This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 002566 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DAS PERRY, LONDON FOR GURNEY, PARIS FOR NEARY 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/03/2012 
TAGS: PREL MOPS XY LI IV NI ECOWAS
SUBJECT: CORRECTED COPY: NIGERIA: EMBASSY REVISITS ISSUE OF 
FALSE ECOWAS REPORT CLAIMING US/UK LURD CONNECTION 
 
REF: A. ABUJA 02016 
     ¶B. PERRY-BROWNE EMAIL 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR HOWARD F. JETER. REASON 1.5 (B) and 
(D). 
 
 
Corrected Copy: Tags, text corrections. 
 
 
¶1. This is an action message; see paragraph 7. 
 
 
¶2. (C) Summary. Ambassador again raised allegations of U.S./ 
UK support for Lurd in Liberia with ECOWAS Deputy Executive 
Secretary, General Cheick Diarra. After reiterating that the 
 
SIPDIS 
U.S. and UK do not support Lurd rebels in any way, the 
Ambassador asked that ECOWAS publicly deny GOL claims that 
their information came from an official, authorized, and 
approved ECOWAS report.  Diarra agreed to present USG 
position to Executive Secretary Chambas, and requested that 
U.S. provide ECOWAS with a copy of the report being 
disseminated by GOL Embassy in Abidjan. End Summary 
 
 
¶3. (C) In an August 29 meeting with ECOWAS Deputy Executive 
Secretary Diarra, Ambassador Jeter recalled his July 3 
 
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meeting on the same subject and reemphasized that GOL claims 
of U.S. and UK support of Lurd forces were both false and 
malicious.  The U.S. was concerned because continued 
propagation of these false allegations could harm U.S. 
relations and interests in the West African sub-region and 
damage U.S. relations with ECOWAS just as those relations 
were at their strongest.  Because the claims were allegedly 
based on an official ECOWAS report, the Ambassador asked that 
ECOWAS join the USG in publicly "clearing the air". 
 
 
¶4. (C) General Diarra explained that the report being cited 
was a raw draft crafted by the Ecowas-mandated Military 
Mission to Liberia.  He explained that the ECOWAS Secretariat 
rejected the claims of U.S./UK complicity with the Lurd and 
its final report made no mention of the allegations.  To 
reinforce his sincerity, Diarra gave the Ambassador a copy of 
the Executive Secretariat Memorandum and the Military 
Assessment Mission to Liberia, and the final Report of the 
Ninth Ministerial Meeting of the Mediation and Security 
Council, held on the margins of the AU summit in Durban. 
(Both will be faxed to AF/W.) 
 
 
¶5. (C) Ambassador Jeter stated that, since the allegations 
were being made in the name of ECOWAS, it seemed to be 
incumbent on ECOWAS to refute publicly the allegations now 
being peddled anew by the GOL.  He also endorsed Diarra's 
suggestion that ECOWAS write officially to member-state 
governments that the ECOWAS Secretariat did not concur with 
statements made in the report of the Military Mission to 
Liberia alleging U.S./UK support and complicity with the 
Lurd. The Ambassador also said that he would recommend that 
the U.S. issue its own public statement denying the 
allegations. General Diarra agreed to present our request to 
Executive Secretary Chambas as soon as possible, and promised 
to report the Executive Secretary's views as soon as possible. 
 
 
¶6. (C) Later on the evening of August 29, Ambassador spoke 
with ECOWAS Executive Secretary Chambas, who is currently 
traveling in Sweden.  It was agreed that the following steps 
should be taken:(a)the U.S. should lodge a formal written 
protest of the allegations made in the ECOWAS Military 
Mission Report; (b) the ECOWAS Secretariat would circulate 
the U.S. protest to all ECOWAS member-states; and (c) the 
Secretariat would then issue a public statement acknowledging 
 
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the U.S. protest and indicate that the official ECOWAS Report 
on the Military Mission did not include subject allegations 
against the U.S. and UK.  Chambas said the wording of the 
ECOWAS public statement would be coordinated with the Embassy. 
 
 
7.(C) Action Request:  Please provide the text of the protest 
that the Embassy can then convey to the ECOWAS Secretariat, 
in the form of a letter or diplomatic note. 
JETER