US embassy cable - 02ABUJA2830

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 002830 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR INL/AAE, AF/W AND PM 
. 
TREASURY FOR ATF INTERNATIONAL TRAINING BRANCH (CLOWRY) 
. 
CUSTOMS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAINING DIVISION 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM, MARR, PGOV, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: FIREARMS INTERDICTION TRAINING A HIT 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- Protect Accordingly. 
 
 
1.(U) SUMMARY:  A September 23-27 course on firearms and 
explosives identification and interdiction conducted in 
Katsina by ATF and U.S. Customs trainers will help support 
Nigeria's border controls and its commitment to the ECOWAS 
Moratorium on Small Arms and Light Weapons.  Fify-five law 
enforcement officers from five agencies stationed in 
Nigeria's seven northern states with international borders, 
attended the course funded by INL and organized by the INL 
office in Nigeria.  Remaining INL funds for the ATF effort 
will be used for a course in Lagos for border security 
officials stationed in the southern states and possibly a 
third iteration with a regional scope to include border 
security officials from Togo, Benin, Ghana, Niger, Chad and 
Cameron.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
BACKGROUND -- THE ECOWAS CONTEXT 
-------------------------------- 
 
 
2.(SBU) The ATF/U.S. Customs course is a product of 
consultations between the Embassy and the GON's Ministry of 
Cooperation and Integration in Africa (MCIA), which 
coordinates an interagency body to implement the 1998 ECOWAS 
Moratorium on Small Arms and Light Weapons.  In addition to 
interdiction of illegal weapons, this body -- the National 
Committee on Small Arms (NATCOM) -- seeks to create national 
mechanisms for licensing and tracing legally-owned firearms 
and conducting educational campaigns to curb the use of 
weapons in communal or other internal conflicts in Nigeria. 
During an introductory meeting in early 2002, the NATCOM 
highlighted for RNLEO the need for physical security training 
to strengthen interdiction efforts at the country's land 
borders.  Support from INL and ATF's International Training 
Branch helped reprogram existing INL training funds to meet 
this need. 
 
 
KATSINA -- THE SETTING 
---------------------- 
 
 
3.(U) During an early August assessment visit to Abuja, 
senior ATF trainer Patrick Clowry, RNLEO and NATCOM members 
selected Katsina as the best venue for the training of 
security officials in Nigeria's northern region.  Katsina 
offered a large, relatively well-equipped hotel and is 
centrally located among the seven states forming Nigeria's 
northern geopolitical zone -- Borno, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto, 
Zamfara, Jigawa, and Yobe States.  No participating state was 
more than a five-hour drive from Katsina, and taken together 
from the perimeter of Nigeria's expansive northern borders. 
 
 
4.(U) Participants were selected from key law enforcement 
agencies charged with interdicting arms and contraband at 
land borders and stationed in the seven states -- the Nigeria 
Customs Service (NCS), the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), 
the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Nigeria 
Police and the State Security Service (SSS).  The USG 
trainers adjusted to the remoteness of Katsina and attendant 
challenges with good spirit and participants repeatedly 
thanked them for making the journey to Katsina. 
 
 
5.(U) This was the first ever USG law enforcement project 
held in Katsina was warmly welcomed by the State Governor and 
local officials.  In an opening statement, the Secretary to 
the State Governor underscored Nigeria's serious problem of 
violent crime, which has been fueled by smuggled weapons.  He 
also noted the connection between weapons trafficking and 
terrorism, expressing solidarity with the USG's fight against 
terrorism, marked by the first anniversary of the September 
11 attacks two weeks earlier. 
 
 
COURSE CONTENT 
-------------- 
 
 
6.(U) ATF trainers Clowry, Jeffrey McGee, Eugene Fleming and 
U.S. Customs agents Carolyn Okafor and Ronald Branch 
alternated in presenting course sessions on: identifying 
types of weapons most often smuggled in the region and 
tracing (when possible) their origins; concealment 
techniques; searching vehicles and cargo; explosives 
components and identification; and methods of interdicting 
and disarming guns and small arms traffickers. 
 
 
7.(U) On September 26 participants and trainers boarded buses 
for a practical exercise in nearby Jibiya, Katsina State -- 
the Nigerian Government's busiest border post with Niger.  At 
Jibiya, the U.S. Customs agents, using a borrowed vehicle 
from the NDLEA, demonstrated possible concealment methods for 
smuggling weapons into Nigeria by vehicle over land borders. 
 
 
NIGER OFFICIALS MAKE A CAMEO APPEARANCE 
--------------------------------------- 
 
 
8(U) Customs officials from Niger were present at the opening 
of this practical exercise and Nigerien Central Inspector 
Mohammed A. Abdourahamane expressed interest (speaking in 
Hausa, the common language of the region) in expanded border 
control cooperation with Nigeria and in assistance from the 
USG.  The USG team discovered that current cooperation among 
Customs, Immigration and other security officials of the two 
countries is limited because of the lack of telephone lines 
on either side of the border.  The American visitors 
expressed hope that a future iteration of the course could be 
offered to regional participants, of which Niger officials 
would play a key role.  Chad would also be a prime candidate. 
 
 
COMMENT AND KUDOS 
----------------- 
 
 
9.(SBU) Delivering this course near the heart of Northern 
Nigeria in a city with a small but noticeable fundamentalist 
presence (reported septel) provided considerable logistical 
and security challenges but proved to be key in enhancing the 
impact of the training.  By bringing training in the field, 
instead of asking trainees to travel to Abuja or Lagos, the 
ATF/USCS course was able to capture a larger number of 
working-level security agents who can best use these 
interdiction skills.  This also allowed for substantial 
savings in costs, which would have been 50-100% higher in 
Abuja or Lagos.  The Embassy wishes to thank U.S.-based ATF 
trainers Patrick Clowry, Jeffrey McGee and Eugene Fleming and 
U.S. Customs trainer Carolyn Okafor for their professionalism 
strong commitment and collegial attitude, and hopes that they 
can return for the second iteration of the course in Lagos in 
December or January. 
JETER