Briefing on Trip to Angola, Gabon, and Nigeria

MR. REEKER: As you know, Africa and our policy there and working with our African friends has been a high priority of the Bush Administration, and we are very pleased today to have Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner joining us for a brief briefing to bring you up to date on some of his travels, having just returned from a trip that took him to Angola, Gabon and Nigeria.

So I will turn it over to him, and he'll be happy to take all your questions. We have about 20 minutes, which hopefully will suffice.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Thanks, Phil, very much. Thanks for coming out on a hot July day for Africa. I just got back from a good trip to Angola, Gabon and Nigeria. Angola is going along quite well, given the 82,000 UNITA forces that are now being encamped, and, in fact, disarmed and reintegrated.

In addition to these 80-some-thousand, we have 4 million displaced people in Angola. So the country has a tremendous task in front of it getting these people back reintegrated into society and back to their homes.

We discussed a number of things with President dos Santos and cabinet members about how we might be able to help them do this enormous task, and AID has been very helpful. The UN is getting mobilized, and so there is a kind of a broad international focus on assisting Angola to rebuild and get these folks back in a productive lifestyle.

The stop in Gabon was a brief stop, met with President Bongo and discussed a number of bilateral issues, including some very interesting environmental projects that we are looking to fund in the Congo River Basin rainforest area, Gabon falling within the Congo River Basin, and how some of these rainforests can, in fact, be preserved. They are under tremendous pressure from timbering, and these next few years are really the years that are available for us to protect those rainforests and to keep them healthy.

The third and last stop was Nigeria, where we met with President Obasanjo and others and we discussed their political situation. They're entering into an election season and all that -- for what that means in Nigeria is intrigue and a lot of political party-building, and that process is going fairly well. President Obasanjo has made some very real commitments to a free and fair and transparent process, and we talked about ways that we might be able to assist on some of the technical areas of keeping that election open and free.

That was about it, and I'd love to take any questions and all questions. Thanks.

QUESTION: One of the stories that was coming around while you were there, and probably before then too, is that the US was pressuring Nigeria to get out of OPEC.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Yes.

QUESTION: And I think I know your answer on that, but it's -- it's probably no. But I mean, was -- can you say why you think that was coming around? Is this just Nigeria trying to strengthen its hand with OPEC?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: I don't know. And it actually took me a little bit by surprise. It was never raised. It was never discussed. Obviously that is an area where that's a sovereign issue for the Nigerians to decide what they want to do. We never discussed it. It's not for us to weigh in on that.

What we did discuss was how the Gulf of Guinea writ large, from, you know, Cote d'Ivoire to Angola, how it is continuing to provide additional barrels per day to the United States, and as we look in the future, West Africa will probably play an increasingly important role in providing the United States with imported crude.

QUESTION: Irrespective of your -- of the fact that you didn't discuss it, is Nigeria getting out of OPEC under discussion?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Not that I heard.

QUESTION: When Secretary Powell was in Nigeria, and even before that, there was a lot of noise about maybe it was time for Obasanjo to go. And he apparently, even today, is in some remote areas of the country and having incredible protestors, things like that, and he doesn't seem to be very popular in a lot of these remote areas.

Have you talked to him about -- I mean, is he running for reelection?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: He is running. He is. He is a committed candidate for his party's nomination. Now, his party, the PDP, has not decided on who their candidate is. They will have a series of primaries and then probably a party convention of some sort. The election is not until March or April of next year. In the meantime, there will be local elections and gubernatorial elections too, so that's really adding to the mix of all of this politics. But President Obasanjo clearly has thrown his hat into the ring and he will be competing for his party's nomination.

QUESTION: Is it still the position of this Administration, or are you not willing to make a comment to affect the elections, on whether he's, you know, kind of finished his reign and maybe it's time for other people to step forward?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Well, our position is that Nigeria needs to have free and fair elections; it needs to stay in the hands of a civilian government. So a civilian government is the way to go. In other words, we want to see a process that furthers civilian rule, and we don't get into -- back into the military tough man role. And what we're looking at is ways -- how do we assist that process to make it a free and fair election that keeps it in the hands of the civilian government.

