Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PARIS1118
2006-02-23 14:47:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Paris
Cable title:  

TOGO/FRANCE: EX-MINISTER BOKO UPSET AND AFRAID

Tags:  PREL PHUM MARR PINR TO IV FR 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6606
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHFR #1118/01 0541447
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 231447Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4469
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHSK/AMEMBASSY MINSK 0098
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0016
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 001118 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM MARR PINR TO IV FR
SUBJECT: TOGO/FRANCE: EX-MINISTER BOKO UPSET AND AFRAID
AFTER PRESS LEAKS ON TOGO-COTE D'IVOIRE ARMS TRAFFICKING
ISSUES

REF: A. PARIS 741

B. PARIS 553

C. 05 PARIS 4103

PARIS 00001118 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons
1.4 (b/d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 001118

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM MARR PINR TO IV FR
SUBJECT: TOGO/FRANCE: EX-MINISTER BOKO UPSET AND AFRAID
AFTER PRESS LEAKS ON TOGO-COTE D'IVOIRE ARMS TRAFFICKING
ISSUES

REF: A. PARIS 741

B. PARIS 553

C. 05 PARIS 4103

PARIS 00001118 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons
1.4 (b/d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Togo's ex-Interior Minister Francois Boko
said on February 17 that he was very upset by apparent press
leaks concerning his testimony about the November 6, 2004,
bombing incident in Cote d'Ivoire. Boko had told a French
judge investigating the incident that French authorities had
neglected to act on intelligence from Togo both before and
after the bombing. After the public exposure of Boko's
testimony, he said he feared for his and his family's safety
through Togolese reprisals. Separately, Boko sought U.S.
support for his candidacy for a position at the African
Development Bank (see Guidance Request, para 9). Boko deemed
his February 4 meeting with the Togolese diaspora a success
and noted that he was considering meeting with Gilchrist
Olympio to see if their political agendas could be reconciled
in an effort to promote unity among Togo's opposition. Boko
remained convinced that President Faure was going to govern
Togo much like his father Eyadema had, and provided a
chilling anecdote supporting this conclusion. END SUMMARY.

INCENSED AND AFRAID


2. (C) Togo's former Interior Minister Francois Boko has
previously described to us the arms trafficking link between
Togo and Cote d'Ivoire, and how French ex-gendarme and Togo
insider Robert Montoya helped provide Cote d'Ivoire weapons
and Belarusian military personnel involved in the November 6,
2004, bombing in Bouake, Cote d'Ivoire, that led to the
deaths of nine French soldiers and an Amcit civilian (Ref A).
Boko has also reported that he had informed the French of
these links and had directed the arrests of eight Belarusians
after the bombing (including the two pilots directly
involved) when they attempted to transit through Togo after

the bombings. He said that the French told him to release
the pilots after he had held them in custody for two weeks,
on the grounds that France did not want to cause problems
with Belarus over the incident.


3. (C) Boko was late to our February 17 meeting because he
had called earlier that day on French judge Brigitte Raynaud,
who is investigating the bombing and the related Togo-Cote
d'Ivoire arms trafficking issue. Raynaud had officially
interviewed Boko on February 9, at which time Boko provided
Raynaud with the same information on the bombing, the arms
trafficking link, Montoya's role, and the GOF suggestion to
release the Belarusians that he had earlier related to us.
Boko met with Raynaud on February 17, he said, because the
French news weekly Nouvel Observateur on February 16 reported
the essence of Boko's February 9 testimony (emphasizing the
GOF's advice that Boko release the Belarusians and not get
further involved). Boko told Raynaud he was very upset and
angry that this information had been leaked to the press. He
said she denied that she or her office had leaked the
material, and that other parties involved in the case must
have done so.


4. (C) We told Boko that a short item about his testimony
to Raynaud and that named him had also appeared in the
February 17 edition of Le Figaro (of which he had not been
aware). Further upset, Boko said he was afraid that news of
his testimony could put him and his family in danger,
especially since he was already viewed as an enemy of the
regime in Togo. He noted that there had already been a
demonstration, consisting of regime supporters, in front of a
house he owned in Lome. The UNDP representative in Togo had
been leasing this house (a good source of income for Boko)
but had recently departed Togo. The house was now vacant,
and Boko was afraid it would be destroyed in retaliation for
his testimony and for his February 4 meeting with the Paris
diaspora (see para 10 below). (NOTE: One internet story
refers to the possible destruction of the house --
www.togoforum.com/Ap/Press/Gazette/0216062.ht m., and another
comments on the trouble Boko faces as a result of public
knowledge of his testimony --
www.togoforum.com/Ap/Press/Gazette/022206.htm . END NOTE.)


5. (C) In addition to his anger and fear, Boko expressed
puzzlement over the leak. He was particularly vexed that he
had now become a victim of the leak, as he had only tried to
help the French by providing what he thought was useful and
important information about the arms trafficking and bombing
incident. Acknowledging that he was speculating, Boko said
the story may have been given to the media by Raynaud (who

PARIS 00001118 002.2 OF 003


Boko believed supported French presidential hopeful Nicolas
Sarkozy) in order to discredit Sarkozy's political rival,
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. Villepin served as
Foreign Minister until March 31, 2004, and then as Interior
Minister (including at the time of the November 6, 2004,
bombing) and was therefore, in either position, likely to be
at the center of any decision making in response to the
information Boko was providing on the arms trafficking both
before the bombing and especially concerning events at the
time of and following the bombing. France's decision to do
nothing about the Belarusians could harm Villepin
politically, inasmuch as French soldiers had been killed,
Boko surmised.


