VZCZCXRO1825
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHMV #1293/01 3021058
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 291058Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY MONROVIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9438
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1526
RULSJGA/COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC
RHMCSUU/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE
RUENAAA/SECNAV WASHDC
RUEHFN/USDAO FREETOWN SL
RUEHAB/USDAO ABIDJAN IV
RUEHAR/USDAO ACCRA GH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MONROVIA 001293 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/W PDAVIS, INR/AA BGRAVES, AF/RSA JUN BANDO 
SECNAVY FOR OPNAV N84 AUGUSTUS VOGEL 
USEUCOM FOR CNE-C6F DANIEL TROTT, DAVID MORALES 
COGARD FOR IPSLO ACTIVITIES EUROPE ADAM SHAW, DOUG SCHNEIDER 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EWWT EFIS PHSA SENV LI
SUBJECT: LIBERIA: REHABILITATING A TROUBLED BUT PROPITIOUS MARITIME 
SECTOR 
 
REFS: (A) MONROVIA 1070 
(B) MONROVIA 1007 
(C) MONROVIA 846 
(D) MONROVIA 708 
(E) MONROVIA 627 
(F) MONROVIA 610 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The Liberian maritime sector has a unique and 
vibrant past, but years of war and neglect have taken a toll on the 
fishing industry (ref A), the port (ref B), and overall maritime 
control and security inside Liberia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). 
 Although Liberia's U.S.-based ship registry (LISCR) is still the 
world's second largest and a notable contributor to the government's 
budget, Liberian employment in the maritime industry is negligible 
and the country's maritime academy moribund.  Security at the Port 
of Monrovia falls short of International Ship and Port Facility 
Security (ISPS) compliance and the country does not have a coast 
guard or any other marine security assets.  The Government of 
Liberia (GOL) is seeking to address these and other shortfalls in 
maritime governance and security with a variety of efforts: a 
conference on and draft legislation regarding international search 
and rescue; proposals for the re-establishment of a Maritime 
Training Institute; requests for coast guard and other marine 
security and surveillance assistance; and consideration of a plan to 
privatize part or all of the Monrovia Freeport, including port 
security.  Strong political will for reform suggests abundant 
potential for leveraging upcoming USG technical assistance.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
-------------------------------- 
LIBERIA TO BECOME REGIONAL 
MARITIME SEARCH AND RESCUE HUB 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Liberia hosted a regional Maritime Search and Rescue 
conference in Monrovia in collaboration with the International 
Maritime Organization (IMO) from September 25-27, 2007.  Liberia was 
recently selected by the IMO to serve as the Regional Coordinating 
Center for Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) in the West Africa 
Region.  The Monrovia conference was attended by representatives 
from the IMO West Africa Zone: Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea and 
Sierra Leone. 
 
¶3. (U) In connection with the conference, President Johnson Sirleaf 
forwarded two bills to the Liberia National Legislature for the 
creation of a Maritime Search and Rescue Center, and for 
ratification of the International Search and Rescue Convention of 
1979, which came into effect in 1985.  Both bills were passed by the 
Legislature and forwarded to the President for her signature and 
passage into law.  Bureau of Maritime Affairs (BMA) Deputy 
Commissioner Yvonne Clinton told Econoff October 18 that an IMO 
consultant is scheduled to arrive in November to help identify a 
site for the SAR headquarters.  IMO will provide some initial 
(unspecified) equipment and training but the overall headquarters 
will be financed by the GOL. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
MARITIME SECURITY - UPCOMING VISIT TO ENHANCE AIS 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Liberia currently has access to a basic Automatic 
Identification System (AIS) set up in collaboration with Lloyd's of 
London and the United Nations Mission to Liberia (UNMIL) to track 
ships in West Africa.  Liberia provided the sites and electricity, 
Lloyd's provided the equipment, and UNMIL helped install two 
antennae, in addition to access terminals at the Ministry of Defense 
(MOD) and BMA.  A team from the U.S. Navy is expected to arrive in 
Liberia on October 31 to conduct site surveys for the installation 
of additional AIS equipment.  At present, the BMA uses AIS data to 
monitor cargo ships coming to and from the port of Monrovia.  The 
GOL also established a Surveillance Task Force consisting of 
representatives from the Bureau of National Fisheries, the BMA, the 
MOD, the Ministry of Finance, the National Port Authority and United 
Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). 
 
¶5. (SBU) Liberia does not have a navy and securing the country's 
coastal waters is in theory the duty of the demobilized Liberian 
Coast Guard.  Without a functioning coast guard, Liberia is unable 
 
MONROVIA 00001293  002 OF 004 
 
 
to intercept unauthorized or suspicious vessels and there are often 
reports of rogue fishing vessels from China and other African 
countries (and perhaps Europe and other Asian countries) illegally 
traversing the country's coastal waters.  In June, a large ship was 
stolen from the port of Monrovia (refs E and F) and Liberian 
authorities could do nothing but watch the ship flee on the AIS 
monitors.  The Marine Surveillance Task Force intends to procure a 
patrol vessel that will be used in conjunction with the AIS. (Note: 
AIS only tracks ships over 300 tons that are required by the 
International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) to 
have AIS transponders.  Fishing boats are not required by the 
International Maritime Organization to have transponders and thus 
AIS will not necessarily help detect illegal fishing unless local 
laws are enacted to require AIS in smaller vessels. End note). 
 
