
the G8 Summit.  The U.S. had already exceeded its Monterey 
commitments.  She agreed that ODA has a role, but emphasized 
that the U.S. does not support calls to double ODA or the 
IFF.  African countries should not expect major, new 
initiatives at Gleneagles.  The U.S. would want to discuss 
debt relief.  The Blair Commission report unfortunately 
focused on inputs, not outcomes; the U.S. would strongly 
resist attempts to use the report to embarrass the U.S.  The 
Ambassador suggested that having climate change on the G8 
agenda could present an opportunity to look beyond Kyoto. 
End Summary. 
 
2.  (C) At the request of the Department of Foreign Affairs 
(DFA), Ambassador Frazer met March 2 with officials of the 
Economic Directorate and the U.S. Directorate for an informal 
discussion of issues that may arise at the Gleneagles G8 
Summit.  Economic M-C accompanied the Ambassador.  John 
Davies, Chief Director, Economic Development, explained that 
President Mbkei was keenly interested in plans of the summit. 
 South Africa sees Gleneagles as the culmination of work 
begun at Kananaskis and is pleased that the UK had made 
Africa the focus of the summit.  South Africa, however, is 
nervous that this might produce high expectations that would 
not be fulfilled. Davies said DFA was meeting individually 
with G8 ambassadors to obtain a sense of what might be 
expected to come out of the summit.  DFA would subsequently 
brief President Mbeki. 
 
3.  (SBU) Ambassador Frazer said that the Pretoria-based G8 
ambassadors had met several times to share informally 
information on planning for the summit.  She underlined that 
the Sherpa process manages preparations for G8 summits and 
that local ambassadors could not speak authoritatively on the 
subject. 
 
Development Assistance Debate 
----------------------------- 
 
4.  (C) The Ambassador stated that the U.S. believes that 
the Monterrey Development Financing Conference agreements 
represent the correct blend of policies and initiatives to 
support growth in Africa.  Monterey, correctly in the U.S. 
view, focused on outcomes, not inputs.  She said that this 
philosophy would again govern the U.S. approach to the G8 
Summit.  The Ambassador emphasized that the U.S. had already 
exceeded its Monterey commitments.  It had also quadrupled 
its assistance to Africa.  She asked if African countries 
were doing their part.  Was NEPAD really producing better 
governance? 
 
5.  (C) Davies replied that South Africa believes that NEPAD 
is effectively separating out countries that are producing 
results in governance and economic development.  NEPAD is 
heading in the right direction.  South Africa accepts that 
good governance is needed, but financial resources are 
required, too.  Davies argued that African countries that are 
making progress in governance and development should be 
assured of external support through ODA. 
 
6.  (C) Ambassador Frazer agreed that ODA has a role, but 
emphasized that the U.S. does not agree with the analysis 
arguing for a doubling ODA and therefore does not support 
this proposal.  An exclusive focus on ODA only perpetuates 
dependency on ODA.  The Ambassador recalled that the U.S. had 
established the Millennium Challenge Account and the 
President,s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to respond to 
Africa Plan of Action and commitments made at Kananaskis. 
She also cited as an example of support for the Action Plan 
U.S. funding for training and equipment for African 
peacekeeping battalions. 
 
7.  (C) Davies said South Africa understood that some G8 
members opposed ideas to increase ODA through initiatives 
such as a global tax.  The Ambassador replied that a global 
tax was simply out of question.  She also said the U.S. would 
not agree to the IFF.  We cannot do it constitutionally.  If 
others want to establish the IFF, that is fine.  They can go 
ahead.  Davies replied that an IFF was probably not possible; 
perhaps a small, pilot facility might be established to focus 
on a specific issue, such as Malaria. 
 
G8 Summit Outcomes 
------------------ 
8.  (C) The Ambassador emphasized that the G8 was committed 
to helping address Africa,s development challenges; the 
debate at Gleneagles would again be on how to do it.  The 
Ambassador told the DFA officials that African countries 
should not expect that the G8 would agree on everything and 
they should not expect major, new initiatives.  Gleneagles 
was unlikely to produce financial commitments for specific 
NEPAD projects, for example.  The U.S. approach at Gleneagles 
would likely concentrate on outcomes.  The U.S. would like an 
evaluation of what the G8-Africa partnership had accomplished 
over the last five years.  The Ambassador assured Davies that 
there was room for consensus at Gleneagles. 
 
