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FM AMEMBASSY BRAZZAVILLE
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INFO RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0012
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0418
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RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0001
RUEHBZ/AMEMBASSY BRAZZAVILLE 1613

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRAZZAVILLE 000101 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/EX, AF/C, AF/PAPD, AF/RSA, AF/EX, PM 
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD PREL PGOV PHUM BEXP SENV CF CH FR VE
SUBJECT: BRAZZAVILLE IN BRIEF - APRIL 2, 2009 
 
BRAZZAVILL 00000101  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
INDEX 
¶1.  French President's visit 
 
¶2.  Pointe-Noire port improvements to begin in October 
 
¶3.  Bilateral US-Congo trade 
 
¶4.  Venezuela Opens Embassy 
 
¶5.  First Conviction for Chimp Trafficking 
 
¶6.  Tibet, Anyone? 
 
¶7.  Who's in Charge? 
 
SARKOZY'S VISIT 
--------------- 
¶1. (SBU)  French President Nicholas Sarkozy's visit has been 
well-covered in the press, but we thought it might be useful to 
offer some musings on the visit and its impact in Brazzaville. 
Contextually, Paris is extremely important to Congo(B).  The 
upper crust of Congolese society seems to view itself 
collectively as more French than Congolese.  Everyone who has 
the money to do so owns an apartment or a house in Paris.  Many 
ministers in Sassou's government and the top business people 
seem to commute from Paris to work in Brazzaville; many in 
Sassou's cabinet use French roaming cellphones as their main 
means of communication, so they can receive calls in Paris as 
easily as in Brazzaville.  We are told on impeccable authority 
that the head of Congolese Customs lives in Paris and is served 
by a twice-weekly messenger service for documents that he must 
sign. 
 
(SBU)  Sarkozy's message:  We are not up on the nuances of his 
Dakar and Cape Town speeches, which he seemed to "clarify and 
complete" during his remarks in Brazzaville, but his main 
message in Brazzaville was one of partnership and equality, 
conducted transparently in general and in particular with the 
publication of all military and defense agreements in Africa. 
Evoking the long history between France and Congo(B), citing 
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza and Charles de Gaulle, Sarkozy 
pointed toward the future and toward a large number of French 
investors lining up to do business in Congo(B).  He promised 
France's support for HIPC debt relief and offered continuing 
support for Congo Basin environment and conservation efforts 
(linked to climate change and global warming). 
 
(SBU) Politically, so far as we can tell, Sarkozy has only met 
Congo's President Denis Sassou-Nguesso once, during Sassou's 
2007 visit to Paris.   The most important political fact of 
Sarkozy's visit was that it occurred just 100 days prior to 
Congo(B)'s presidential election.  Sarkozy made an effort to 
mitigate the perception that he had come to praise Sassou; in 
his speech to Parliament (where Sassou was not present), he said 
the right thing:  "France does not support any candidate~.I have 
not come to do this~The French people would not understand it, 
and the Africans would not accept it."  And he made an effort to 
meet a sampling of the opposition, apparently telling them 
(according to press reports) that he supported an election in a 
calm atmosphere and that he believed the opposition and the 
government should conduct a dialogue to achieve this objective. 
(The opposition spokesman, Pascal Tsaty Mabiala, seized on the 
point of dialogue, their main desideratum, in his remarks to the 
press, and subsequently the government proposed that the 
dialogue occur on April 11 or 14; the opposition is still 
griping in public about the proposed agenda, since it doesn't a 
priori concede all their demands regarding a truly independent 
electoral commission, a census, etc.) 
 
(SBU)  Results of the visit:  One very interesting agreement was 
signed, finalizing a loan of approximately 30 million euro from 
the French development agency (signed by Secretary of State for 
Cooperation and Francophone affairs Alain Joyandet) to the Port 
of Pointe-Noire (signed by the Director General of the Port). 
Part of the funding will be provided by the European Development 
Bank, the Central African Development Bank, and the European 
Fund for Infrastructure in Africa.  The loan, with a term of 15 
years with a 5-year grace period, is intended to finance 
infrastructure improvements at the Port (see below).  The 
interesting part, however, is the explicit and direct 
 
BRAZZAVILL 00000101  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
association of this loan to the December grant of a 27-year 
concession to French transport/shipping giant (at least in 
Africa) Groupe Bollore to operate the container terminal at 
Pointe-Noire.  Though Sarkozy and Sassou witnessed the signing, 
the loan repayment is entirely an obligation of  the Port 
authority, apparently without a Congo government guarantee.  No 
further terms of the loan have been released. 
 
