VZCZCXRO3829
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHFN #0388/01 2181407
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051407Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY FREETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2094
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 FREETOWN 000388 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/W 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV EAID PREL SL
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT KOROMA'S FIRST MEETING WITH THE 
INTERNATIONAL DONOR COMMUNITY 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: On 16 July 2008, President Koroma hosted 
the first official State House meeting between the Government 
of Sierra Leone and the international donor community since 
his inauguration in September 2007. The international 
community had requested such a meeting for most of the past 
year. The meeting was dominated by President Koroma,s 
outline of his administration's development priorities, his 
request for more resources from each partner, and a asking 
partners to encourage new donors to the Sierra Leone table. 
The President reiterated his three top priorities in order: 
energy, agriculture and infrastructure (though the Poverty 
Reduction Strategy Paper identifies at least five). He 
highlighted Sierra Leone's continued placement at the bottom 
of the UN Human Development Index, citing extreme poverty and 
corruption as key obstacles to development. Further, 
President Koroma repeated the pressure he felt from the 
unrealistic expectations by the citizens of Sierra Leone for 
their lives to be rapidly and significantly improved. He 
predicted that without an increase in financial and 
development assistance,  Sierra Leone will not continue its 
ascent from poverty, war and despair. End Summary 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On 16 July 2008, President Koroma hosted his first 
meeting with the international donor community &as a 
group.8  Such a meeting was viewed by some as long overdue 
and was held in response to repeated requests by the 
international community (IC) for the government to engage IC 
members more formally and frequently as a group as had been 
done in the past.  The meeting provided President Koroma a 
venue to reiterate his development priorities and seek 
additional financial and technical support for Sierra Leone 
but did not afford the time for a real development dialogue. 
In this context, he touched upon the status of the pending 
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), which was due the 
end of June, the subsequent first Consultative Group (CG) 
meeting of his administration (in November) and the need for 
improved aid coordination and donor harmonization. 
International participants included: key Chiefs of Missions, 
U.S. Ambassador Perry, UK and Nigerian High Commissioners, 
the Ambassador to Germany, the EC Head of Delegation, and the 
temporary UNIOSIL/ERSG.  Country Representatives from the 
World Bank, Africa Development Bank, various UN offices, 
DFID, Irish Aid and USAID participated. Government officials 
included the President, Vice President, the Secretary to the 
President, Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance, as well 
as the Bank of Sierra Leone Governor, the Statistician 
General from Statistics Sierra Leone, the President's 
Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU) and the Development Assistance 
Coordinating Office (DACO) ) now within the Ministry of 
Finance and Economic Development. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) President Koroma,s Keynote Address entailed a 
brief status report of the government's progress to date and 
highlighted the country's development needs and gaps. The 
President reminded the audience that soon after the 
Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Fall 2008, he 
held the &Bumbuna Retreat,8 where he consulted with 
Ministers and other key stakeholders to establish his 
&Agenda for Change,8 harmonizing the Government of Sierra 
Leone's (GoSL) development priorities and needs. In this 
forum with the international donors, he clearly stated that 
his number one priority remained energy, stating the current 
capacity at 6 megawatts, while current demand is 250 
megawatts. He impressed that providing energy would ensure 
and improve social service delivery, health, education and 
private sector investment. His second priority is rebuilding 
the agriculture sector, and third, significantly addressing 
the infrastructure crisis (i.e., poor and/or insufficient 
road network, energy/utilities, key buildings, etc.) 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The President said he wanted to meet with the IC to 
share his new vision and plan and to provide an update on 
some overall issues. He said he had appointed a Core Group to 
work on the PRSP II, an informal draft unofficially available 
for review and comment. He said he hoped PRSP II would be a 
significantly stronger document than the PRSP I, citing lack 
of sufficient and timely promised financial support from the 
donors, and poor follow-up by the previous government as key 
factors that resulted in insufficiently tangible and needed 
results under PRSP I. The President indicated that PRSP II 
would be completed and circulated to the IC around 
mid-August, after which a CG would be held. To temporarily 
quell rumors and speculation, under current newspaper 
headlines touting, &seven Ministers will be sacked,8 the 
President said all Ministers signed performance contracts 
with the GoSL and those performances were under review. He 
said the specific results of the reviews will not be shared; 
however, the IC would see the ultimate results of the reviews 
in a public announcement. 
