Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ABIDJAN554
2006-05-26 09:57:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abidjan
Cable title:  

COTE D'IVOIRE: SEVENTH MEETING OF THE

Tags:  PREL PGOV ASEC IV 
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VZCZCXRO8912
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHAB #0554/01 1460957
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 260957Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1374
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0311
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 1356
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABIDJAN 000554 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

KINSHASA PASS TO BRAZZAVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: SEVENTH MEETING OF THE
INTERNATIONAL WORKING GROUP

REF: A. ABIDJAN 414


B. ABIDJAN 320

C. ABIDJAN 190

D. ABIDJAN 60

E. 2005 ABIDJAN 2017

F. 2005 ABIDJAN 1862

Classified By: POL/ECON A. Lewis, for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABIDJAN 000554

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

KINSHASA PASS TO BRAZZAVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: SEVENTH MEETING OF THE
INTERNATIONAL WORKING GROUP

REF: A. ABIDJAN 414


B. ABIDJAN 320

C. ABIDJAN 190

D. ABIDJAN 60

E. 2005 ABIDJAN 2017

F. 2005 ABIDJAN 1862

Classified By: POL/ECON A. Lewis, for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)


1. (C) Summary. The International Working Group (IWG)
held a largely uneventful seventh meeting on May 19. Prime
Minister Banny, UN High Representative for Elections (HRE)
Studeman, Ivoirian Chief of Staff General Mangou, and New
Forces Chief of Staff Bakayoko, along with the head of the
Electoral Commission (CEI) and the head of the National
Disarmament Commission (PNDDR) gave presentations. The two
military Chiefs of Staff, who spoke passionately about the
political hurdles for disarmament and their work to secure
the sites for the pilot identification program, provided
some element of drama. The visiting French Junior Minister
for Cooperation unsuccessfully argued for aggressive
language in the final communique regarding the National
Assembly. The final communiqui was relatively bland,
cheerleading for Banny's team and the peace process and
alluding to sanctions for those who undermine the peace
process. End Summary


2. (U) The International Working Group (IWG) held its
seventh meeting in Abidjan on May 19. Congolese Foreign
Minister Rodolphe Adada and UN Special Representative of
the Secretary General (SRSG) Pierre Schori co-chaired the
meeting. Ambassador Hooks led the U.S. delegation. Also
attending were ministers from Ghana and Guinea, the French
Junior Foreign Minister for Cooperation, and Deputy South
African Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad. In addition, there
were representatives from the UK, the AU, the EU, the
International Organization of French Speaking Countries
(Francophonie),and the World Bank.


3. (SBU) The meeting was largely uneventful, featuring a
rambling presentation by Prime Minister Banny, and short
briefs by the HRE, the Chair of the CEI, the PNDDR
Coordinator, and the Licorne and ONUCI Force Commanders.
In addition, in what turned out to be the most interesting

presentation of the day, FANCI Chief-of-Staff General
Philippe Mangou and FAFN Chief-of-Staff Soumahila Bakayoko
provided an update on the disarmament process.


4. (SBU) Banny's presentation lasted almost 90 minutes.
He spoke for about an hour and then took questions. With
tongue firmly in cheek, Banny insisted that the timing of
the start of the pilot identification process and the
pre-regroupment phase of DDR, just one day before the IWG,
was a mere coincidence. He also discussed his missions to
Washington and Europe and thanked the assembled
representatives from the EU, World Bank and the U.S. for
their support.


5. (SBU) During the Q&A with Banny, French Junior Minister
for Cooperation Brigitte Girardin tried without success to
engage Banny on the question of the current status of the
National Assembly and the boycott of the Assembly by
opposition members. (Note: The National Assembly, despite
the recommendation of the IWG to disband, continues to meet
sporadically with nearly half of its membership, all
opposition politicians, boycotting the sessions. The
President of the National Assembly, FPI hardliner Mamadou
Koulibaly, recently announced that he was suspending the
salaries of all members who do not attend the sessions.
Girardin spoke at length against the discrimination
directed against the boycotting opposition deputies and
wanted to know what the IWG could do to help rectify the
situation. Banny refused to bite. He stated that the
non-payment of these members was indeed a problem, and that
it could become a stumbling block to peace, but that this
was not an issue that he had the time for. He
characterized the issue as one of many that "various
political forces" in Cote d'Ivoire seem to be stirring up
to distract him from his prime tasks: disarmament,
identification, voter registration, and organization of the
elections.


6. (SBU) Minister Girardin later tried to include
aggressive language in the communique calling on the
Ivoirian government to "immediately rectify" the National
Assembly problem and "end the discrimination" experienced
by the opposition deputies. The French delegation had
floated similar language in the morning prior to the IWG

ABIDJAN 00000554 002 OF 003


meeting at the EU breakfast and were told politely to drop
the language. When Girardin persisted in the discussion on
the communiqui draft, she found no support for the language
and it was deleted after opposition from an AU official and
the South African, Francophonie, and U.S. delegates.