(SBU)  Miscellany:  Even Sarkozy's morning jog down the cornice 
(with four burly French bodyguards and several Congolese) has 
been a subject of commentary, with one editorialist noting that 
his safe excursion into the center of town contrasted sharply 
with those who say Congo(B) is in a crisis (and thus implicitly 
making the argument that Sassou has brought "peace" to 
Congo(B)). 
 
Transport:  We noticed with some envy that Sarkozy landed at 
Maya Maya Airport in a French military helicopter (one of three 
that transported the party), sitting on a side-facing seat with 
the door open.  We wish we had been able to take that trip, for 
the fantastic view he must have had crossing the river from that 
vantage point.  Even this point attracted commentary, with an 
opposition-oriented paper wondering whether he needed the 
helicopters for protection under current circumstances in 
Congo(B), and offering an unfavorable comparison to his arrival 
in the DRC on a civilian-style aircraft. 
 
Mrs. Sarkozy:  Despite much anticipation and expectation, she 
didn't show up.  Had she come here, the visit would have taken a 
much more exciting and glamorous tone. 
French residents left out:  We have heard a great deal of 
griping by French residents here, both from the French official 
mission and the private sector, that they were provided no 
opportunity to "grip and grin" with the French President.  Those 
who have unloaded on us (and to the press, in one instance) are 
resentful that their efforts to do their work, or make their 
investments profit, in a difficult environment, were not 
recognized.  We have the impression that the petroleum sector 
(Total and its contractors) and some of the larger companies 
(CFAO, for example) were quite well represented at the dinner 
hosted by Sassou, especially those whose principals were 
included in the delegation.  But the worker bees are buzzing 
unhappily.  One who wasn't left out was French Ambassador 
Nicolas Normand, who left Friday night for Paris with the 
objective, we understand, of finding his next diplomatic 
assignment. 
 
MORE ON THE PORT OF POINTE-NOIRE 
-------------------------------- 
¶2. (U)  During the visit of President Sarkozy, the Director 
General of the Autonomous Port of Pointe-Noire, Jean-Marie 
Aniele, spoke of the plans for the infrastructure improvements 
of the port (mentioned above). 
 
A German consultant is preparing the terms of reference for a 
tender to be issued later this year, for a three-year program of 
work involving extending the basin by 300 meters, with 
accompanying extension of the quai and dredging alongside.  At 
the same time, the main channel will be dredged to 15 meters 
(currently it is approximately 11 meters), to enable the port to 
accept vessels carrying up to seven thousand containers. 
 
Aniele emphasized that Groupe Bollore had not taken a concession 
on the entire port, only the container operation.  He noted that 
the loan from the French development agency had been under 
negotiation since 2003.  COMMENT:  Undoubtedly, the Bollore 
concession helped speed things up.  END COMMENT. 
 
BILATERAL US-CONGO(B) TRADE PATTERNS, OR "IT'S ALL ABOUT OIL~AND 
CHICKENS" 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
-------------- 
¶3. (SBU)  While researching the Investment Climate report (on 
the wires April 1), we had occasion to review the detailed 
Congolese Customs figures for bilateral trade between the United 
States and the Congo(B).  Note:  All numbers in this article are 
rough, since we are converting figures in FCFA to dollars and 
have arbitrarily decided to use a rate of 500 FCFA to the 
dollar, which will achieve the purpose of comparison herein. 
The average during the year, or on any particular valuation 
 
BRAZZAVILL 00000101  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
moment, will be different. 
 
Congolese Exports to U.S.:      USD  639,010,460 
Of which 
Crude Oil:                              USD  633,918,366 
Balance minus crude:            USD    5,092,094 
Of which 
wood/woodproducts:              USD    1,151,750 
 
The balance is scattered across a large number of customs 
categories, with no single category of a value larger than USD 
800,000, and that one item is drilling equipment.  We believe 
the remaining $4 million or so of Congolese exports to the U.S. 
are oil production items being returned to the U.S. for repair, 
refurbishment, or redeployment by the oil service companies. 
 
In sharp contrast, following is a summary of U.S. exports to 
Congo(B): 
U.S.-origin imports:            USD  63,132,321 
Of which: 
pipes, oil and gas:             USD  13,587,687 
Frozen chicken parts:           USD   5,763,590 
Drilling equipment:             USD   5,760,000 
Generators/parts:                   USD   2,721,000 
Pipe Valves/joints:             USD   2,435,872 
 
Note that U.S. exports to Congo(B) amount to only 10% of exports 
in the other direction.  With respect to the categories 
enumerated above, we cite these large items simply as examples, 
since most of the items on the customs document are in the 
categories of industrial equipment, various chemicals, etc., 
making it clear that most of U.S. exports to Congo, like Congo's 
exports to the U.S., are related to the petroleum production 
here. 
 
