YOUNG PATRIOT LEADER BLE GOUDE: DRESSING UP HIS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000473 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/09/2016 TAGS: PGOV IV SUBJECT: YOUNG PATRIOT LEADER BLE GOUDE: DRESSING UP HIS IMAGE REF: A. ABIDJAN 102 ¶B. ABIDJAN 120 Classified By: AMBASSADOR AUBREY HOOKS FOR REASONS 1.4 B/D. ¶1. (C) In a meeting with the Ambassador on May 8, Charles Ble Goude, President of the Young Patriot movement, stressed that he is trying to convert the Young Patriots into a more mature political force. He explained that he is now the President of COJEP, a coalition of patriotic forces, and he operates more in that capacity than as head of the Young Patriots. He noted that everybody, including outright thugs, calls himself a young patriot today, with the result that the term has lost its original meaning and has taken on a negative connotation. COJEP will become a political force in the next elections, Ble Goude predicted, although he did not elaborate on how COJEP would fit within the FPI, President Gbagbo's camp. ¶2. (C) Ble Goude referred to the FESCI, the student association that he was president of some years ago, as a mafia organization that he no longer wanted to be associated with. He could not accept some of their tactics. He commented that he was not allowed to live in campus housing when he was a university student because he was a member of FESCI, whereas today FESCI controls campus housing and collects protection money like the mafia. Ble Goude recalled that he had explained the problems with FESCI to President Gbagbo, who did not react. Ble Goude suggested that the Ambassador should also raise the problems with FESCI with President Gbagbo. The Ambassador assured Ble Goude that he had indeed discussed FESCI excesses with President Gbagbo, who made vague promises to resolve the problem. ¶3. (C) Ble Goude noted that he is being asked about demonstrations planned for May 15, but he has made his position clear in speeches and in interviews with the press: now is not the time to demonstrate, now is the time to prepare for elections. He assured the Ambassador that the Young Patriots would not be in the streets on May 15. ¶4. (C) Agreeing with the Ambassador that the political situation was slowly changing, Ble Goude noted that he speaks regularly with Guillaume Soro, head of the Forces Nouvelles rebel coalition. He said his point of contact was Sidiki Konate, the spokesperson for the Forces Nouvelles. He commented that such contacts would not have been possible even a year ago, whereas now they are becoming commonplace. ¶4. (C) At the end of the conversation, Ble Goude raised the issue of UN sanctions. He said that he has never been informed, except through the media, that he was the subject of UN sanctions. The UN has never communicated with him to indicate the reasons that led to the sanctions or the form that the sanctions would take. ¶4. (C) COMMENT: Ble Goude's name is synonymous with street violence, but Ble is no fool. He actually shows more maturity than some of the older hawks in President Gbagbo's FPI camp. Ble is busy building a political constituency with plans to run as a deputy to the National Assembly in the next elections. But his moderation and maturity also come at a price: extremists in the FPI and the FESCI are beginning to see Ble as a sell-out to the cause. Hooks