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DE RUEHYD #0074/01 0221615
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P 221615Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9624
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY 0285
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YAOUNDE 000074 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/C 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KCOR CVIS KFRP PHUM CM
SUBJECT: ALIEN SMUGGLING CASE EMBROILS PARLIAMENTARIANS, 
THREATENS ELECAM HEAD 
 
REF: YAOUNDE 36 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Tad Brown for Reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
¶1.  (U)  Summary.  Post is investigating 
allegations--reported in the independent press--that Samuel 
Azuu Fonkam, recently named to head Cameroon's new elections 
agency (ELECAM), abused his former position as the Deputy 
Secretary General of the National Assembly to provide 
official cover for malafide visa applicants in exchange for 
cash payments.  If the allegations against Azuu are proven, 
we believe that Biya will be hard-pressed to keep Azuu at the 
helm of ELECAM, which is already beset by controversy (ref 
a).  Beyond Azuu's role, however, Post already possesses 
ample evidence that at least two Members of Parliament--Rose 
Abunaw Makia and Francis Abi Enwi--used their positions to 
help malafide visa applicants obtain visas under official 
cover for this and previous "official" trips.  End summary. 
 
Azuu Implicated in the Press 
============================ 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The January 8 issue of private daily newspaper 
Mutations ran the headline "Illegal Immigration" over a front 
page story titled "ELECAM President Implicated In Fake 
Document Scam."  From that article and subsequent 
conversations, Post has learned that airport police detained 
four individuals seeking to board the December 26 Air Maroc 
flight en route to the United States.  Airport police grew 
suspicious because the travelers, who possessed travel 
documents indicating they were National Assembly employees on 
official business, did not have service passports and 
otherwise did not appear to be government officials.  Poloff 
spoke with Leger Ntiga, the Mutations journalist who broke 
the story.  Ntiga said his contacts with the police told him 
that the students admitted, in secondary questioning, that 
they had each paid 3,000,000 CFA (about $6,000) to Azuu so 
that he would furnish official cover for the fraudulent trip. 
 
The Fake Delegation 
=================== 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Post's Consular files reveal that visas were 
issued to the four individuals as part of a delegation of 
National Assembly officials traveling to Irvine, California 
for a conference on water management.  In the initial 
interviews in early December, CONOFF requested additional 
evidence of their standing with the National Assembly; the 
applicants submitted travel orders and pay slips as evidence 
that they worked on the National Assembly staff.  Francis Abi 
Enwi, a Member of Parliament, contacted CONOFF to assure him 
that the applications were genuine and to provide detailed 
descriptions of the trip and the role of the alleged support 
staff.  The supporting documents included doctored documents 
from the National Assembly and an invitation to the 
conference at the University of California at Irvine. 
 
This Isn't the First Time 
========================= 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The fraudulent invitation from the University of 
California submitted with the delegation pushed by Abi Enwi 
was a doctored replication of a genuine letter of invitation 
issued to Rose Abunaw Makia, a Member of Parliament and the 
Vice President of the National Assembly.  Abunaw is 
implicated in an earlier fraudulent trip with similar 
characteristics; in April 2008 she lobbied the Consular 
Section to issue visas to 17 individuals who, she argued in 
emails and phone calls to CONOFF, were National Assembly 
staff traveling on official business.  CONOFF reviewed the 
Arrival Departure Information System database for the members 
of that delegation and found that none of the 17 individuals 
whom Abunaw helped receive visas have yet departed the United 
States. 
 
Is Fonkam Azuu Involved? 
======================== 
 
¶5.  (U)  Since the January 8 Mutations article, Fonkam Azuu 
has publicly denied that he received bribes from the members 
of the delegation pushed by Abi Enwi or that he helped them 
obtain visas.  A spokesperson for the ruling Cameroon 
People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) party, of which Fonkam 
Azuu has been a prominent member, dismissed the Mutations 
story as a complete fabrication.  Gregoire Owona, Minister at 
the Presidency in charge of relations with the National 
Assembly and a senior CPDM official, condemned Mutations' 
reporting as malicious and false.  In response to these 
statements, Ntiga told Poloff on January 13 that Mutations 
 
YAOUNDE 00000074  002 OF 002 
 
 
was considering bringing a defamation suit against any 
officials who continued to accuse Mutations of fabricating 
the story. 
 
Raising the Issue with the GRC 
============================== 
 
¶7.  (C)  Ambassador met with Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni on 
January 15 to discuss USG views on ELECAM's leadership (ref 
b).  When the Ambassador told Inoni that Embassy was 
investigating the apparent links to Members of Parliament and 
Azuu specifically, Inoni requested that the Ambassador let 
him know of any evidence of malfeasance from GRC officials, 
promising any transgressions would be dealt with harshly. 
CONOFF and A/RSO met with representatives from the police and 
the protocol office of the National Assembly, both of whom 
confirmed that the four individuals are not officials at the 
National Assembly and that the documents submitted in support 
of their applications were fraudulent.  On January 15 and 17, 
respectively, Consular Chief informed Joe Nzume, Director of 
the Americas Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and 
Cavaye Djibril,  President of the National Assembly, about 
our concerns with the Azuu, Enwi and Abunaw cases, which they 
promised to look into. 
 
¶8.  (C)  Post sent a letter dated January 21 to Inoni's 
office requesting further information from the Government of 
Cameroon (GRC) regarding these violations of the visa 
process.  Inoni telephoned the Ambassador to say he had 
"shown" the letter to "the boss" (Biya).  Inoni said the GRC 
would take steps against those implicated in the scandal. 
 
Comment: Taking Action to 
Protect the Visa Process 
========================= 
 
¶8.  (C)  We are outraged that Members of Parliament so easily 
abused the GRC's formal channels to subvert US visa law. We 
have conveyed--and will continue to press--the severity of 
the matter to the Prime Minister, officials from the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs, the National Assembly, and the Police. 
For their efforts to smuggle illegal aliens into the US, Post 
has found Rose Abunaw Makia and Francis Abi Enwi ineligible 
under Section 212(a)(6)(E) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act.  That Inoni immeditately raised the issue with Biya and 
promised swift action gives us reason to be hopeful that the 
GRC will take some action in response to these transgressions. 
 
Comment: (cont.) Fonkam Azuu's Case 
=================================== 
 
¶9.  (C)  Fonkam Azuu's alleged involvement is another matter. 
 Although we do not yet have evidence of Fonkam Azuu's 
involvement, Ntiga's report (shored up by subsequent reports 
from other media houses) that the students implicated Fonkam 
Azuu gives us pause.  If it is true that Fonkam Azuu accepted 
bribes in exchange for abusing his official position to help 
malafide applicants, Post would consider requesting a 
decision from the Department regarding possible 212f and 
other ineligibilities.  Perhaps most importantly, such a 
determination would place tremendous pressure on the 
Government of Cameroon, and especially President Paul Biya, 
to reconsider Fonkam Azuu's nomination to ELECAM.  End 
Comment. 
GARVEY