COTE D'IVOIRE: PARTIAL DISMANTLEMENT OF MILITIAS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000876 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2016 TAGS: PGOV KPKO ASEC IV SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: PARTIAL DISMANTLEMENT OF MILITIAS YIELDS FEW WEAPONS REF: ABIDJAN 857 AND PREVIOUS. Classified By: POL/ECON Jim Wojtasiewicz, Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (C) Summary. The dismantling of pro-Gbagbo militias in western Cote d'Ivoire continues to experience problems. It appears that only a fraction of the militia members are included in this program, and very little real disarmament has yet taken place. End Summary. ¶2. (C) The dismantling of pro-Gbagbo militias in western Cote d'Ivoire continues to experience problems. According to contacts from the UN Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA),as of August 2, 830 militia members had registered, surrendering 89 weapons and 1115 pieces of ammunition. Another 50 reportedly registered August 3. Many are reportedly surrendering no weapons or ammunition, and many of the weapons being surrendered are broken. However, each eligible militia member who registers is being given CFA 127,000 -- about USD 250. This is one third of the payment they are to eventually receive for dismantling. ¶3. (U) On August 3, General Ouassanan Kone, the government's overall coordinator for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR),held a press conference in Guiglo with Denis Maho, the principal leader of the four western militia groups, and Jean-Luc Stallone, head of the ONUCI DDR department. The conference addressed criticism that too few weapons are being turned in and that the list of people eligible to be paid under the dismantlement program includes many friends and family of local chiefs and excludes many actual militia members. ¶4. (C) Kone insisted that the dismantlement program is making progress, though he acknowledged that it is encountering many obstacles. Maho emphatically denied that friends and family of local chiefs are included on the dismantlement list, underscoring that as "chief of all the chiefs" he cannot allow this to happen. Rather, Maho explained, confusion has arisen because not all eligible militia members could be included on the list. He said the original list of militia members declared by the four groups had 10,700 names on it. However, the EU and other donors only had enough money to pay for the dismantlement of 2,000. The leaders of the four groups had agreed on a formula to split up the 2,000 slots among them. Stallone said ONUCI is very concerned by the low rate of weapons being turned in. He declared that ONUCI believes that a "one man, one weapon" rule should be applied but he stopped short of saying that militia members without weapons should not be paid. ¶5. (C) The Ambassador was told at a UN briefing earlier in the week that leaders of the militia groups have promised to surrender more weapons at a later date. Apparently the individual militia group members do not have ready access to weapons that they could turn in on their own. ¶5. (C) Comment. The situation remains unclear but so far at least it appears that very little real disarmament of the militias has yet taken place. End Comment. Hooks