REBEL LEADER GUILLAUME SORO RETURNS TO ABIDJAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000284

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

KINSHASA PASS TO BRAZZAVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/14/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO ASEC IV
SUBJECT: REBEL LEADER GUILLAUME SORO RETURNS TO ABIDJAN

REF: A. ABIDJAN 180


B. ABIDJAN 228

Classified By: Poloff Phaedra Gwyn for reasons 1.4 b&d


1. (U) New Forces (FN) leader Guillaume Soro arrived in
Abidjan from the northern rebel capital of Bouake on March 14
around 1100, via UN helicopter. He met with President Gbagbo
around noon, immediately after arriving, and then met with
Prime Minister Charles Banny. In the evening he met with
former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara and former President
Henri Konan Bedie, leaders of the two largest opposition
parties.


2. (SBU) Soro is ranked number two in the current government
as Minister of State, Minister of Reconstruction and
Reintegration. He was also a minister in the previous
government -- the Minister of Communications. He has been
refusing to come to Abidjan, citing concerns about his
personal security, since November 2004, when the Ivorian
armed forces bombed Bouake and pro-Gbagbo militia attacked
cabinet ministers from the FN in Abidjan.


2. (C) Indeed, security for FN ministers in Abidjan has long
been a major sticking point in the peace process. Under the
previous government, after November 2004 Soro refused to
allow any of the FN ministers to attend cabinet meetings
unless hundreds of armed FN forces could come to Abidjan to
protect them. President Gbagbo refused, and the FN stayed
out of the cabinet. Under the new Banny government, all of
the FN ministers except Soro have been attending. In early
February Prime Minister Banny traveled to Bouake to meet with
Soro and try to persuade him to come back to Abidjan. Later
that month Soro did come into the government-held zone as far
as Yamoussoukro, two-and-a-half hours drive north of Abidjan,
for Banny's seminar on implementing the International Working
Group's road map (ref A). He came back to Yamoussoukro again
for the February 28 summit of Cote d'Ivoire's four principal
political leaders (ref B). Something of a breakthrough was
achieved at that meeting, when after an initially tense
standoff, the FN and the Armed Forces of Cote d'Ivoire
(FANCI) were able to reach agreement on mutually acceptable
security arrangements for the summit. This seems to have
paved the way for a similar understanding on how security
will be handled for cabinet meetings, allowing Soro to
return. We understand that he is being guarded by UN and
French peacekeeping troops.


3. (C) COMMENT: This is another victory for Prime Minister
Banny and moves the peace process forward another step. Our
Bouake contacts tell us Soro is unlikely to move to Abidjan,
but will only come here occasionally for Cabinet meetings and
other business. However, having all three principal
opposition leaders -- Bedie, Ouattara and Soro -- in Abidjan
at the same time even for brief periods is a positive step,
but the situation is still fragile and dangerous. END
COMMENT.
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