VZCZCXRO0806
PP RUEHPA
DE RUEHFR #3292/01 2151522
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 031522Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9312
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0896
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI PRIORITY 0095
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 003292 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2017 
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS EMIN PBTS ENRG LY NG FR
SUBJECT: NIGER:  FRENCH VIEWS OF AREVA EXPULSION CASE 
 
REF: NIAMEY 938 
 
PARIS 00003292  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, 1.4 (b/d 
). 
 
¶1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  The expulsion of AREVA executive Dominique 
Pin from Niger on July 26 represented the identification of a 
scapegoat for Niger's lack of success in quelling MNJ rebel 
elements and a settling of "personal scores," according to 
MFA Niger Desk Officer Michael Deslaimes.  The July 30 visit 
of Niger Foreign minister Aichatou Mindaoudou was centered 
almost exclusively on the AREVA case, despite press reporting 
and anodyne GOF statements to the contrary.  Soon after 
Mindaoudou's visit, France and Niger entered into the first 
of two agreements that would restore some "normalcy" to 
relations and to AREVA's presence in Niger.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (C)  Along with visiting Embassy Bangui Pol/Econ/Conoff 
Cameron McGlothlin, we met on August 1 with Michael 
Deslaimes, MFA desk officer for Niger.  The meeting was 
intended to introduce McGlothlin to Deslaimes, who will soon 
become DCM in Bangui, but the discussion quickly centered on 
the AREVA case (reftel). 
 
¶3.  (C)  Deslaimes said that expelled AREVA executive 
Dominique Pin had found himself "between a rock and a hard 
place."  Deslaimes noted AREVA's long presence in Niger and 
the prominent role it played as a large foreign operator in a 
poor country, which allowed it to wield considerable economic 
and political clout, albeit as a private sector entity.  He 
said that in many ways, AREVA was "the face of France" to 
many Nigeriens, just as "the United Fruit Company had been 
the face of the U.S. in many parts of Latin America." 
Deslaimes did not directly state or directly imply that AREVA 
had had dealings with the MNJ or other rebel elements, but he 
indirectly indicated that AREVA, as a powerful entity with 
long experience in Niger, knew what it had to do in order to 
keep functioning on a sound basis.  (He added that, unlike 
the situation with the USG and U.S. companies, the GOF did 
not actively use French companies to further its foreign 
policy objectives, a point that we declined to debate in the 
interest of maintaining the focus of the exchange.) 
 
¶4.  (C)  Problems had arisen, Deslaimes asserted, because of 
Niger's inability to counter the MNJ and northern rebel 
groups, and a series of "defeats" had become a humiliation 
for Niger, which then had to find a scapegoat for its 
failures.  Deslaimes claimed that the Nigeriens found two 
such scapegoats -- Libya, for its alleged support of the 
rebel elements, and AREVA, for its alleged cooperation with 
the rebels as a cost of doing business.  Deslaimes added that 
Pin's expulsion also probably represented a "settling of 
scores" between him and certain Nigeriens whom he may have 
alienated during his stay in Niger (a theme that Deslaimes 
did not further elaborate).  Pin therefore was expelled. 
Because AREVA "is the face of France in Niger," the matter 
quickly became a bilateral problem for France and Niger. 
 
¶5.  (C)  Deslaimes said that Niger Foreign Minister 
Mindaoudou's quickly scheduled visit to Paris on July 30 was 
in fact centered almost exclusively on the AREVA affair, 
anodyne press reports and GOF and GON statements to the 
contrary.  He indicated that both sides wanted to clear the 
air over this matter and so the visit was rushed into place 
despite the ill-will generated by Pin's expulsion. 
 
¶6.  (C)  On July 30, Mindaoudou lunched with members of 
AREVA's Paris HQ, which was her original objective for coming 
to France.  After that meeting, Mindaoudou met with French 
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, again to discuss the AREVA 
case.  Soon after the Kouchner meeting, Deslaimes said that 
President Sarkozy intervened by telephoning Niger's President 
Tandja in an effort to put AREVA's operations on a normal 
footing.  Asked whether Sarkozy's message was a "tough" one, 
Deslaimes said that if Sarkozy used the talking points the 
MFA had prepared, he did not mince words, although Deslaimes 
added that Sarkozy of course would have put a pleasant 
diplomatic gloss on the message. 
 
¶7.  (C)  Indicating that both sides were moving past the 
AREVA incident, Deslaimes said that a few hours before his 
meeting with us on August 1, France and Niger signed a 
preliminary accord relating to AREVA.  This would not, he 
said, completely "normalize" the situation.  A second accord, 
now in preparation, would accomplish that, and Deslaimes said 
he thought this second agreement would be on the table in 
relatively short order. 
 
PARIS 00003292  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶8.  (C)  As a further indication of goodwill, State Secretary 
for Cooperation and Francophonie Jean-Marie Bockel would soon 
travel to Niger, Deslaimes said.  MFA AF PDAS Caroline Dumas, 
in a separate conversation on August 3, confirmed that Bockel 
would travel to Niger the evening of August 3, arriving in 
Niamey on August 4. 
 
¶9.  (C)  COMMENT:  Deslaimes's blunt description of the AREVA 
matter stands in contrast to the scrupulously evasive 
language used by MFA spokespersons during the daily briefings 
following the expulsion, which would leave one with the 
notion that the AREVA case hardly figured in FM Mindaoudou's 
visit.  Even discounting Deslaimes's tendency to use colorful 
terms and images during any conversation, one has the 
impression that after expelling Pin, the Nigeriens quickly 
realized that they had to engage in damage control both with 
AREVA and with the GOF, with the latter not reluctant to 
employ a firm tone in order to get things back on track.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
¶10.  (C)  Portions of the conversation with Deslaimes 
concerning the C.A.R. will be reported by septel from Embassy 
Bangui. 
 
 
 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
 
PEKALA