VZCZCXRO8836
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNM #0534/01 1411513
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201513Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY NIAMEY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4316
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 0249
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 0001
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHLMC/MCC WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0189

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NIAMEY 000534 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W, AF/S, AF/E, AF/C AND NEA/MAGREB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KWMN ECON EAID SCUL PHUM XA NG SP
SUBJECT: THIRD SPAIN AND AFRICA WOMEN'S CONFERENCE - EMPOWERMENT OF 
WOMEN FOR A BETTER WORLD; OFFICIAL RIBBON CUTTING FOR EMBASSY OF 
SPAIN AND ASSISTANCE PACKAGE FOR NIGER 
 
NIAMEY 00000534  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
----------------------------- 
SUMMARY 
----------------------------- 
¶1. Summary.  The Government of Niger (GON) played host to the 3RD 
annual Spain and African Women's Conference, held May 12-13, 2008, 
in Niamey.  GON President Mamadou Tandja (the only male speaker), 
Government of Spain (GOS) Vice President (VP) Maria Teresa Fernandez 
de la Vega and GON Foreign Minister Aichatou Mindaoudou, co-hosts 
for the event, delivered opening remarks together with Liberia 
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and PanAfrican Congress President 
Gertrude Mongella.  An estimated 450 conferencees, including 
Swaziland Vice Prime Minister Constante Simelane, several other 
African nations' cabinet ministers, judges, lawyers, writers and 
women's activists participated in the event that received wide media 
coverage.  Soprano Barbara Hendricks, a goodwill ambassador for the 
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), invited as a 
special guest, sang in a cappella a moving chorus of the Negro 
spiritual "Freedom Land" at the closing ceremony. Women from several 
United Nations organizations (e.g., UNIFEM, UNDP, UNESCO, UNHCR), 
the International Organization of Migration and a number of 
non-governmental organizations from across the African continent 
served as roundtable panelists.   Women heads of diplomatic missions 
(USA, Germany and Spain) and international organizations (World 
Bank, UNDP and FAO) accredited to Niger were granted observer status 
for the conference.  The Niamey conference followed prior women's 
conferences in Maputo (2006) and Madrid (2007).  Windhoek, Namibia 
is scheduled to host the 2009 conference and Valencia, Spain is 
scheduled to host the event in 2010, concurrent with its assumption 
of the European Union (EU) Presidency. 
 
GOS VP Fernandez de la Vega took advantage of the Niamey visit to 
officially open Spain's Embassy in Niger and provide a bilateral 
assistance package, and announce a 90 million US Dollar assistance 
package to fight hunger and address climate change in five African 
countries, including Niger.  End Summary. 
 
----------------------------- 
Keynote Speakers 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2. GON President Mamadou Tandja opened the 3RD Spain and African 
Women's Conference on May 12 under the theme, "Empowerment of Women 
for a Better World."  He noted that the conference coincided with 
the 17TH anniversary of Niger's historical date of May 13, 1991, 
when Nigerien women marched on the capital of Niamey to demand full 
representation within the national conference. 
 
¶3. Liberian President Johnson-Sirleaf's remarks described some of 
the daunting challenges she faces as head of state after many years 
of civil war.  She reported steady progress is being made in her 
country; that she remains energized by the ambitions of many young 
girls who, when asked about their life goals, now respond that they 
have set their sights on becoming the President of Liberia. 
 
¶4. Spanish First Vice President Fernandez de la Vega noted that 
women make up more than 50 percent of the Spanish Parliament, a 
significant advancement for the women of Spain.  She also credited 
Spanish President Rodriguez Zapatero for advancing the cause of 
women with his selection of women to fill senior cabinet positions, 
including her own.  She underscored that the rise of prices for 
basic staples will severely hit developing nations and that women 
will likely suffer the most since men and children are usually the 
first fed in families. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Round Tables 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5. Three round tables conducted over the two-day period featured the 
themes: "Peace and Governability", "Social Rights and Citizenship", 
and "Women's Empowerment and Efficiency for Development." 
 