 
FREETOWN 00000388  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Touched upon the July 5 local elections, the 
President thanked its financial and technical supporters and 
praised the elections as maintaining the free and fair 
standards of the 2007 elections. He said, &We are 
front-runners of free and fair elections. We want to hold on 
to that. With democratic dividends, expectations will be 
high.8 He then talked about his Anti-Corruption Strategy and 
the current review of the 2000 Anti-Corruption bill, which is 
in a pre-legislative hearing.8 He opined that subsequent to 
the Bumbuna Retreat, problems have intensified with the 
soaring price of fuel and food, especially rice. &These 
issues directly impact the citizens of Sierra Leone,8 he 
added. He cited that, &Rice has more than doubled in price 
since last year, costing $350/metric ton last year and 
$1000/metric ton now.  Fuel was $75/barrel last year and is 
now exceeding $140/barrel today.8 Again, he asked the donors 
to consider providing more financial support, arguing that if 
the &very very high expectations of the people are unmet, 
there is a potential to undermine the security situation.8 
He reiterated his priorities and appealed to the donors to 
&realign your assistance and support in line with my 
priority agenda. We are expecting substantial donor support. 
If we don't make substantial change, citizens, expectations 
will not be met.8 
 
¶6.  (SBU) President Koroma closed his Keynote Address by 
asking for four to five times the current level of financial 
support, promising substantial impact reinforced by political 
will. He claimed that less than 50% of the PRSP I commitments 
were actually dispersed and if that happens again the 
government will be unable to meet donor targets. He said the 
government-donor partnership must make a difference in the 
next two years and that interventions must be meaningful and 
significant, ¬ business as usual.8  The President 
assured the donors that there would be no corruption and that 
all funds would go where they are targeted. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) President Koroma,s Keynote Address was followed by 
about 20 minutes of responses from various heads of Mission, 
mostly thanking the President for hosting the 
government-donor meeting and asking for more frequent 
scheduled meetings of this sort. Basket fund donors commented 
on their development activity and DFID used the forum to 
announce the provision of 10 million pounds in Direct Budget 
Support, focused on anti-corruption and the need to address 
education. The EC focused on the food crisis and indicated it 
was seeking additionally and stronger support for DBS. The 
IBRD requested reinstatement at the government-donor 
quarterly &DEPAC8 meetings (Development Partnership 
Committee) held under the previous government and welcomed 
the CG upon completion of the PRSP II.  The ERSG updated the 
President about the UNIOSIL transition plan underway to 
change from a &peacekeeping8 mission to one that is &peace 
building.8 The ERSG stated he expected the newly configured 
UN in Sierra Leone to undertake fewer but more concrete 
projects which would yield more tangible results.  Ambassador 
Perry congratulated the President on the peaceful local 
elections and assured him of the USG,s alignment with his 
priorities of anti-corruption, sustainable economic growth 
and ensuring an enabling environment to attract foreign 
investment and foster an effective private sector. The 
Ambassador reiterated the importance of donor coordination; 
convergence with the GoSL; and affirmed the USG intention to 
work efficiently with the government. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Comment: The meeting seemed to primarily serve 
three functions for the President: 1) provide a high profile 
venue to request additional financial and technical support, 
2) reaffirm his development priorities, and 3) host a long 
overdue meeting between the President and some members of his 
Cabinet with the international donor and diplomatic 
community, &as a collective.8 Although the government 
demurred on the exact date/venue of the next CG, subsequent 
discussions within the donor community indicate a likely CG 
in November.  The donors are pressing for a Freetown venue; 
however, the GoSL is requesting London.  End Comment. 
FEDZER