But there is a tiny bit of diversification:   The second largest 
category of U.S. exports to Congo, falling between oil piping 
and drilling spare parts (2 billion FCFA) is frozen chicken 
parts, which racked up sales in Congo(B) of 2.88 billion FCFA, 
around USD 5.7 million.  Food (with frozen chicken parts in the 
lead, with a volume of 3.8 million kilograms) amounted to about 
10% of Congo's total imports from the United States.  Other U.S 
exports to Congo are scattered through a very large number of 
customs classifications in quite small amounts.  We particularly 
enjoyed the item "articles de friperie" (used clothing, we 
think) which amounted to nearly $1 million. 
 
VENEZUELA OPENS RESIDENT EMBASSY IN BRAZZAVILLE 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
¶4. (SBU)  Press accounts report the presentation of credentials 
March 28 of a resident charge(e) d'affaires of the Bolivarian 
Republic of Venezuela, Josefina Magdelena Simone Viera.  She 
will be resident in Brazzaville, upgrading Venezuela's presence 
here from its former representation by a non-resident charge' 
based in Luanda.  In the presentation meeting with the Foreign 
Minister, she noted that Brazzaville would be Venezuela's 18 the 
resident presence in Africa and that it had been established 
pursuant to the agreement of April 6, 2006 establishing 
diplomatic relations between Caracas and Brazzaville.  During 
Foreign Minister Ikouebe's visit to Caracas in December, 2008, 
the two countries signed an assistance agreement covering 
activities in housing, health infrastructure, and schools, based 
on a Venezuelan program called "school sponsorship in Africa" 
(parrainage d'une ecole en Afrique, in French).  Construction of 
one school, in Gamboma in Plateaux Department (north) has 
already begun.  A second agreement signed during Ikouebe's visit 
was a procedural MOU regarding political consultations between 
the Congolese and Venezuelan ministries of external relations. 
 
(SBU) COMMENT:  Venezuela's approach to the continent is very 
much like Iran's, seemingly focused on resident embassies in 
fellow petroleum producing countries, with a small but highly 
visible assistance package to provide public diplomacy 
opportunities, political oomph, and goodwill.  There seems to be 
a complementary program of small (again highly-visible) 
assistance activities in the non-petroleum countries.  Though it 
may sound somewhat old-fashioned, it works.  Venezuela's purpose 
in Congo(B) is without a doubt intended to enlist another 
"anti-imperialist" ally, in a country where that sort of 
nonsense is still very much part of public discourse.  END 
 
BRAZZAVILL 00000101  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
COMMENT. 
 
FIRST CONVICTION FOR WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING 
----------------------------------------- 
¶5. (U)  We are extremely pleased to note that a Brazzaville 
court on March 19 sentenced a wildlife trafficker to a year in 
prison, a 100,000 FCFA fine, and a 1,000,000 FCFA damages and 
interest payment to the Ministry of Forest Economy.  The 
trafficker was arrested on December 30 while trying to sell a 
live chimpanzee, a protected species under Congolese law.  This 
represents the first such conviction, ever, in Congo(B) and 
augurs well for the prospects of the the John Aspinall 
Foundation forest law enforcement program.  This program, to be 
partially funded, we understand, by the US Fish and Wildlife 
Service via a grant to the Wildlife Conservation Society, has 
hired investigators, lawyers and a press person to support 
Congo(B) efforts to bring wildlife traffickers to justice here. 
 There are eight other cases pending in court in Brazzaville. 
 
WEIRD STUFF 
----------- 
¶6. (SBU)  TIBET, ANYONE?  We see in the papers here that the 
Chinese Ambassador had a press conference this week to 
commemorate the "day of the liberation of the Tibetan serfs" 
(sic), accompanied by a documentary film.  Weirdest part of it 
was that he said, and we quote, "the main concern of the Chinese 
government at the time was the peaceful liberation of Tibet, 
which had for a long time been under the domination of 
imperialist forces."  COMMENT:  We think the Dalai Lama would be 
amused were he to learn that he was an "imperialist."  Or that 
he had owned six thousand slaves, as the Ambassador went on to 
explain.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶7. (SBU)  Who's in charge?  We took a holiday on Friday, March 
20, to conform to the national mourning declared for the arrival 
of the remains of Edith Bongo, President Sassou's daughter and 
First Lady of Gabon.  We responded to the announcement from the 
Ministry responsible, but it turns out there was a separate 
announcement from the Prime Minister's office declaring that it 
would not/not be a holiday, thus engendering massive confusion 
in town.  In some neighborhoods, mainly those through which the 
cortege was supposed to pass on the way from the airport to the 
President's residence at Mpila, the police and gendarmes were 
enforcing a holiday by asking merchants to close their stores. 
In others, it was business as usual (to the extent such was 
possible with VIP movements all day long). 
EASTHAM