7. (SBU) Banny was also asked about recent press reports
indicating that he was looking to extend his mandate
because it is impossible to get to elections on time.
Banny told the assembled members of the IWG to "ignore the
press" and continue to publicly support elections in
October. He acknowledged that "time was short" but asked
everyone to stay focused on the work left to be done and
not get distracted by what will happen if elections do not
occur in October. The HRE in his briefing also stressed
that "technically" there was time to get to elections in
October, "assuming one works day and night," and that he
and his team too were pushing for completion of all the
tasks by that date. To that end, the HRE announced a new
MOU between the National Identification Commission and the
CEI to conduct simultaneous issuance of identification
cards and registration of voters. There are still no dates
set for the beginning of these processes. However, Robert
Beugre Mambe, the Chairmen of the CEI, indicated during his
presentation that 27 community teams would start deployment
during the week of May 22 to lay the groundwork necessary
for voter registration.


8. (SBU) The HRE, the SRSG, the "Mediation" representative
from South Africa and the commanding generals of Licorne
and ONUCI all complained about a lack of coordination with
Banny's office. Banny addressed this point during his
presentation, indicating that he would appoint a "Chief of
Project" for identification, disarmament, voter
registration, and redeployment of the civil service. Given
that each of these four critical tasks is already being
headed up by a "Commissioner" (PNDDR) or "Chairman" (CEI)
the addition of a "Chief" for each project is not likely to
improve coordination.


9. (C) Just prior to the presentation by General Mangou
and General Bakayoko, General Irastoza, the Licorne
Commander, and General Amoussou, acting ONUCI Force
Commander, provided briefings on the current security
situation. Both raised their concerns about the continued
instability in the west and accused the FANCI of complicity
with western militia leaders. In addition, they both
mentioned that the lack of police and judiciary in the Zone
of Confidence made their jobs patrolling this region even
harder. To encourage free movement of persons to and from
the pilot identification sites, both Licorne and ONUCI have
beefed up road patrols on all the major transportation
corridors.


10. (C) While General Amousou mentioned, almost in
passing, that he had some concerns about disarmament,
General Irastoza laid out four potential stumbling blocks
which could halt the process: 1) there is inadequate
command and control in the south to ensure that if the
order is given to disarm, that the troops will in fact do
so; 2) there are major discrepancies in the numbers being
provided by the north--apparently the FAFN has only 2000
weapons for 40,000+ soldiers--and these must be corrected
before talks can move forward; 3) General Bakayoko seems
committed to disarmament but neither the warlord of Man nor
Korhogo appears ready to follow Bakayoko's lead; and 4) the
continued presence of armed militias in the West remains a
potential flash-point.


11. (C) The IWG then heard from Generals Mangou and
Bakayoko. Mangou told the group that FANCI would have all
its troops slated for disarmament in its pre-regroupment
sites (FANCI bases) by May 28. The troops would remain in
place there until disarmament. Mangou added that, even if
the FAFN does not disarm, if he is given an order by Prime
Minister Banny to disarm, he and his troops will carry it
out. Bakayoko was extremely defensive during his
presentation. He continuously waved a copy of the signed
calendar for disarmament, agreed to in July 2005, and
explained that the FAFN was using the pilot phase of
identification to conduct a pilot pre-regroupment. Once
the pilot phase was completed, his troops would return to
their original positions. Bakayoko insisted that because
the disarmament calendar indicates that pre-regroupment is
simultaneous with identification, and that because the
pilot identification process is not identification (e.g. no
id cards will be issued) the FAFN's actions are perfectly
consistent with the agreement he has signed. Bakayoko and

ABIDJAN 00000554 003 OF 003


Mangou both said they are looking forward to the next
four-way military talks in Yamoussoukro on May 30. Both
also agreed that the sequencing in the July 2005 calendar
is acceptable. Bakayoko hoped that the upcoming meeting
would produce new, more realistic dates for disarmament.


12. (C) The PNDDR Coordinator, General Ouassenan Kone,
offered very little substance in his presentation. General
Kone spoke eloquently about the need to expand the PNDDR's
Community Rehabilitation Program to include more "wayward"
youth, but in the Q&A session, he was unable to answer
basic questions about the total number of participants in
the DDR process. He was also ignorant of the PNDDR's
global budget figures and had to rely on his staff to
provide the information requested by the group. Kone was
appointed to bring order to the DDR Commission, but his
performance calls into question his ability to do so.


13. (C) Comment: The IWG meetings continue to provide a
forum to gather information on the latest progress or lack
thereof in the peace process. Final communiquis tend to be
bland, representing as they do the lowest common
denominator of consensus of the heterogeneous IWG. The IWG
still spends too much time on ancillary issues, such as the
non-payment of boycotting deputies, while failing to really
grapple with core issues such as DDR, identification,
security, and the mountains of work that must yet be
completed before elections can take place.