QUESTION: In Angola, the timetable wasn't really met for the UNITA forces to turn themselves into these cantonments, and also there's some reports of rather fearsomely poor conditions in these cantonments. Could you discuss some of these --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Yes, sure. There are some 30 cantonment, or camps, and the UNITA forces are virtually complete now. All of them are in. And it's 82,000 or 82,500. I mean, we're still kind of getting numbers. But it seems, it appears that everyone that was a UNITA member is now in the camps.

And what's happening in these camps is of course disarming, first of all, and then there is some feeding, some healthcare, some shelter providing. And then the next phase of course is reintegration, and that will take farm implements, seeds -- if that is in fact -- if they want to go back and farm and go home and start planting. There are now systems starting to get put in place where they, in fact, are given those opportunities.

We are working with international organizations to get farm tools and seeds available to these camps in the next 30 days because the agricultural season is such that planting really begins in Angola in September/October, so we need to start positioning those tools and seeds immediately.

In addition to the 82-some-odd-thousand Angolan troops, there are also -- I'm sorry, UNITA, UNITA troops -- there are also UNITA families that total some 250- or 260,000. So we're also trying to assist those families to be reintegrated as well.

QUESTION: Back on the oil. Does the US see (inaudible), as you mentioned, an alternative to the Middle East, or how do you play that out in terms of it being an alternative? And what is actually the US doing to actually make that happen?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Right. Well, of course the market sorts that out in the sense that oil, the crude oil market, is sophisticated and very international, and it will sort out who buys what from whom. We probably take something like 50 percent of Nigeria's output right now. Now, a lot of that is just simply proximity and shipping costs. I mean, you start doing the numbers.

Our total from West Africa is just about under 15 percent, I think, of our total crude imports from every source comes from West Africa, and we probably see that projection in the next two or three years, you know, going up to maybe even as high as 18, 19, 20 percent. So, now that's our guess. Markets will determine that, and international oil companies and international oil traders actually determine which market you go to for the ease and profitability.

QUESTION: But are you doing something to make it happen? Like there was a reference to maybe you offered Angola help in getting on the UN Security Council or something.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: No.

QUESTION: I mean, what is the US doing to make it happen? Anything?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: No, we don't need to.

QUESTION: You don't need to?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: No.

QUESTION: It'll just happen.

QUESTION: This isn't on your trip, but can you talk at all about Sudan and the developments over the weekend with the meeting between Bashir and Garang?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Yes, absolutely. The meeting between President Bashir and Dr. John Garang took place in Kampala, Uganda. It was the first time those two have met in a number of years, and President Museveni of Uganda was the facilitator that brought these guys together.

It was a good meeting. The readout we've gotten is that it was a good meeting, particularly given that they have not had a lot of dialogue with each other in the past. Of course, the backdrop to this was the signing of the framework agreement between the SPLA and the government in Khartoum that took place about ten days ago.

We are very hopeful that that is a first step in the larger peace process, and those talks start up again August 12th in Kenya.

QUESTION: How are things holding up right now since the agreement's been signed? I don't know if there have been any attacks. Have things been quiet?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: We have heard that things are quiet. We encourage both sides that in the spirit of signing this, although there is no specific ceasefire paragraphs or wording, that we encourage them that in the spirit of this everyone refrain from military activity, and it does seem as if things have calmed down on a military front in the last ten days. So we're hoping that it, in fact, stays that way and they can begin the talks again on the 12th of August with some good momentum.

QUESTION: Are there any plans to send Senator Danforth back?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Senator Danforth has been in Europe briefing our allies and also encouraging them to assist on the resource side because some of the things that helped tee this framework agreement up, of course, were the ceasefire in Nuba Mountains and the civilian targeting, all of which is quite expensive. And so we're looking for our European allies to help assist in sharing some of these costs and Senator Danforth had a trip just this last week to Europe to discuss some of these.

We hope that Danforth can, in fact, return to Africa sometime in the next month to give the talks a little momentum and to keep everyone on board.

QUESTION: It seems like we're hop-scotching back and forth here, but going back to Angola, you'd mentioned that AID either has been helpful or is trying to be helpful. Can you be more specific with how much money AID is putting in and is planning to put in, or what kind of projects?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Yes. OFDA, the Foreign Disaster Assistance, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, did an excellent job in getting out to Angola early on, and in response to your earlier question about some of the troubles early on in the cantonment, there were clearly logistical problems in getting food and shelter and some basic clothing to these camps. And so OFDA and AID really came to the rescue, quite frankly, and we had a couple of 747's full of food, clothing, shelter that flew into Angola and quickly dispatched to these 30-some camps.

