PRIME MINISTER'S ADVISERS SAY OUAGA PEACE ACCORD

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000580

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO IV
SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER'S ADVISERS SAY OUAGA PEACE ACCORD
IMPLEMENTATION ABOUT TO MOVE INTO HIGH GEAR

REF: A) ABIDJAN 521 B) ABIDJAN 551 C) ABIDJAN 558

Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES VICENTE VALLE FOR REASONS 1.4 B/D


1. (C) Summary. Minister of Tourism and Prime Minister Soro
confidant Sidiki Konate and the PM,s Political Counselor,
Adama BicTOGO, told selected Ambassadors on June 1 that the
implementation of the Ouaga Peace Accord roadmap will move
into high gear starting next week with the redeployment of
civilian administration and judges to the north and
establishment of working groups on identification of the
population. Soro wants to kick off DDR by the end of the
month in the presence of the Ouaga facilitator, Burkinabe
President Compaore. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Konate and BicTOGO met with Acting SRSG Abou
Moussa, the French, German, Burkinabe, and Ghanaian
Ambassadors, the EU rep, and Charge over lunch on June 1.
The lunch was hosted by the French Ambassador but organized
at the request of our Ivoirian interlocutors, who said Soro
plans to meet regularly with this group. (Soro will host the
next such gathering on June 8.)


3. (SBU) According to Konate, the Prime Minister will issue
decrees next week announcing the redeployment of civil
administration (prefets, sous-prefets, director generals) and
magistrates to the north. The PM will also establish working
groups, headed by the Ministers of Justice and Interior, to
resolve issues related to identification of unregistered
residents (potential citizens and resident foreigners, both
of whom are covered by the audiences foraines) and those
whose birth registries were destroyed by the Forces Nouvelles
earlier in the crisis and who are not included in the
audiences foraines process. (The latter issue is known as
the reconstitution des fichiers.)


4. (C) The government will assign 600 police from the New
Forces, supplemented by additional security forces if
necessary, to provide protection for the redeployed
administrators. Konate added that the reestablishment of
civilian administration would be a collaborative process:
Prefets will work with existing authorities in the north,
with the latter gradually relinquishing power to the former,
particularly as ex-combatants begin to disarm.


5. (C) On DDR, Konate said regroupment of soldiers to be
demobilized will begin by the end of June in the presence of
Burkinabe President Compaore and with ceremonies in four
cities in the north and south (Bouake, Man, and Guiglo were
mentioned). Konate said the issue over military ranks of New
Forces soldiers incorporated into the new Armed Forces has
been largely worked out. (His description was along the
lines of what PM Soro told the Ambassador earlier, ref A.)
However, talks are ongoing to resolve the final details.


6. (C) Acting SRSG Abou Moussa urged the Ivoirians to make
meaningful progress before the Security Council,s visit to
Cote d,Ivoire on June 18-19. He also complained that the
DDM exercise carried out in Guiglo two weeks ago (ref B) had
not been serious. Konate replied that the Prime Minister had
opted not to get involved in the Guiglo exercise because he
had not been involved in the process and it had been poorly
organized. (There was general agreement that blame for
Guiglo should be assigned to Gbagbo adviser Kadet Bertin, who
had put the ceremony together and touted it as representing
real disarmament.) Konate encouraged the international
community to tell the government when it was dissatisfied
with peace process implementation and point out what the
government needed to do instead.


7. (C) Comment: The PM's advisers made only a brief,
passing reference to impunity and the recent FESCI attacks on
civil society (ref C). However, they struck us as realistic
and committed to advancing the peace process quickly. We
should see the results over the next few weeks.
VALLE