FRENCH MFA OFFICIAL DISCUSSES COTE D'IVOIRE, TOGO,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001656

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2016
TAGS: PREL IV TOGO'>TO CT FR
SUBJECT: FRENCH MFA OFFICIAL DISCUSSES COTE D'IVOIRE, TOGO,
C.A.R., JUDICIAL INVESTIGATIONS

REF: A. ABIDJAN 246


B. 05 PARIS 952

C. 05 PARIS 1229

D. PARIS 1118

E. PARIS 553

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: In a March 13 meeting devoted to Liberia
(septel),MFA DAS-equivalent for West Africa Bruno Foucher
offered brief comments on Cote d'Ivoire (February clash
between French and Ivoirian forces in western Cote d'Ivoire
was deliberately instigated by the Ivoirian side),TOGO
(Faure is accepted as TOGO's leader but needs to escape the
influence of his father's entourage; Gilchrist Olympio is
impeding reconciliation talks),and C.A.R. (no functioning
economy). Foucher said that the MFA was not involved
substantively in judicial investigations involving Cote
d'Ivoire and TOGO. END SUMMARY.

COTE D'IVOIRE
--------------

2. (C) After providing a readout on March 13 on Liberian
President Johnson-Sirleaf's March 7-10 visit to Paris
(septel),MFA DAS-equivalent for West Africa Bruno Foucher,
visibly irritated, commented on the clash between French and
Ivoirian forces in western Cote d'Ivoire during the February
26-28 period (ref A). He said there was no doubt on the
French side that the Armed Forces of Cote d'Ivoire (FANCI)
had improperly entered into the Confidence Zone in the
vicinity of Bouenue and that FANCI units had sought to
provoke French forces. Foucher commented that Gbagbo took
every opportunity to attract attention away from PM Banny in
order to "stay in the picture," and he cited the Bouenue
incident as an example. Foucher said that the presence of
the media to witness and record the confrontation was
evidence that the incident was deliberate and had been
planned in advance. Defense Minister Alliot-Marie's letter
to UN Secretary-General Annan complaining about the incident
was completely justified in France's view, he said. Foucher
considered ongoing discussions on having UN forces return to
western Cote d'Ivoire, from which they had withdrawn on
January 15, as a positive step. However, he said that French
distrust of Gbagbo could only grow as a result of this latest
clash.

TOGO
--------------

3. (C) Foucher commented that Faure had consolidated his
power and was accepted as TOGO's leader. However, Foucher
said that Faure continued to be unduly influenced by his
father's entourage. Foucher mentioned specifically French
citizen Charles Debbasch, a longtime Eyadema advisor who has
become Faure's advisor. Expressing scorn for Debbasch,
Foucher said that the French have informed him that if he
tried to use his TOGOlese diplomatic passport to return to
France, he would be subject to arrest, based on his
conviction in a fraud case in France (refs B and C). (NOTE:
TOGO's ex-Interior Minister Francois Boko has told us that
Debbasch traveled to France during the December 2005 holiday
season without any problems -- ref D. END NOTE.) Foucher
remarked that another troublesome French member of Faure's
inner circle was Robert Montoya, under investigation for
Belarus/TOGO/Cote d'Ivoire arms trafficking and his
involvement in the November 6, 2004, bombing in Cote d'Ivoire
that resulted in the death of nine French military and an
Amcit civilian (refs D and E).


4. (C) Foucher said that TOGO's other main problem was
Gilchrist Olympio, the Paris-based head of the UFC opposition
movement and son of the president whom Eyadema deposed in

1963. Foucher said that TOGO had made substantial progress
in meeting 22 of the 23 conditions that might permit a
restoration of relations with the EU, including renewed
economic assistance. However, there has been little progress
regarding the 23rd condition concerning a national
reconciliation dialogue. Foucher laid most of the blame on
Gilchrist Olympio, who refused to engage in the dialogue and
who used his position as ostensible "leader" of the
opposition to block progress. Olympio, Foucher said, enjoyed
credibility with the EU and many of its members, which made
it difficult to work around him. Echoing what Boko has told
us, Foucher said that Olympio seemed mired in the past, had
not changed with the times, and might no longer be the best
person to serve as opposition leader. Foucher said that
Faure was ready to engage in dialogue but received no
cooperation from Olympio. Olympio recently failed to meet
with Faure in Rome, which could have been an opportunity to

PARIS 00001656 002 OF 002


engage in positive dialogue, Foucher observed.


5. (C) In passing, Foucher noted with gloom Faure's recent
eight-day visit to China, commenting that if TOGO's prospects
with the EU dimmed, TOGO might seek a range of assistance
from the PRC, which would likely not add conditions requiring
democracy, human rights, and environmental reforms when
providing aid. Foucher said that a lack of progress in
meeting all of the EU's 23 conditions by July 22 could mean
that a substantial part of the EU-TOGO dialogue would have to
be redone. He hoped this would not happen, referring again
to Olympio's need to cooperate.

JUDICIAL INVESTIGATIONS
--------------

6. (C) Asked how various French judicial investigations
involving Cote d'Ivoire and TOGO (ref E) were affecting
relations with those countries, Foucher stated firmly that,
because of the French system and the independence enjoyed by
the French judiciary, the MFA was not involved in the
substance of the investigations at all. On occasion, the MFA
might help investigators with logistics or provide
information about the overall situation in a particular
country but it did not and could not get involved in the
investigations themselves. Foucher indicated that Cote
d'Ivoire and TOGO, as former French colonies, knew how the
system operated and tried to work with the GOF without
letting the investigations impede other aspects of relations.

C.A.R.
--------------

7. (C) Foucher said that C.A.R. was fortunate in that it
did not have its own homegrown ethnic problem and the
violence arising therefrom, although its proximity to Sudan
and Chad certainly placed it at high risk of suffering from
its neighbors' problems. Elections in C.A.R. had been
"good." Prospects existed for renewed foreign assistance
from a number of sources (EU, World Bank, African Development
Bank). The problem was that C.A.R. did not, in Foucher's
view, have a functioning economy. He noted a recent visit to
Paris by C.A.R.'s Finance Minister, who seemed virtually
powerless and penniless. Foucher noted that many of C.A.R.'s
sources of revenue -- agriculture, forestry, livestock,
minerals -- however meager, were not within the Finance
Minister's purview and were formally the responsibility of
other government agencies. This made it very difficult, if
not impossible, for the Finance Minister to be effective,
Foucher lamented. He indicated that the French were trying
to advise C.A.R. on how to improve management of its
resources and economy but that this project would require a
great deal of time and energy before results, if any, could
be realized.



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

Stapleton