Now that OFDA assessment team that kind of went out there with that material continued to come in with recommendations and so that whole process, that whole supply line now is going. We've got ships on the ocean right now heading to Luanda with additional food and additional supplies. The agricultural implements, the hoes and the seeds and all that, have been ordered. I think we went through FAO in Rome and they will be purchasing those, and those are on their way to Angola, as well.

QUESTION: Dollar figure?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: I can get that for you. I do not know it off the top of my head.

QUESTION: Are there other projects planned besides this "get people back on the land?"

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: There are. In fact, again, AID has set up a program to go out to the camps and ask the UNITA combatants, former combatants, what do they want to do. Instead of a cookie cutter approach, assuming they all want to go be farmers, and they might -- we just don't know -- but what we're going to do is go out and basically do a quick survey to say, "Are you thinking of being an electrical engineer in Luanda," or, "Are you thinking of farming in Wambo?" And so we have some sense of where these guys want to go and what their vision is, and so that survey is taking place right now. And then depending on what those results are, in fact, we'll be sending in equipment and supplies and technical assistance to help them.

QUESTION: How's the land mine removal doing in Angola? Is the UN leading that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: They are, and it's getting going. The good news is there probably are not as many land mines as we originally feared. There's still plenty of land mines there, and we are asking both armies from both UNITA and the government to please go back and check their records where these mine fields might be.

There are some records for some areas. There are not records for others, but any records that have been kept would be very helpful, obviously to start de-mining that territory. And remember, the de-mining is so important as these people get reintegrated back into society, and most of them probably will go into farming. I mean, it's 85 percent agriculturally based economy.

The fact that many of the fields that have been productive in the past might have mines in them is a major problem and we've got to go ahead and clear them out.

QUESTION: Back to Sudan. Apparently one of the things Bashir and Garang discussed was the concern that Egypt might try and do something against the Bashir government because they don't really like the idea of southern self-determination. I'm wondering what your thought is on that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Well, there has been in the past a worry that an independent south might be problematic, particularly given the Nile River and what all that portends for Egypt. There are a number of efforts underway by both Khartoum and others to make sure that everyone understands exactly what this framework agreement meant and what it is everyone signed onto. And I think as that's becoming clearer, that it really is just a framework agreement that involves autonomy for the south, not independence for the south, but it does, in fact, in six and half years give the opportunity for the will of the people to be heard, i.e. a referendum. As people get more comfortable and more familiar with what all that means, we seem to -- the comfort level is higher, and I think especially in Cairo's case they're starting to see the real advantages of this.

QUESTION: So you don't have to warn Egypt on this? Or are you warning Egypt on this?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: No. We're certainly talking with Egypt and as are other people, too. And we're all trying to get our hands around exactly, you know, how this can play out and how we need everyone to pitch in and help.

QUESTION: Is there any concern still about the Al-Qaida threat in Sudan? I mean, at one time it was sort of the top of the list. Is that still something that comes up high on the agenda in talks with Sudanese officials?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Well, it does. And Frank Taylor, General Taylor, was with me the last time I was in Khartoum, which was a few weeks ago, to talk about the cooperation on the counterterrorism. So that channel is still very much active and that discussion is taking place.

QUESTION: Are you still pleased with their cooperation and access to the people they put in --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Generally, generally it's been a cooperative relationship, yes.

QUESTION: Global Witness is saying that one of the best things that could be done to help corruption and the problem of corruption in the countries you visited and others is to require -- the US to require companies to disclose payments it makes to the African countries. Is that something that you believe in and back and would ask US companies to do?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: Well, we're looking at some of those proposals, and the whole question of transparency, including in the petroleum industry, is an interesting one. You know, BP has tried to do some things in Angola, for instance, on disclosure of what they have paid and what they haven't paid. How that impacts our specific US legal structure I will leave to the lawyers and the SEC, which of course would probably have an opinion on that.

Generally speaking, the American corporations that are in Africa, in West Africa, have been there for a number of years. They have excellent track records there and they are very much proponents of a transparent system.

Thank you all very much.

QUESTION: Got you out on time.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER: How about that.