COTE D'IVOIRE/FRANCE: INVESTIGATION OF NOVEMBER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 007393

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/15/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR MOPS IV TO BO RS UP FR
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE/FRANCE: INVESTIGATION OF NOVEMBER
2004 BOMBING WINDING DOWN?

REF: A. OSC RESTON VA 331395 (DTG 070940Z JUL 06)

B. PARIS 553

C. PARIS 741

D. PARIS 1118

E. PARIS 5544

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: France's judicial investigation of the
November 6, 2004, bombing of French forces in Cote d'Ivoire
by the Ivoirian Air Force may be drawing to a close,
according to recent developments reported by the press. Nine
French military personnel and an Amcit civilian were killed
in the bombing. For reasons that are not entirely clear but
which may well be political, the prosecutor in the case has
reportedly decided not to seek international arrest warrants
against two Belarusians believed to have piloted the planes
used in the bombing and against Robert Montoya, a French
citizen operating in Togo, who allegedly helped procure the
planes and pilots from Belarus. The decision to desist may
spare the French government from further potentially
embarrassing disclosures concerning its failure to prevent
the bombing, obtain custody over the Belarusians, and impede
their departure from the region. Closing the case may also
allow the French, on the eve of a presidential election
cycle, to avoid addressing a difficult issue during a renewed
period of French-Ivoirian tension following adoption of UNSCR
1721, as well as avoid complications with Togo, Belarus,
Russia, and Ukraine. But it may also limit or render moot
claims for compensation sought by the victims' families. END
SUMMARY.

BACKGROUND


2. (U) On November 6, 2004, during a period of severe
unrest and violence in Cote d'Ivoire, two Sukhoi-25
fighter-bombers of the Ivoirian Air Force bombed French
forces stationed in Bouake, killing nine French military
personnel and one Amcit civilian. These planes had been
conducting missions for several days against rebel forces in
Cote d'Ivoire as part of a government offensive against the
rebels. The French retaliated soon after, destroying Cote
d'Ivoire's Air Force and other assets, and began evacuating
French citizens in response to the unrest.


3. (U) The French were well aware that the planes used in
the Bouake bombing had been obtained from Belarus and were
flown by Belarusian pilots, with Ivoirians sitting in the
second seat. Russian and Ukrainian personnel were reportedly
part of the support package for the Sukhoi aircraft.
According to press reports (e.g., ref A, a good overview of
the incident and subsequent investigation),French military
personnel in Cote d'Ivoire took custody of the pilots and
support personnel, held them for four days, and then released
them to a Russian Consul on November 13, reportedly on
instructions from the French General Staff.


4. (U) The French judiciary in Paris, in conjunction with
legal actions brought by the French victims' families, soon
opened an investigation, with investigative judge Brigitte
Raynaud of the Army Tribunal for Paris (which has
jurisdiction over claims involving the French military)
taking the case two and a half months after the incident. In
the French system, the investigative judge builds a case,
which is then presented to the Tribunal's prosecutor, who
decides whether to proceed.


5. (C) By all accounts, Raynaud led an aggressive
investigation. The Belarusian/Russian/Ukrainian team,
including the pilots, arrived in Togo after their release
from custody in Cote d'Ivoire. In Togo, they were
apprehended by Togolese authorities under the supervision of
the Minister of the Interior, who at that time was Francois
Boko. Boko, who later fled Togo after calling for the
postponement of the April 2005 elections, has reported
several times on his involvement in the case, including his
assertion that French authorities advised him that the
detainees could be released (see refs B-E),which Boko then
ordered. Boko has stated that the planes used in the bombing
and their crew and support personnel were procured on behalf
of the Cote d'Ivoire government by French citizen Robert
Montoya, a former French official and former member of the
French Presidency's anti-terrorism unit who has since moved

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to Togo and has reportedly been involved in arms trafficking.
Boko has also asserted that he informed the French, well
before the bombing, of the arrival of the planes and crew in
Togo and their transfer to Cote d'Ivoire. Boko has also
stated that Montoya assisted the detainees and helped them
leave Togo once the Togolese had released them.


6. (U) Raynaud expanded her investigation to include
Montoya, his links to the bombing, and the arms trafficking
link between him, Cote d'Ivoire, and Belarus/Russia/Ukraine.
Montoya has since told the press that he was an honest broker
bears no responsibility for the bombing.


7. (U) In addition to investigating the Cote d'Ivoire
bombing and its connection with Togo and
Belarus/Russia/Ukraine, Raynaud was involved in several other
investigations involving French military activities in
Africa. These include the killing of suspected bandit Firmin
Mahe in Cote d'Ivoire by members of the French military and
claims against the French government and military for
France's roles in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda (ref B).


