VZCZCXRO8347
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHMV #0218/01 0831508
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241508Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY MONROVIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0896
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MONROVIA 000218 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EAID KPAO LI
SUBJECT: LIBERIA: 1200 DELEGATES ATTEND INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S 
COLLOQUIUM 
 
REF: MONROVIA 215 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: President Sirleaf and President of Finland Tarja 
Halonen convened the successful "International Colloquium on Women's 
Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and 
Security" March 7-8 at the Samuel K. Doe Stadium in Monrovia.  The 
resulting "Monrovia Declaration" calls for the development of 
national action plans on how to promote women's rights, for greater 
participation of women in the policy making process, and for women's 
economic empowerment in the new global economy.  More than 400 
international delegates were present including the Presidents of 
Senegal and Rwanda and senior government officials from Spain, the 
European Commission, Mozambique, Canada, and France.  Secretary 
Clinton's video remarks were warmly received.  Acting Assistant 
Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Karen Stewart led 
the U.S. delegation.  (Cable on her bilateral meetings sent septel). 
 A two-day follow-on National colloquium was held on March 9-10, at 
which the Liberia National Action Plan on United Nations Resolution 
1325 was launched.  More information about the Colloquium is 
available on its website at: http://womenscolloquium.org/col.html 
END SUMMARY. 
 
SEVERAL VIPS CONVERGE ON MONROVIA 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) President Sirleaf and President of Finland Tarja Halonen 
convened the "International Colloquium on Women's Empowerment, 
Leadership Development, International Peace and Security" March 7-9. 
 More than 1200 people attended, including 400 official 
international delegates.  Present were President of Senegal 
Abdoulaye Wade, President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, Prime Minister of 
Mozambique Luisa Dias Diogo, First Vice President of Spain Maria 
Teresa Fernandez de la Vega Sanz, Governor General of Canada 
Michaelle Jean, Vice President of the European Commission Margot 
Wallstrom, and Vice President of The Gambia Aja Dr. Isatou Njie 
Saidy. All gave remarks as honored guests at the opening session. 
The UN SRSG introduced a video message from Deputy Secretary General 
Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro.  Dr. Aisha Moamar Ghadafi read a message from 
her father, Chairman of the African Union Colonel Mummar Al Ghadafi. 
 The German Ambassador read a message from Chancellor Angela Merkel. 
 All speakers stressed the need for women's rights to be 
strengthened and for women voices to be heard in the policy making 
process. 
 
SECRETARY CLINTON'S REMARKS AND OP-ED WARMLY RECEIVED 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶3. (U) Acting Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and 
Labor Karen Stewart introduced Secretary Clinton's video message 
during the opening ceremony of the Colloquium.  Both the Secretary's 
video message and subsequent op-ed were warmly received.  Her call 
for greater participation of women in tackling global issues was 
applauded. 
RADIO:  UNMIL Radio, operated by the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), 
aired a news story from the Secretary's remarks which it broadcast 
in its daily news bulletin from March 6 through 8. UNMIL Radio 
covers the entire Liberian territory. Star Radio (covers all of 
Liberian territory) and TRUTH FM (covers one third of Liberian 
territory) ran news stories from the Secretary's comments in their 
respective news bulletins. 
PRINT:  Secretary Clinton made the headlines of two leading Liberian 
dailies.  The Inquirer, (circulation-more than 2,000) ran a front 
page article, Hillary Clinton Warns Against Exclusion of Women, in 
its March 9, 2009 edition while The Renaissance, (1,500 copies) also 
on March 9, 2009 ran a front page article, Hillary Clinton on Women 
Empowerment-Stresses Fair Wages, Access to Credit Equity. 
PANELS TACKLE IMPORTANT TOPICS FOR WOMEN 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) The Colloquium itself had break out sessions developed around 
empowering women, supporting the implementation of UN Security 
Council resolution 1325, contributing to the achievement of 
Millennium Development Goal #3 on Gender Equality and Empowerment of 
Women and demonstrating a gender dimension of climate change.  The 
resulting "Monrovia Declaration," signed on International Women's 
Day March 8, calls for the development of inclusive national action 
plans on to promote women's rights, for greater participation of 
women in the policy making process, and for women's economic 
empowerment in the new global economy.  The Declaration specifically 
refers to UN Security Council resolutions 1325 and 1820 and stresses 
the importance of giving women equal participation and full 
involvement in peace and security matters and condemns sexual 
violence sexual violence against civilians in times of conflict. 
The delegates intend to present the "Monrovia Declaration" and the 
other recommendations that came out of the Colloquium in New York to 
the UN General Assembly this fall and in Copenhagen at the 
International Conference on Climate Change this December. 
 
ANGIE BROOKS INTERNATIONAL CENTER 
--------------------------------- 
 
 
MONROVIA 00000218  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶5. (U) President Sirleaf and President Halonen broke the grounds for 
the "Angie Brooks International Center" at the Fendell Campus of the 
University of Liberia as part of the International Colloquium on 
Women's Empowerment.  Angie Brooks was an outstanding Liberian 
diplomat who served as Africa's first woman President of the UN 
General Assembly.  The Center will seek to promote women's 
empowerment in international affairs and the development process. 
It will ultimately be partnered with similar centers in six 
different countries, including Jordan, Canada, the United States 
(Georgetown University's Center on Women in International Security), 
Egypt, and Iceland.  In her remarks to the assembly, Ambassador 
Linda Thomas-Greenfield applauded the establishment of a center 
which will train and empower women for leadership and support the 
implementation of actions emerging from the Colloquium. 
 
