VZCZCXRO2717
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHDS #1546 1580533
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 060533Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0856
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS ADDIS ABABA 001546 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EEB/IFD/OMA: JWINKLER; EEB/ESC/TFS: JJALLORINA; 
AF/FO: TMOSS; AF/E: JWYSHAM; AND AF/EPS: AADLER 
TREASURY FOR OTA: JERRY ROWE AND CAROL KELLEY 
TREASURY FOR DO: VIRGINIA BRANDON 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTFN EAID ECON EFIN PTER PREL ET
SUBJECT: LACK OF POLITICAL WILL PROMPTS TREASURY PROJECT SUSPENSION 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: Seven months after the signing of the Terms of Reference 
(TOR) between the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) and the U.S. 
Treasury Department for an Anti-Money Laundering and Counter 
Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) program, the U.S. Department of 
Treasury has decided to suspend work on the project due to lack of 
progress and political will from NBE and the Government of Ethiopia 
(GoE).  Embassy Addis Ababa fully supports this decision and 
Ambassador Yamamoto will inform the Prime Minister of the decision 
shortly.  While the program is not being terminated at this time, 
the NBE must take specific and concrete steps before the Department 
of Treasury's advisor will make another trip to Ethiopia.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. In November 2007, NBE and Treasury signed a TOR and work plan for 
an AML/CFT technical assistance program designed to equip Ethiopia 
with the requisite legal framework and assist in the implementation 
of an AML/CFT regime including a financial intelligence unit (FIU). 
An ominous prelude of things to come, the TOR was only signed after 
a ten-month negotiation and persistent foot dragging by the NBE 
Governor culminating in Ambassador Yamamoto's personal appeal to the 
NBE Governor to sign the document. 
 
¶3. The Treasury advisor, Carol Kelley, the Ambassador and Poloffs 
have long held concerns about the political will within the GoE for 
this initiative.  Attempts to recruit a high-level GoE member, Ato 
Neway-Kristos Gebre-Ab, Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister, to 
provide a whole-of-government perspective and senior initiative 
behind the effort were met with Neway's refusal to engage on the 
issue and assurances that the NBE was the sole and proper 
institution to champion the AML/CFT program. 
 
¶4. NBE has not proven up to the task, and the Kelley has met with 
difficulties in fulfilling the TOR.  Despite attempts to encourage 
the working group at the NBE to move expeditiously in finalizing a 
draft AML/CFT Proclamation (which is key to implementing any of the 
other parts of the TOR), the NBE staff continued to assure Kelley 
that the enactment of the Proclamation would be accomplished with 
little debate and in a short period of time.  However, the draft 
Proclamation went through two drafts within NBE before the working 
committee expressed concern that they were acting outside of their 
expertise and jurisdiction in acting as proponents for the draft. 
While NBE staff have engaged Kelley during her bi-monthly visits, it 
is clear that the NBE is willing to allow Treasury to exert time and 
effort into establishing a AML/CFT regime for Ethiopia, but will not 
dedicate its own staff or resources to making the project a reality. 
 When Kelley has left the NBE working group with tasks to accomplish 
during her absences between visits (the NBE rejected permitting a 
resident advisor), she has consistently returned to find that very 
little if anything had been completed.  In her last visit, she 
returned to find that none of the necessary progress had been 
achieved. 
 
¶5. This, coupled with the overall lack of progress, led Kelley to 
recommend that the program be suspended and she not make additional 
trips to Ethiopia until and unless specific information is conveyed 
to her in advance of travel.  Treasury's Office of Technical 
Assistance and Embassy Addis Ababa fully support this determination. 
 The information that will be needed to re-start the program is: 1. 
The proposed dates of the next visit; 2. A detailed description of 
the specific type of technical assistance that is requested; 3. A 
detailed description of any relevant information to support the need 
for the visit, including activities conducted and progress made on 
the Work Plan since the last visit; and 4. A detailed description of 
the specific preparatory steps taken by the Working Group and/or 
others to ensure the maximum utility of the trip. 
 
¶6. COMMENT: Post and Treasury are disappointed and frustrated by the 
lack of progress and seeming disinterest on the part of NBE in this 
important project.  Without an effective AML/CFT regime, Ethiopia 
risks losing its correspondent banking relationships with U.S. or 
other international banks and becoming even more isolated from the 
larger global financial sector.  Kelley does plan to remain 
available by e-mail to NBE, and a potential collaboration with 
parties attempting to move a counter-terrorism proclamation through 
the GoE may offer a new opening for the AML/CFT effort.  However, 
unless the requisite political will is exerted by NBE, its Governor, 
and the GoE more broadly, it is unlikely that Ethiopia will, at 
least in the near term, comply with global standards for AML/CFT. 
END COMMENT. 
 
YAMAMOTO