BELGIAN AMBASSADOR ON GHANA AND COTE D'IVOIRE

UNCLAS ACCRA 003057

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: BE CI EMIN GH PREL
SUBJECT: BELGIAN AMBASSADOR ON GHANA AND COTE D'IVOIRE



1. (U) On December 21, Belgium's Ambassador to Ghana (based
in Cote d'Ivoire) Dirk Verheyen paid a courtesy call on CDA
Brown. He noted that Belgium's Embassy in Ghana was burned
down 45 years ago in a local reaction to the murder of
Congo's Patrice Lumumba. Belgium has never rebuilt the
Embassy and prefers not to draw attention to this event, he
said. Belgium has limited interests in Ghana as a
non-Francophone country, according to Verheyen, although he
expressed keen interest in any information about diamonds in
Ghana and concerns about adherence to the Kimberley Process.
(He later told PolChief that Belgian businesses in Ghana are
involved in dredging, the power sector, road construction,
and cocoa processing, adding that rumors of Belgians involved
in the diamond business in Ghana are false.)


2. (SBU) More Belgian businessmen are coming to Ghana
because of the uncertainties in Cote d'Ivoire, Verheyen told
CDA. While he had only been in Abidjan three months, he
described the Cote d'Ivoire situation as "terrible" and a
potential Liberia in the making. If the Cote d'Ivoire
situation does not improve, Belgium may close its Embassy in
Abidjan, he added.
BROWN