 
¶6. Panelists on the Peace and Governability round table were 
Minister of Equality Bibiana Aido (Spain), Women's Network of Rio 
Mano for Peace representative Saran Daraba Kaba (Guinea-Conakry), 
public prosecuter Amina Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso) and jurist Gazobi 
Rahamou (Niger).  The panelists noted there must be peace to 
alleviate poverty, that bad governance leads to conflict, which 
ultimately hits women and their children the hardest.  Minister Aido 
stated that Spain may introduce a resolution at the U.N. General 
Assembly to promote a culture of peace.  The panelists called for 
more solidarity of women, regardless of class, stressing the need to 
put instruments of law into local languages to increase rural 
women's knowledge of and accessibility to the law. They added that 
 
NIAMEY 00000534  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
women perform most of the agricultural work, yet men generally reap 
most of the profit.  They stressed that something must be done to 
ensure that women have equal access to nutrition.  Jurist Rahamou, 
stating that Africans are victims of the totalitarian states 
inherited under colonization, must now manage several sources of 
conflict: natural resources (profit sharing), land usage (nomadic 
herders vs. sedentary farmers), arms, religious intolerance, social 
society (trade unions) and institutions (political parties).  The 
panel emphasized that the United Nations was envisioned to deal with 
conflicts between states, such as border issues, but now with most 
African countries accepting the African Union's recognition of the 
borders established under colonization, most of the current 
conflicts in Africa occurs within states.  Panelists cited as 
examples of women's progress on the continent the successful 
lobbying by the Liberian Bar Association (with the aid of UNIFEM) a 
rape law in Liberia, women occupying 49 percent of the 
parliamentarian seats and 45 percent of the judicial bench in 
Rwanda, the election of 14 women parliamentarians in 2004 vs. only 1 
woman parliamentarian in the 1999 election in Niger. 
 
¶7. The Social Rights and Citizenship panel featured jurist and 
former Supreme Court President Salifou Fati Bazeye (Niger), Minister 
of Women's Affairs and Social Action Virgilia Matabele (Mozambique), 
Executive Director for the Women's Right Advancement Protection 
Alternative (WRAPA) Hajiya Saudatu Mahdi Shehu (Nigeria) and 
Secretary of State for International Cooperation Leire Pajin 
(Spain).  This panel noted that in many African countries, customary 
law prevails over civil law in areas such as inheritance and rights 
to land ownership.  Citing Niger as an example, Magistrate Bazeye 
remarked that "Islamized custom and traditional practices" favor 
men, in areas such as consent to marriage, unilateral dissolution of 
marriage, child custody and land rights.  She said while Niger 
signed a convention in 1964 related to marriage consent, there 
remain many "traditionalists" who shun the law to follow customary 
practices.  WRAPA Executive Director Shehu added that in neighboring 
Nigeria sharia law results in unfair, gender-based judgment.  She 
stated that in many African countries women are treated as second 
class citizens, citing citizenship law as one of the inequities. 
She remarked that in Nigeria women cannot to convey citizenship on a 
foreign spouse, yet men can do so.  She also noted that requirements 
for women seeking political office are more stringent in some 
Nigerian states, such as a requirement that a woman be born in the 
same jurisdiction as her spouse to be eligible to run for office. 
She pointed out that single women are denied the right to rent 
housing in some Nigerian states.  GOS Secretary of International 
Cooperation Pagin spoke of political, social and civil rights as the 
three legs of citizenship.  She called for greater enforcement of 
laws to secure women's rights, especially for the many women in 
exile who remain invisible to society.  She emphasized the need for 
better education and health care for women and girls; stressed that 
education in sciences and other disciplines are needed both to 
prepare women for work other than low paying handicrafts work and to 
ensure women are qualified for opportunities that may materialize, 
including public office.  Attendees spoke of women's need for 
greater access to lines of credit and education, and highlighted the 
lack of gender equality in many national constitutions. 
 
