CHAD: FORMER FM SALEH KEBZABO CRITICIZES DEBY AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 005106 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2016 TAGS: PREL PINR PINS CD FR SUBJECT: CHAD: FORMER FM SALEH KEBZABO CRITICIZES DEBY AND FRANCE Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah B. Rosenblatt, Reaso n 1.5 (b/d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Former Chad FM Saleh Kebzabo (1996-1997) called on Africa Watcher July 6 to discuss current developments in Chad and the region. Kebzabo,s distaste for Deby and his government was easily discernible. Kebzabo saw little hope that Deby would engage with opposition figures. Kebzabo said the current French ambassador in N'djamena was a Deby apologist and declared that French support for Deby would have a lasting negative impact on the image of France in Chad. He said he planned to meet separately with President Chirac's Africa Counselor Bonnecorse and with MFA AF A/S-Equivalent Joubert. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Saleh Kebzabo, former Foreign Minister of Chad from 1996-1997 and current president of the National Union for Development and Renewal (UNDR),called on Africa Watcher on July 6 to discuss political developments in Chad. Kebzabo stressed the beneficial role that countries such as the U.S. and Germany were playing within Chad in encouraging enduring democratic reforms. Kebzabo described the heavily boycotted May 3 presidential election as a farce and said that it was indicative of the political facade President Deby has created to keep criticism at bay. Kebzabo maintained that Deby incites and benefits from instability in Chad as a means of avoiding democratic accountability and transparency in his government. This lack of transparency was evident in the highly contentious constitutional referendum of 2005 that allowed Deby to seek a third presidential term. Kebzabo likened Deby,s recalcitrance toward legislative elections and broader political reforms to what he called the French tradition of empowering individual political figures rather than creating enduring political institutions. ¶3. (C) French support of Deby,s government remained steadfast, though Paris may be beginning to look for other approaches because of international pressure, Kebzabo suggested. He said that the current French ambassador in N'djamena was a Deby apologist, and declared that French support for Deby would have a lasting negative impact on the image of France in Chad. He singled out as a turning point in Chadian perceptions the 2005 Bastille Day speech by the French ambassador, which implicitly justified Deby's arrests and intimidation of journalists. The USG had gained lasting credit, he assessed, thanks to the intervention by the U.S. Ambassador in defense of freedom of the press. ¶4. (C) While the French may now be joining others in calling for Deby to engage the opposition in dialogue, Kebzabo was cautious about any sea-change in French policy. He postulated that real change will have to wait until after the 2007 French presidential election, with the caveat that, even then, a complete reversal of France,s support of Deby is unlikely. Overall, Kebzabo was very critical of French involvement and interests in Chad. When asked about French-backed military reforms undertaken by Deby,s government, Kebzabo was extremely skeptical that they would actually prove fruitful. He pointed to the failed military reforms of 1991 and 1992 as examples of France,s inability to support the drastic structural changes Chad truly needs. With the French so deeply wedded to the belief that there is no alternative to Deby, Kebzabo called for stepped-up engagement by other international players in order to promote change. ¶5. (C) Kebzabo appeared optimistic that, with increased international involvement, transparency and democratic rule would eventually begin to take hold in Chadian politics. However, he said that it is not enough for actors such as the USG to champion the need for democratic processes and good governance without their also applying pressure on leaders. Kebzabo rebuked the international community for allowing World Bank concessions in the dispute over Fund for the Future monies. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm STAPLETON