¶6. (U) The Ministry of Agriculture recently completed a National 
Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy that encourages community 
participation in maritime security and natural resource management. 
The GOL is proposing a co-management regime in fisheries 
surveillance between the government and fishermen that will provide 
legal support to ensure all restrictions on artisanal fishing 
grounds are observed at the community level.  In addition, fishermen 
will be encouraged to participate in monitoring, control and 
surveillance (MCS) activities and will be equipped with portable 
radars and radios to report to an inter-agency MCS coordinating unit 
any illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing including 
poaching, transshipment at sea and encroachments in unauthorized 
fishing zones by industrial vessels. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
THE ONCE AND FUTURE LIBERIAN COAST GUARD 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) The Liberian National Coast Guard (LCG) began operations in 
1959 after the delivery of two 40-foot patrol boats donated by the 
United States.  By the mid-1980s, the LCG force consisted of six 
patrol craft (three 50-ton, Swedish-built coastal patrol crafts that 
were delivered in 1980 as well as three smaller American built 
patrol craft delivered in 1976) and some 450 officers based at 
Freeport in Monrovia, as well as at smaller bases in Buchanan, 
Greenville and Harper.  The Coast Guard was once considered the 
best-trained and most professional component of the Armed Forces of 
Liberia (AFL), but war, neglect, and corruption left the coast guard 
fleet immobilized and effectively defunct.  The Liberian Coast Guard 
folded into the Liberian Navy in 1986, was officially demobilized 
along with the Armed Forces of Liberia in 2006, and has yet to be 
reorganized. 
 
¶8. (U) In 2007, the Ministry of Defense established an 
inter-Ministerial Task Force to examine the legal groundwork 
necessary to establish a Coast Guard, and the Ministry of Defense 
submitted a formal request to the United States for assistance in 
assessing port and Coast Guard needs.  The first step required for 
the creation of a Coast Guard is the passage of the National Defense 
Act which authorizes the establishment of a Coast Guard.  The MOD is 
in the process of revising that Act for presentation to the 
Legislature in January 2008.  In addition, in order to be eligible 
for USG assistance via the Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) the 
coast guard must be established under the Ministry of Defense.  ODC 
participates on the Coast Guard Task Force meetings along with 
representatives from the BMA, Liberian Seaport Police (LSP), Bureau 
of Customs and Excise (BCE), and Bureau of Immigration and 
Naturalization (BIN). 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
PORT SECURITY - ISPS STILL ELUDES MONROVIA FREEPORT 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶9. (SBU) Liberia continues to make slow progress toward implementing 
the International Ship and Port Facility (ISPS) code in the Freeport 
of Monrovia.  The National Port Authority (NPA) is an autonomous 
port authority, rather than a government agency, and is only an 
"implied" designated authority for the review, approval and verity 
of Port Facility Security Plans (PFSP).  A Joint Security 
Coordination Committee meets weekly to discuss Freeport security and 
includes representatives from UNMIL, Customs, NPA, the Liberian 
Seaport Police (LSP), the Liberian National Police (LNP) and others. 
 Following a spate of thefts in May 2007, the GOL shuffled the 
 
MONROVIA 00001293  003 OF 004 
 
 
leadership of the LSP, placing ex-Deputy Director of the Special 
Security Services (SSS), Ashford Peal, in charge (ref D).  Security 
at the port is currently provided by an unwieldy patchwork of 
private security guards, LSP, LNP and UNMIL troops - a mixture that 
led to a shootout at the port between the LNP and LSP in July 2007 
(ref C).  At present, security forces have only a pair of leased 
motorized canoes on the water, although the NPA is expecting 
delivery of a 27-foot Boston Whaler the NPA purchased from the 
United States to use for security inside the port. 
 
¶10. (SBU) The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has visited the port 
of Monrovia on several occasions, most recently for a March 2007 
ISPS survey. Although progress has been made in addressing lapses in 
perimeter security, ID and vehicle control, and security patrols 
have been increased near the oil jetty, ISPS certification still 
eludes the NPA.  Post has requested further USCG assistance to help 
Liberia comply with ISPS Code.  A follow-up USCG mission is 
scheduled to arrive in Monrovia in January 2008. 
 
