Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ABIDJAN55
2006-01-19 15:42:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abidjan
Cable title:  

COTE D'IVOIRE: OBASANJO AND GBAGBO ISSUE

Tags:  PGOV PREL ASEC IV 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6099
OO RUEHPA
DE RUEHAB #0055 0191542
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 191542Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0830
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 1254
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000055 

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/19/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: OBASANJO AND GBAGBO ISSUE
COMMUNIQUE ON NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND STREET DEMONSTRATIONS


Classified By: POL/ECON Jim Wojtasiewicz, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000055

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/19/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: OBASANJO AND GBAGBO ISSUE
COMMUNIQUE ON NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND STREET DEMONSTRATIONS


Classified By: POL/ECON Jim Wojtasiewicz, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (U) Nigerian President Obasanjo made a brief visit to
Abidjan the evening of January 18, and met at the airport
with President Gbagbo. Also present were Prime Minister
Charles Konan Banny, UN Special Representative of the
Secretary General Pierre Schori, South African Special

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Representative for the Mediator of the African Union Silumko
Sokupa, and the local representative of the Executive
Secretary of ECOWAS Raph Uwechue.

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2. (U) After the meeting, the two presidents issued a
communique which:

-- declares that the International Working Group does not
have the authority to dissolve the National Assembly, and
that it did not dissolve the National Assembly at its January
15 meeting;

-- calls on President Gbagbo and Prime Minister Banny to
continue their consultations in search of a political
solution, which will be communicated to the International
Working Group and the nation;

-- calls on the population to leave the streets and return to
their homes, and to return to work on January 19;

-- expresses the appreciation of President Gbagbo, the Prime
Minister, and the heads of other Ivoirian state institutions
to President Obasanjo for his constant attention and concern
for Cote d'Ivoire.


3. (C) Comment: This appears to be a victory for President
Ggbagbo and the protesters he called out into the streets.
However, it has had the beneficial impact of reducing
tensions, and the barricades have begun to be removed. It
does not actually leave Gbagbo a completely free hand to
extend the mandate of the Assembly, because to do so would
put him on a collision course with the Security Council,
assuming the Council approves language in the Presidential
Statement being circulated today that endorses the January 15
communique of the International Working Group. Obasanjo's
intervention in Cote d'Ivoire's current crisis did little to
bolster the authority of the Prime Minister, even though it
was the African Union, which he currently heads, that called
for the new prime minister to have "full powers." It will
also undermine the International Working Group, which
Obasanjo's foreign minister co-chairs. End Comment.
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