WAR OF WORDS OVER OIL REVENUE COLLEGE MEMBERSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L NDJAMENA 000402

SIPDIS


DEPARTMENT FOR EB, DRL, INR, AF, AF/C, AF/EPS, LONDON AND
PARIS FOR AFRICAWATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/14/2015
TAGS: PGOV ECON EPET CD
SUBJECT: WAR OF WORDS OVER OIL REVENUE COLLEGE MEMBERSHIP


Classified By: P/E Officer Kathleen FitzGibbon for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).


1. (C) Summary: Prime Minister Pascal Yoadjimnadji's rebuke
of comments by the representative of human rights groups on
the Oil Revenue Management College has touched off
controversy in N'Djamena. The Government objected to College
member Dobian Assingar's statement that new petroleum
discoveries would be managed in a discriminatory fashion
because they are not subject to the law establishing the
revenue management system already in place. The Prime
Minister asked the human rights collective in private
exchanges to select a new representative. That group refused
to remove Assingar and hopes that the Government drops the
issue. Ambassador Wall expressed our concern to the Prime
Minister that outsiders would view the Government's request
as an attempt to undermine the College's independence. The
issue seems to be quieting down, but it is too soon to tell
if the Government is willing to put the matter to rest and
salvage a graceful exit from "the Dobian Affair". End
Summary.

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PRIME MINISTER REACTS TO ASSINGAR'S REMARKS
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2. (C) During a Radio France International interview on
March 2, Dobian Assingar, the representative of human rights
groups on the Oil Revenue Management College, stated that
Chad's oil revenue law is discriminatory because it does not
apply to new oil discoveries. He called for one law that
extends the same revenue system to new oil fields. Prime
Minister Pascal Yoadjimnadji took exception with Assingar's
remarks in a front page article in the government-influenced
newspaper Le Progres on March 3. According to the Prime
Minister, one cannot be a member of the Oil Revenue
Management College and make policy prescriptions or
disassociate oneself from the organization when speaking
outside the country. The Prime Minister also referred to the
announcement by the Council of Ministers last September,
which stated that new oil revenues would be managed in the
spirit of the current mechanism.


3. (C) On March 4, Yoadjimnadji met with human rights
organizations and requested that Assingar be replaced. The
President of the Chadian League for Human Rights, Massalbaye
Tenebaye, refused. On March 9, Yoadjimnadji sent a letter to
the collective of human rights organizations again requesting
that Assingar be replaced as their representative. He told
the collective that their representation on the College
should not be "personalized" and that Assingar's replacement
would make no difference in their representation on the body.


4. (C) Yoadjimnadji, in a meeting with Ambassador Wall on
March 10, explained the Government's position on the "Dobian
Affair" as the situation is now dubbed in the press. The
Ambassador urged the Prime Minister to handle the issue
discreetly, given the negative implications of the appearance
that the Government is interfering with the College's
independence. Yoadjimnadji claimed that the Government did
not make the issue public.


5. (C) Yoadjimnadji also told the Ambassador that the
application of the revenue management law must be adaptable
to the country's situation. He said that the current fifteen
percent of revenues dedicated to government operations is not
enough to meet salary and other needs which were not known
when the revenue formula was devised. He maintained that as
a member of the College, Assingar should not tell the
Government how to manage the next generation of revenues.
There would be an appropriate time for the country to debate
the issue and the Government has given its assurances that
revenues from the new discoveries would be used in the "same
spirit" as the previous revenues.


6. (C) The Prime Minister repeated his position that the
College membership should not be personalized. He added that
the human rights groups can be represented by someone else.
Yoadjimnadji also told the Ambassador that he "invited" the
human rights groups to take action, he did not "request" it.

The Ambassador pointed out that when the Government sends
letters asking for the removal of an individual, most
Chadians would view this as a demand, not an invitation.
Yoadjimnadji assured the Ambassador he has no intention of
forcing the human rights collective to do anything.

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AWAITING THE GOVERNMENT'S NEXT MOVES
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7. (C) Assingar, who is a longtime friend of the Prime
Minister, told P/E officer that he does not believe that
Yoadjimnadji is behind the Government request. He suspects a
French hand in the affair, given recent difficulties he has
had transiting France, where he is the Vice President of a
human rights collective, and the timing of the "attack",
which comes only a few weeks after he stepped down as the
President of LTDH. He said that he has made the same
statements publicly on many occasions and the Government has
not taken exception. In addition, he has written articles in
Chadian newspapers critical of some of College's operations.
Assingar's courtyard has been flooded with supporters since
the beginning of the "affair".


8. (C) According to Assingar, the Government's actions are
tied to an alleged larger plot to place a pliable human
rights representative on the College. He said that the
Government has already tried twice to replace the
representation of legitimate human rights organizations with
that of the umbrella group of Government-sponsored
organizations (CASHIDO). Assingar said that he asked the
human rights groups not to make public the March 9 letter
from Yoadjimnadji so that the Government can have a
"graceful" exit from the situation. However, Assingar said
that if the Government persists in pushing for his removal,
the human rights collective will go public with the letter
and the death threats against Assingar. (Comment:
Yoadjimnadji told the Ambassador the reports of death threats
against Assingar are not true, but Assingar told P/E officer
that Yoadjimnadji's own brother came to warn him about the
threats to his life. This is not the first time that
Assingar's life has been threatened. A vocal human rights
activist for more than a decade, he was forced to escape
through the back door and scale the compound wall when armed
intruders paid a night visit to his home during the 1999
Moundou civil disturbances. End Comment.)

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THE VIEW FROM THE REVENUE MANAGEMENT BODY
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9. (C) Ambassador Wall discussed the issue with the
President of the Oil Revenue Management College, Lamana
Abdoulaye and the General Secretary, Barka Michel on March

10. Lamana said that the College has established procedures,
which clearly state that the member organizations nominate
their own representatives. The College itself can only
remove a member if a "grave error of morality", such as
corruption, occurs. However, this would be an internal
College matter which would be put to a vote. He said that
the College is not likely to sanction Assingar and that it is
up to the organization that nominated him as to whether he
stays or goes. Lamana said that he hoped the issue was over.
In the course of conversation, Barka mentioned that the
Government wanted CASHIDO to be involved in nominating the
members of civil society.

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COMMENT
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10. (C) Fortunately the Prime Minister has not publicly
called for Dobian's dismissal. He was nonetheless passionate
in defense of the Government's actions in our meeting with
him, and it is unclear if he can let the issue drop. The
longer the affair goes on, the more the public and the donors
will begin to question the Government's intentions toward the
College and the management of the country oil revenues.
After two days of relative quiet, we are hopeful the issue
already has been dropped, but it is too soon to know for

sure. We note that the Prime Minister and Assingar agree
that the new discoveries need to fall under a revenue
management scheme. They probably disagree over how the
revenues will be divided. We will continue to remind our
contacts of concerns over any moves that could be seen as
tampering with the independence of the revenue oversight
mechanism.
WALL


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