¶8.  The Empowerment of Women and Effectiveness for Development 
panelists were President of the International Foundation of Women's 
Issues Nuria Vinas (Spain), UNIFEM economic expert Yassine Fall 
(Senegal) and Minister of Women's Promotion and Child Protection 
Barry Bibatu Niandou (Niger).  During this panel the attendees' 
mantra was, "Fewer Declarations, More Implementation."  Many 
participants complained about the uselessness of creating women's 
ministries in governments without the provision of adequate 
resources to promote social development.  During the debate, OIM 
representative Ndiaye noted that studies have shown that corruption 
diminishes with women in charge.  She suggested that the GOS needs 
to do more to ensure that persons picked up after being trafficked 
to Spain receive better treatment.  There was some frustration 
expressed by some African women that projects and ideas promoted by 
Africans are too often rejected.  They complained about EU subsidies 
that harm poorer countries and the need for crop diversificationa 
and greater investment in agriculture.  After a reiteration of a 
call for more educational opportunities for women to ensure that 
vital human resources are not wasted and are better prepared to 
assume decisionmaking positions, one woman suggested that there is a 
need for a U.N. Women's Development Index to complement the U.N. 
Human Development Index. 
 
¶9. The two-day conference closed with a declaration pledging further 
collaboration between the women of Africa and Spain as follows: 
 
-- establishment of a one million US dollar endowment to support 
international campaigns to fight violence against women and 
 
NIAMEY 00000534  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
establish a dialogue between Spanish and African women through a 
web-based network; 
 
-- in conjunction with the United Nations through UNIFEM, creation 
of a multi-donor fund to promote gender equity in political life; 
 
-- establishing at the Fourth Conference of "Women for a Better 
World" an annual forum of Africa and Spain parliamentarians to 
promote new laws aimed at abolishing abusive practices that infringe 
upon the rights of women; 
 
-- signing before the end of 2008 an agreement with the African 
Development Bank to make available to women five million US dollars 
to finance projects, business initiative and self-employment of 
African women; 
 
-- organizing before the next women's meeting an international forum 
on sexual and reproductive health with the participation of UNFPA, 
UNIFEM and the governments and womens' organizations of Spain and 
Africa; 
 
-- launching during the course of 2009, the GOS-financed Mali 
training center, to establish training for African governments and 
African civil society and, studying the feasibility of opening 
similar centers in other African countries; 
 
-- signing agreements between universities and scientific and 
cultural institutions to facilitate programs and promote cooperation 
in these domains, including opening "Aulas Cervantes" to teach 
Spanish at several African universities, starting with Senegal 
before the next women's conference and progressing to other 
countries; 
 
-- giving priority to African women at the International Fair of 
Contemporary Art of Spain (ARCO 2009) and, in order to encourage the 
African cultural industry, organizing an international meeting of 
African women creators at the Casa Africa; 
 
-- organizing through a network of women, as well as African and 
Spanish institutions, training courses for managers/executives, in 
order to reinforce democracy in Africa, contribute to better 
governance, and improve the social, political and economic 
leadership of governments and African civil society; 
 
-- launching in the coming months a Plan of Action on food security 
and climate change along the lines proposed at a Forum of Reflection 
on the subject that occurred in Niamey on May 11, 2008, to give 
special attention to projects advocated by women. 
 
¶10.  Participants were reminded that the next conference is slated 
to take place in Windhoek (2009) and the following one in Valencia 
(2010). 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
New Embassy in Niamey and Assistance Package 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶11. GOS VP Fernandez de la Vega took advantage of the visit to 
officiate the ribbon cutting for the new Embassy of Spain, though a 
GOS presence was establish in Niamey a year ago.  At that ceremony 
the GOS VP announced a 90 million US dollar assistance package to 
help five African nations (Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea-Bissau, 
Sierra Leone and Niger) fight hunger and address climate change. 
The plan is to help governments with water management projects, 
fighting desertification, renewable energy projects and agriculture. 
 Niger also signed a bilateral cooperation agreement to alleviate 
poverty (10 million euros or approximately 18 million USD), 
reinforce border security (300 thousand euros or approximately 500 
thousand USD) and build up Niger's food reserves (1.3 million euros 
or approximately 2 million USD). (Exchange rate: 1 EURO = .654 USD) 
 
ALLEN