------------------------------------- 
AFRICA PARTNERSHIP STATION - 
A CHANCE TO FOCUS ON MARITIME ISSUES 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Liberia is scheduled to participate in the deployment of 
the Africa Partnership Station (APS) to West Africa in 2007-08.  APS 
has several interventions planned for Liberia, including medical 
training to coincide with arrival of the USS Fort McHenry in 
November, as well as humanitarian civic assistance (school and 
clinic renovations), Project Hope health training and outreach and 
other community relations activities during the visit of the USS 
Fort McHenry and HSV Swift in March 2008.  The APS visit presents an 
opportunity to improve maritime domain awareness and security/safety 
at sea in Liberia.  Post has requested that APS planners include 
activities related to marine security and coastal resource 
management on the APS schedule, and Embassy Econoff is working with 
the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy on a specific proposal 
for a Fisheries Management meeting in Monrovia during the Fort 
McHenry visit in March. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
REBUILDING AND REFORMING LIBERIA'S MARITIME INDUSTRY 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶12. (U) Liberia's Maritime program has been a source of pride, and 
controversy.  The Liberian ship registry is the second largest in 
the world and a major source of revenue for the GOL (expected 
revenues of USD13 million in the 2007-08 budget represent roughly 
six percent of total government revenue).  Liberia now has 2,300 
vessels registered under its maritime program.  As the only stable 
and substantial source of revenue during the 1990s, the registry was 
often squeezed by government officials for revenues to fund the 
country's conflicts or for personal gain.  The program was managed 
by the International Trust Company (ITC) until 1999 when President 
Charles Taylor's government awarded the contract to manage the 
maritime program to the Liberia Shipping and Corporate Registry 
(LISCR) based in Vienna, Virginia.  Revenues from LISCR now flow 
directly to the Ministry of Finance without passing through the 
Bureau of Maritime Affairs (BMA). 
 
¶13. (U) Aside from the flow of revenues to the central budget, 
however, Liberians have benefited relatively little from the 
maritime sector.  Ships that fly Liberia's "flag of convenience" are 
expected to employ Liberian nationals but the Liberian Seafarers and 
Port Workers Union of Liberia notes that the provision is rarely 
enforced.  A generation of potential Liberian seafarers has been 
lost since the collapse of the Merchant Marine Academy in 1992.  The 
Bureau of Maritime Affairs is seeking funding to revive the Liberian 
Maritime Training Institute (LMTI) in Marshall, Margibi County, in 
order to properly train and certify more Liberians for employment in 
the maritime sector. The Global Maritime and Transportation School 
at the United States Merchant Marine Academy recently completed a 
feasibility study for the re-establishment of the LMTI.  In the 
meantime, the BMA has moved forward with a small training program 
for roughly 30 students at offices in Monrovia and potential 
practical training in collaboration with a school in Ghana. 
 
¶14. (SBU) The Government of Liberia has expressed its desire to 
 
MONROVIA 00001293  004 OF 004 
 
 
repeal the 1989 law governing the BMA and reintegrate the BMA into 
the Ministry of Finance. The nature and scope of the integration is 
yet to be decided, but a draft audit financed by the European 
Commission in 2006-07 suggested that the MOF would manage and 
oversee international maritime program revenue while the BMA would 
continue to operate with technical and operational autonomy as a 
maritime industry regulator.  BMA Deputy Commissioner Yvonne Clinton 
said the GOL was awaiting a second audit by the IMO in November 2007 
before deciding how to proceed.  (Note: President Sirleaf recently 
fired BMA Commissioner John Morlu for unspecified reasons and later 
reinstated him to carry on official duties as Commissioner of BMA 
after reports emerged that the man named to replace Morlu, John 
Stewart, was implicated in fraud in the United States.  End note). 
 
---------------------------------------- 
PORT REFORM - AN AGREEMENT WITHIN REACH? 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) The Monrovia Freeport is the only functioning lifeline for 
seaborne cargo into and out of Liberia.  After years of 
mismanagement, neglect and corruption, port operations at present 
are inefficient, port security is insufficient and port 
infrastructure is inadequate.  The GOL and international partners 
are currently in the process of drafting a Memorandum of 
Understanding (MOU) that will outline plans for a Build-Operate 
Transfer (BOT) agreement between the GOL and a private partner for 
either a container terminal concession or a master concession for 
the entire Monrovia Freeport.  According to initial discussions 
between the GOL and international donors, the signing of the MOU 
would trigger the release of up to USD one million of World Bank 
funds for the immediate implementation of an emergency contingency 
plan to help ensure continued port operations in the event of a 
major structural breakdown.  The MOU would also specify a timeline 
for a final GOL decision on the scope of the BOT, outline external 
assistance to improve port operations and prepare bid documents, and 
detail additional donor-funded investment in infrastructure and 
technical assistance to help maintain a viable, functioning port 
until more substantial modernization investment occurs under the 
BOT.  An MOU could be concluded as early as November. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶16. (U) Liberia's maritime sector has the potential to generate 
substantial revenue and employment but is hampered by a weakened 
regulatory structure and a complete devastation of marine sector 
assets.  The United States has provided financial and technical 
assistance to the economically vital port of Monrovia, and has 
initiated surveys and discussions for providing additional 
assistance for port security, maritime security and the 
re-establishment of a Liberian Coast Guard.  There is a need (and 
much potential) to leverage assistance already planned for the 
maritime sector into other areas of relative neglect, particularly 
in fisheries, freshwater biodiversity and coastal management. 
 
BOOTH