9.  (C) Ambassador Frazer told the DFA officials that the 
U.S. would want to discuss during the summit proposals to 
help the poorest countries further address the sustainability 
of their debt burden.  She noted that the U.S. had proposed 
that the IDA, AfDF and bilateral creditors write off 100 
percent of debt for qualifying HIPC countries.  Econ M-C 
pointed out that U.S. Treasury officials had discussed our 
initiative with the South Africa Finance Minister on several 
occasions and provided the DFA officials with a non-paper and 
fact sheet on debt relief. 
 
10.  (C) Noting that five European countries now met the UN 
target of 0.7 percent of GDP for ODA, Davies asked if the 
U.S. would consider committing to this goal.  The Ambassador 
said she could not imagine the U.S. accepting this target. 
She reminded the officials that the U.S. was the largest 
single ODA donor.  Ambassador Frazer emphasized that in 
absolute terms U.S. ODA was far more important than the 0.7 
percent of GDP ODA of those five European donors. 
 
11.  (C) Asked by U.S. Director Jan van Vollenhoven what she 
would like to see come out of Gleneagles, the Ambassador 
suggested agreements to cancel debt and to end agricultural 
subsidies and domestic supports.  She also said she would 
like to see the Congo put on the table and an agreement 
reached on G8 coordination to support that peace process. 
She hoped the G8 and African countries would look at the 
development challenges and commit money to address them, not 
debate an artificial target for ODA levels. 
 
12.  (C) Asked if the G8 would move at Gleneagles to 
integrate their financial initiatives, the Ambassador noted 
that during their recent meeting President Mbeki had recalled 
such an agreement at Sea Island.  The Ambassador noted that 
this was not the U.S. understanding. 
 
13.  (C) Davies expressed concern about references to a 
&final8 African Personal Representatives (APR) report and 
wondered what would be the future of the APRs.  The 
Ambassador said the APR,s now appear to be semi-permanent as 
G8 representatives in the Africa Partnership Forum (APF). 
She noted that the APF was perhaps a better forum for follow 
up on G8 initiatives as it included other bilateral donors, 
multilateral donors and regional organizations.  The 
Ambassador also pointed out that G8 Summit participants would 
be faced with two reports on Africa, one from the Africa 
Personal Representatives and one from the Blair Commission, 
in all over two hundred recommendations.  Which plan would 
prevail? 
 
Commission for Africa 
--------------------- 
 
14.  (C) Asked to comment on PM Blair,s Commission for 
Africa report, the Ambassador noted that the U.S. and UK had 
consulted regularly on the project.  She said that the U.S. 
felt that donor countries had studied Africa,s development 
problems enough and the focus should now be on actions to 
solve the problems.  The Commission,s work, however, again 
focused on inputs, not outcomes.  The Commission report was 
really a platform for NGOs to argue for more assistance.  The 
Ambassador said the U.S. would not oppose European 
governments giving more development assistance if they 
wished.  The U.S., however, would strongly resist attempts to 
use the Blair Commission report to embarrass it. 
 
15.  (C) Davies noted the overwhelming international 
response to the Asian tsunami disaster and asked why the 
international community could not respond similarly to the 
Blair Commission report.  The Ambassador pointed out that 
while the tsunami was a natural disaster, Africa,s disasters 
were largely man-made; e.g., Cote d,Ivoire, Congo and Sudan. 
She emphasized that the U.S. would always provide 
humanitarian assistance and noted as examples food aid to 
Afghanistan even with the Taliban and HIV/AIDS assistance for 
Haiti.  She said the U.S. Congress always supported 
humanitarian assistance, but it was skeptical of arguments 
for funding to address self-inflicted disasters.  Davies 
acknowledged that the U.S. had always responded generously to 
humanitarian disasters. 
 
Climate Change 
-------------- 
 
16.  (C) Davies asked if the UK had consulted with the U.S. 
before making climate change one of its priorities for the G8 
Summit.  The Ambassador opined that the two governments had 
probably consulted and pointed out that having climate change 
on the agenda could present an opportunity to look beyond 
Kyoto.  She underlined that the U.S. supports the need to 
address climate change and is, in fact, taking concrete steps 
to address it.  The U.S. just does not believe that Kyoto is 
the best way to do it.  Econ M-C noted that the U.S. has 
numerous initiatives under way to address climate change and 
provided DFA officials a fact sheet on U.S. programs.  He 
also pointed out that the U.S. and South Africa cooperate in 
many climate change initiatives, including a bilateral 
dialogue, the Group on Earth Observations and the Carbon 
Sequestration Leadership Forum. 
 
FRAZER