RESOLUTION ON DARFUR 
-------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Former Irish President Mary Robinson circulated a resolution 
on Darfur among the governments present at the Colloquium.  The 
resolution called for Sudanese President Bashir to allow the 
international NGOs to resume their work to improve the humanitarian 
situation in Darfur.  The US delegation supported the resolution. 
 
TRADE FAIR 
---------- 
 
¶7. (U) A large outdoor trade fair was set up to showcase how women 
entrepreneurs contribute to Liberia's development and how NGOs help 
to improve the lives of less fortunate women.  Women's groups from 
each of Liberia's fifteen counties sold traditional handicrafts from 
their regions and musical dance troops demonstrated customary dances 
from each of Liberia's sixteen tribes.  National and international 
NGOs and GOL agencies had booths to exhibit their activities for 
women as well.  The GOL's Truth and Reconciliation Commission's and 
the National Elections Commission's booths were both highly 
frequented.  Women entrepreneurs supported by USAID-funded programs 
sold coffee, cocoa, country cloth and processed food products. 
 
SECURITY 
-------- 
 
¶8. (U) There were no security incidents at the Samuel K. Doe Stadium 
or at any of the venues where high-level officials were located. 
There was, however, a demonstration in the Monrovia suburb of 
Paynesville by ex-Armed Forces of Liberia soldiers who argue the GOL 
owes them more money for their retirement.  The leader of the Forum 
for the Establishment of a War Crimes Court for Liberia, Mulbah 
Morlu, was also at the Paynesville City Hall allegedly attempting to 
stage a demonstration without a valid permit.  The crowd threw rocks 
at the police and they responded by firing shots into the air.  In 
the end, 23 people, including Morlu, were arrested.  They were 
released on bail pending trail on March 8.  Some of the detainees 
allege they were beaten during their arrest.  [COMMENT: Morlu was 
also detained during President Bush's February 2008 visit in order 
to keep him from staging demonstration then.  END COMMENT.] 
 
LIBERIAN WOMEN'S NATIONAL COLLOQUIUM 
------------------------------------ 
¶9. (U) On the heels of the International Colloquium, the Ministry of 
Gender and Development held its own event for Liberian women March 
9-10 to help them "become better empowered through the 
implementation of the outcomes of the Colloquium," particularly 
Liberia's National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325.  Ambassador 
Thomas-Greenfield spoke on Panel 4, "Leadership and Empowerment," 
which considered the importance of leadership at the community level 
and how Liberia women could foster leadership in young girls.  She 
noted that ingredients needed for women's leadership include 
confidence, finance, education, voice for advocacy, mentoring, and 
know-how. The panel included national women leaders such as Medina 
Wesseh, Director General of the Cabinet, but also less credentialed 
women.  Kebeh Monger, President of the National Rural Women's 
Programme, told the audience that while she was not educated like 
the rest of the panelists, she wanted to share what women's 
leadership meant to her.  She went on to give a moving speech on how 
good leaders always listen and never lie.  In this way, the outcomes 
of the Liberian Women's National Colloquium will hopefully inspire 
grassroots discussion that could empower women at the local level, 
long after the glitz of the International Colloquium has faded. 
 
EVENTS SURROUNDING THE COLLOQUIUM 
--------------------------------- 
¶10. (U) The Institute for Inclusive Security held a roundtable 
discussion "Changing the Face of Security:  Promoting Women's 
Inclusion in Security Sector Reform" at the U.S. Embassy on March 6. 
 Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield and former Ambassador Swanee Hunt led 
the discussion.  Attending the roundtable were women leaders from 
the Liberian Government, civil society, UNMIL and donor 
organizations.  The roundtable discussed ways forward in recruiting, 
training and retaining women in the security sector.  They discussed 
ways to attract qualified candidates, provide training to women 
 
MONROVIA 00000218  003 OF 003 
 
 
officers to ensure they are able to compete, and provide sufficient 
incentives to ensure that women do not leave the services.  The also 
noted the links between education and the security sector and 
concluded that the GOL needs to create courses at the secondary 
level to teach civics and ethics, and institutions of higher 
learning need to create curricula to teach criminal justice. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) President Sirleaf envisioned this Colloquium shortly after 
her 2006 inauguration, not only as a way for women leaders to 
discuss cross-cutting gender issues, but also as a way to showcase 
to the rest of the world that Liberia is back and ready to be an 
international player again.  This successful forum may lead to new 
funding for Liberia from the donor governments and NGOs present at 
the Colloquium who are already very active here. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Overall, donors were pleasantly surprised at how well the 
Colloquium was run once the event started.  In the more than two 
years of planning, there had been complaints of GOL disorganization, 
and unready hotel rooms and venues, but in typical Liberian fashion, 
the GOL pulled it off in the end. 
 
THOMAS-GREENFIELD