COTE D'IVOIRE: UNEVENTFUL THIRTEENTH INTERNATIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABIDJAN 000256

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: UNEVENTFUL THIRTEENTH INTERNATIONAL
WORKING GROUP MEETING

Classified By: POL/ECON Jim Wojtasiewicz, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (C) Summary. The International Working Group (IWG) held
its 13th meeting in Abidjan March 2. Perhaps the most
dramatic moment came when the Communications Minister
Delegate briefed the group on the growing pro-Gbagbo bias in
the state-owned media since Gbagbo replaced the leadership of
both Ivoirian Radio and television (RTI) and the state-owned
newspaper Fraternite Matin last November. The Foreign
Minister from Burkina Faso gave a presentation that was
supposed to be a briefing on the status of the ongoing talks
in Ouagadougou between representatives of President Gbagbo
and rebel New Forces (FN) leader Soro, but he provided no
real substantive information, citing an agreement among all
the parties not to speak to the press. The meeting came up
with a relatively bland communique except for language
stating clearly that any agreement coming out of the
Ouagadougou talks would fail unless the signatories honor the
commitments they make in it. This was the most uneventful
IWG meeting in memory, perhaps in part because it took place
in the shadow of the Ouagadougou talks. Indeed, the
agreement that was subsequently reached in Ouagadougou was
largely silent on the UN or international role in the
implementation of the agreement, which can only further
marginalize an IWG that was already largely reduced to
kibitzing from the sidelines. End Summary.


2. (U) The IWG held its 13th meeting in Abidjan on March 2.
The meeting was co-chaired by Ghana Foreign Minister Nana
Akufo-Addo and Acting Special Representative of the Secretary
General (ASRSG) Abou Moussa. The meeting was attended by
Benin Foreign Minister Mariam Aladji Boni Diallo, Burkina
Faso Foreign Minister Youssouf Ouedraogo, France Cooperation
Minister Brigitte Girardin, Republic of Congo Foreign
Minister Rodolph Adada, South Africa Foreign Minister
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, UN High Representative for Elections
(HRE) Gerard Stoudmann, and representatives of Guinea, Niger,
Nigeria, the UK, the United States, the African Union, the
Economic Union of West African States (ECOWAS),the European
Union, the International Organization of the Francophonie,
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.


3. (C) As usual, Prime Minister Banny sought to persuade the
group that progress had been made over the past month in
moving toward elections. He was able to cite very few
specific accomplishments -- a small number of mobile courts
re-launched, continued slow return of civilian administration
to the North, especially the return of Treasury officials
which he said would be followed by the return of the banks --
but more generally Banny insisted that life is returning to
normal for the population. The group had no questions for
Banny, only two somewhat strange outbursts addressed not to
Banny but to the other members of the IWG. French Minister
Girardin expressed French exasperation that the international
community can give the Ivoirians the tools to make peace but
it is up to the Ivoirians to use them. The representative
from Guinea noted the painful crisis his country has been
going through and asked the IWG to help Guinea.


4. (C) Banny was accompanied by Minister Delegate for
Communications Martine Coffi Studer. She briefed the group
on the significant increase in biased news coverage in the
state-owned media since last November when President Gbagbo
sacked the leadership both of RTI and the state-owned
newspaper Fraternite Matin. She said the government no
longer had any control over these media or their finances.
Banny noted that this was a violation of the Pretoria Accord
and questioned how a fair election campaign could be held in
these circumstances. HRE Stoudmann warned that he would not
be able to certify the elections as fair if there were not
equal access to state-owned media. Several other IWG members
also expressed alarm over the situation in the state-owned
media, and underscored the importance of including the
restoration of press freedom in any agreement reached through
the ongoing talks in Ouagadougou being mediated by Burkina
Faso President Compaore between representatives of President
Gbagbo and rebel FN leader Soro.


5. (C) Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Ouedraogo gave a
presentation that was supposed to be a briefing on the status
of the Ouagadougou talks but which provided no substantive
information other than that all parties had agreed not to
talk to the press. Ghana co-chair Akufo-Addo asked whether
Ouedraogo could at least provide some sense of how much
longer the talks would take, but he declined to do so.
French Minister Girardin asked whether there might need to be
changes to UN Security Council Resolution 1721, but Ouedraogo
said it was too soon to tell.


6. (C) HRE Stoudmann briefed on what he said were timid steps
taken toward elections over the previous month. He said that

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only 12 of the 25 mobile courts that were supposed to reopen
had done so. Stoudmann did note that very few people are
coming forward to these courts to apply for identification
documents. He said this could be due in part to the fact
that no courts have reopened in the North, where the largest
number of undocumented people live.


7. (C) Outgoing AU special representative General Mokoko,
chairman of the Mediation Group (a subgroup of the IWG
charged with facilitating on a day-to-day basis the
implementation of UNSCR 1721) ONUCI Force Commander General
Amoussou and French Licorne Force Commander Lecerf all said
the security situation in the country had improved slightly,
as the population looked hopefully to the Ouagadougou talks
to bring peace. However, Amoussou and Lecerf cautioned that
the situation remains potentially explosive, because of the
deteriorating infrastructure and the lack of educational and
work opportunities for young people. General Lecerf in
particular said with emotion that in the end it is the
poorest people in this country who suffer the most as victims
of the widespread banditry and culture of corruption in the
security forces, and it is not the role of UN peacekeeping
forces to help maintain such a status quo.


8. (C) Discussion of the communique was, as usual, long and
tedious, but not particularly contentious. It was decided,
at South Africa's suggestion, not to put into the communique
the IWG's strong expectation that the Ouagadougou talks would
fully address the issue of press freedom, but rather to
communicate this directly and informally to President
Compaore through Foreign Minister Ouedraogo (who happened at
that moment not to be present in the room because he was
meeting with President Gbagbo). It was also decided, to
protect Communications Minister Delegate Studer, not to
reveal in the communique that it was she who brought to the
IWG's attention the growing problem of bias in the state
media, but rather to pretend that the IWG had seized upon
this issue itself. Proposed language reflecting General
Lecerf's emphatic statements that UN peacekeeping forces are
not here to help maintain a status quo in which the poorest
people suffer the most was also taken out. Finally, proposed
language expressing the hope that the Ouagadougou talks would
produce an agreement allowing UN and French peacekeeping
forces to begin leaving was also deleted. All this left a
relatively bland communique, with the exception of language
stating clearly that any agreement reached at Ouagadougou
will fail if the signatories do not honor the commitments
they make in it.


9. (U) It was decided that the next IWG meeting will be April

13.


10. (C) In terms of atmospherics, over the course of the day
at least six participants, including both current co-chairs,
outgoing co-chair Republic of Congo Foreign Minister Adada,
and Prime Minister Banny, paid tribute to the absent Lansana
Kouyate, formerly the Francophonie representative on the IWG
and now newly named Prime Minister of Guinea. Kouyate had
always been an active and articulate participant in the IWG
meetings. In contrast, no one had any words of tribute for
the recently departed SRSG Pierre Schori.


11. (C) Comment. This was the most uneventful IWG meeting in
memory, perhaps in part because it took place in the shadow
of the Ouagadougou talks. Indeed, the agreement that was
subsequently reached in Ouagadougou pays lip service to UNSCR
1721 but is largely silent on the UN or international role in
the implementation of the agreement (except the gradual
withdrawal of UN peacekeeping forces). This can only further
marginalize the IWG, a body that was already largely reduced
to kibitzing from the sidelines. End Comment.

Hooks