YOUNG PATRIOTS CONTINUE TO OCCUPY HIGH SCHOOL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABIDJAN 000549 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2016 TAGS: ELAB PGOV ECON EFIN IV SUBJECT: YOUNG PATRIOTS CONTINUE TO OCCUPY HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER UNION HEADQUARTERS AS UNION PRESSES DEMANDS FOR SALARY INCREASES REF: ABIDJAN 716 Classified By: ECONOFF ERFANA DAR FOR REASON 1.4 (B AND D) C O R R E C T E D C O P Y added tags ELAB, PGOV, ECON, EFIN, changed classification to 1.4 b & d ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Congress of Young Patriots (COJEP),the leading faction of the Young Patriots youth militia and headed by Ble Goude, continues to occupy the headquarters of the Secondary School Teacher,s Union (SYNESCI). Despite complaints to the Ivorian government, COJEP remains in place with impunity. SYNESCI has led several strikes during the 2006 academic year, most recently in April 2006 to protest the lack of movement on its request for pay increases absent since 1994 (reftel). SYNESCI,s efforts to continue to negotiate with the government have been hampered by COJEP,s take-over, DESIGNED TO support the pro-FPI faction within SYNESCI. End Summary Key Players ¶2. (U) SYNESCI is a labor union of secondary school teachers in Cote d,Ivoire. Within SYNESCI there are two factions, each claiming legitimacy in leadership and control of the union,s financial assets. One faction is led by Mamadou Soro, who won both the 2000 and 2003 elections. Soro is recognized as the elected leader of SYNESCI by the majority of its members. The schism in SYNESCI occurred in 2003 when Evariste Koudou became head of a dissenting group and refused to recognize Soro as SYNESCI's elected leader. Since that time, Koudou has claimed leadership of SYNESCI. Koudou, who is a member of the ruling FPI party, has been able to sustain his claim by drawing on the political support of the Minister of Education and President Ggagbo. Headquarters attacked while SYNESCI met with PM ¶3. (U) COJEP's invasion of SYNESCI headquarters occurred on May 4, while Soro was meeting with Prime Minister Banny to discuss SYNESCI,s demand for pay increases for its members. Two teachers were reported wounded as staff members were forced out by the militias. ¶4. (SBU) The invasion of SYNESCI headquarters was apparently an FPI effort to force acceptance of Koudou's leadership. During Soro's meeting with the prime minister, a representative from Koudou,s faction walked out to protest his group,s exclusion from a mid-April planning session that SYNESCI had held with the Prime Minister's staff to set the agenda for the May 4 meeting. ¶5. (U) According to Soro, SYNESCI does not intend to go back on strike any time soon. However, if the current negotiations with the PM,s office fall through and SYNESCI again walks out of the classroom, its members have already demonstrated their ability to paralyze the secondary school system (reftel). Now that the schools are back in session, the students and teachers are simply expected to catch up. Despite the lost hours in the classroom, no one anticipates that the Ministry will nullify the entire school year. However, minor concessions have already had to be made, e.g., the annual exams have been moved from June to July. ¶6. (U) Since the COJEP invasion occurred, neither Mamadou Soro nor his staff have had access to SYNESCI,s headquarters, hampering the efforts of SYNESCI to represent its members. Soro has filed a protest of COJEP,s occupation with the police commissioner, the Ministry of the Interior and the Prime Minister,s office, all to no avail. ¶7. (U) SYNESCI is not the only disgruntled group within within the secondary school system. The owners of the private secondary schools had threatened to close their schools (as they have done before) starting on May 23 to protest the more than 60 billion CFA in unpaid subsidies that the government owes to them since 2002. The owners agreed to put off the closure after meeting with the Prime Minister's Secretary General and receiving assurances that the SIPDIS government will pay 7.5 billion CFA in arrears by the end of the week. If the money is not paid, the owners are likely to make good on their threat. ¶8. (C) Comment: The occupation of the union's offices by COJEP typifies the FPI's preferred approach of relying on strongarm methods to assert control through intimidation and violence. Regardless of the merits of SYNESCI's case for higher pay, it is unlikely that the teachers will receive the increase they are seeking given the transitional nature of the current Ivoirian government and its existing budget constraints. The most the union can hope for is a promised ABIDJAN 00000549 002 OF 002 review of their wage scale after the next elections. Hooks