6. (SBU) NOTE: Along those lines, Le Figaro's February 17
article led to its publication on February 20 of a letter
from a reader who commented that "one learns with
stupefaction that the Belarusian pilots, having participated
in Cote d'Ivoire in an attack on the French army (with nine
deaths and a number of seriously wounded),were arrested, but
that France did not deem it opportune to demand their
extradition, apparently in order not to ruffle relations with

M. Gbagbo." END NOTE.

WILLFUL NEGLECT TO KEEP IN GBAGBO'S GOOD GRACES?


7. (C) On the issue of why French authorities apparently
did not act on the information Boko had provided before the
bombing concerning the Togo-Cote d'Ivoire arms link and
Montoya's involvement, and furthermore why France had failed
to act when the Belarusians were in Togolese detention after
the bombing, Boko speculated that France had early on decided
to back Gbagbo's efforts to quash the northern rebels and
restore order and unity to Cote d'Ivoire. France had turned
a blind eye to the arms trafficking, so long as it helped
Gbagbo. But, after the bombing and the deaths of the French
soldiers, everything changed. France was put in the
difficult position of having supported someone who had killed
French service members. France's current objective, Boko
thought, was to avoid having this become a public scandal.
Hence the request that he release the Belarusians and the
lack of GOF effort to investigate the case. Judge Raynaud,
however, was acting with the traditional autonomy of a French
investigative judge, and her investigation was in part
triggered by complaints from the families of the dead
soldiers. Boko was ambivalent about Raynaud -- on the one
hand, her investigation was bringing the truth to light, but
on the other, she had done him a great disservice if she or
her associates had leaked his testimony to the press or had
negligently handled his statement so that others could commit
the leak. (NOTE: Le Monde's February 23 edition reports
that Raynaud on February 16 requested that an international
arrest warrant be issued against Robert Montoya for
"complicity in murder" concerning his role in supplying the
aircraft and Belarusian military personnel involved in the
bombing. The article also notes that Raynaud recently left
her position as investigative judge and that the relatively
inexperienced 32-year-old judge Florence Michon will now be
handling the case. END NOTE.)


8. (C) In terms of retaliation, we noted that the Togo
Embassy in Paris had recently circulated a diplomatic note
announcing that the diplomatic passports of Boko and his
family had been canceled. Boko said he was aware of this but
said the "cancellation" was not valid. As former Interior
Minister, he said he was familiar with how this worked --
according to Togo's laws and regulations, legitimately issued
passports could only be canceled if they were physically
canceled or destroyed by hand -- "they cannot be canceled
through an announcement." He said these provisions, in
theory, prohibited the GOT from arbitrarily canceling the
passport of anyone it did not like. Boko said he would
continue to use his diplomatic passport and would "see what
happens" if it is challenged. (NOTE: Boko's diplomatic
passport contains a five-year, multiple-entry U.S. visa
issued in Paris in 2005. END NOTE.)

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK/MCC AND U.S. SUPPORT


9. (C) Boko said that current events caused him to think
that he should consider leaving France. Ideally, he thought
a job at an international organization would suit him both
professionally and in terms of security for him and his
family. He had mentioned earlier his interest in obtaining
one of four open vice-presidential positions at the African
Development Bank in Tunis. This had been a bit of a pipe
dream, he said, until the press leaks caused him to
re-evaluate his presence in France. He asked whether the
U.S. could support his candidacy. Boko said he was also

PARIS 00001118 003 OF 003


interested in consulting work regarding the Millennium
Challenge Corporation. GUIDANCE REQUEST: Please advise as
to what we can tell Boko regarding his interest in the
African Development Bank position and Millennium Challenge
Corporation. END GUIDANCE REQUEST.

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES, RELATIONS WITH GILCHRIST OLYMPIO


10. (C) Boko said that his February 4 meeting with the
Togolese diaspora in Paris (Ref A) had gone well, with some
500 in attendance. He said the meeting featured an open
discussion of Togo and its problems and how Togolese should
unite in dealing with the Faure regime. Although pleased
with the meeting, Boko said that this public foray into
Togolese politics had increased his visibility and made him a
potential target, all of which the leaked testimony made
worse. He again noted the demonstration in front of his
house in Lome and the possibility it would be destroyed.


11. (C) Boko said he was considering meeting with Gilchrist
Olympio in an effort to bridge their differences. Boko said
he had earlier refused to meet with Olympio, also in exile in
Paris, because Olympio had rejected Boko's proposal that
they, along with other oppositionist personalities, meet
jointly to discuss Togo's future.

FAURE FAMILY VALUES


12. (C) Boko said he was more convinced than ever that
Faure intended to govern in the same manner as had his
father. He became further convinced when a Togolese military
friend told him recently that Faure was perpetuating one of
his father's more gruesome practices. It seems that every
year, during the night of January 12-13, Eyadema had a bull
brought before him and his entourage, which he then shot and
killed as part of a ritual to commemorate the 1963 coup and
his personal killing of deposed President Sylvanus Olympio
(Gilchrist's father) a day or two later. Boko was very
disturbed to hear that this year, during the night of January
12-13, Faure had shot and killed a bull just as his father
had for many years. Boko said he had earlier told his
military friend that he hoped Faure would end this tradition,
but the friend reported, to the friend's own dismay, that
Faure had not.


13. (SBU) BIO NOTE: Boko announced that his second child,
a healthy baby girl, was born on February 15. Her birth in
the middle of these other complications made for a very busy
period, Boko said. He noted with relief that as her mother
is a French citizen and because of her birth in France, he
would not have to try to obtain a Togolese passport for the
newborn. Boko and his wife have one other child, a
nine-year-old son.



Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm

Hofmann