8. (U) Investigative judge Raynaud was transferred
(apparently at her own request) from her functions at the
Army Tribunal for Paris in February 2006 shortly after her
interview with Boko (who complained that Raynaud's office had
leaked the substance of his interview to the press, exposing
him to possible danger). Raynaud took up new duties at the
Inter-Ministerial Commission for City Affairs. Florence
Michon succeeded Raynaud, with the press suggesting that she
was less experienced, and hence less likely to be effective,
than Raynaud in view of her age (32-years old at the time
Michon succeeded Raynaud).

MOST RECENT DEVELOPMENTS


9. (U) Paris dailies Le Figaro (November 6) and Liberation
(November 8) reported that on September 5 Jacques Baillet,
the prosecutor at the Army Tribunal for Paris, exercised his
discretion and declined to issue international arrest
warrants against the two Belarusian pilots (Youri Sushin and
Barys Smahin) for their alleged role in carrying out the
November 2004 bombings. Baillet also declined to issue a
warrant against Montoya. A member of the Army Tribunal for
Paris stated that "the investigations led by the
investigative judge have not permitted, at this stage, the
formal establishment of the identities of these pilots."
However, Le Figaro noted that on February 10,
then-investigative judge Raynaud stated that "the results of
the investigation, in particular certain DGSE documents,
establish that the two pilots who proceeded to attack the
Lycee Descartes, were named Youri Sushin and Barys Smahin."
Le Figaro remarked that this "divergence of appreciation"
resulted in part from the confusion that followed the attack,
and then reported on other evidence tending to confirm the
identities of the pilots.


10. (U) Liberation's follow-up article noted the
possibility that the decision not to act against the pilots,
crew, and Montoya probably meant that the case might
effectively have ended. Jean Balan, a lawyer for the
families, said that "I fear they want to let this drop. They
(the Belarusian pilots) benefit from the presumption of
innocence, but why forbid us from hearing from them? In
reality, the French authorities don't want us to know who
gave the order, and why, to bomb (Operation) Licorne and
Bouake." Liberation noted that "since the investigation by
judge Florence Michon (Raynaud's successor as investigative
judge) appears dead, certain relatives of the soldiers who
were killed are beginning to express openly their doubts as
to the willingness of the government to shed light on the
bombing of Bouake."


11. (C) MFA Cote d'Ivoire deskoff Charlotte Montel offered
very brief comments when asked about these developments on
November 8. As she and her colleagues have frequently stated
in cases involving judicial investigations and African
countries, Montel stressed that this was a matter for the
judiciary and that the MFA was not involved in the case. She
refrained from confirming that the case would soon be closed.
Confirming another recent press report, she said that a team
of judicial investigators would soon travel to Cote d'Ivoire
to investigate claims by several French citizens that they
were the victims of violence committed against them by

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Ivoirians during the unrest that followed the November 2004
bombings. Ivoirian authorities are reported to be
cooperating with the French in this new series of
investigations.


12. (C) COMMENT: The way this matter has progressed raises
questions as to whether the GOF has intervened to close a
case with possibly embarrassing political repercussions,
including such issues as:

-- apparent French foreknowledge of the arrival of the
planes and crew from Belarus via Togo and their likely use by
the Cote d'Ivoire government;
-- whether the bombing of French forces by the Cote d'Ivoire
Air Force was intentional or accidental;
-- the decision to release the pilots and crew from French
custody in Cote d'Ivoire;
-- the decision to advise the Togolese to release them;
-- the role of French citizen and former Elysee official
Robert Montoya in obtaining the planes and crew, and his role
in trafficking arms to Cote d'Ivoire;
-- the decision by the GOF to destroy Cote d'Ivoire's Air
Force in retaliation for the bombing of French forces; and
-- the subsequent violence directed at French interests and
citizens in Cote d'Ivoire, requiring a military evacuation of
French residents.

If the judicial inquiry ends, discomfiting questions such as
these may now remain unanswered and take their place among
the hobbyhorses of conspiracy theorists.


13. (C) COMMENT CONT'D: The closing of the case may well
be intended to allow the GOF to avoid worsening relations not
only with Cote d'Ivoire but also with Togo (Montoya's base of
operations and apparent transit point for the planes and
pilots),as well as with Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine (source
of the planes and crew),at a time when France is embroiled
in many other sensitive issues regarding Cote d'Ivoire (e.g.,
UNSCR 1721). Although the French would never acknowledge
political intervention to quash such a case, it seems
possible that such concerns may well have outweighed purely
judicial factors, perhaps even trumping the GOF's interest
vis-a-vis its own citizens in supporting efforts by the
victims' survivors to determine what happened, assess
responsibility, and obtain compensation. Moreover, avoiding
such issues may appear particularly attractive as the French
enter into a presidential election cycle, with candidates not
eager to address uncomfortable questions from the recent
past. END COMMENT.


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