COMPAORE CHAIRS OUAGA ACCORD'S FIRST "PERMANENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABIDJAN 000633

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/15/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL UNSC IV
SUBJECT: COMPAORE CHAIRS OUAGA ACCORD'S FIRST "PERMANENT
CONSULTATIVE MECHANISM" - SORO ACTS TO CLEAR UP CONFUSION
REGARDING HIGH REP FOR ELECTIONS

REF: ABIDJAN 615

Classified By: EconChief EMassinga, Reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary. OPA facilitator Compaore hosted the first
Permanent Consultative Mechanism (CPC) on June 12, bringing
together Gbagbo, Soro, Ouattara and Bedie. Members issued a
brief, harmonious press statement that touched on key
questions of DDR and dismantlement of the militias, as well
as efforts to integrate the armed forces. However, the press
statement's mention of retaining the post of the High
Representative for Elections (HRE) was immediately disavowed
by the Presidency in private conversations while touted by
the unarmed opposition. Soro told senior international
community representatives that he won a compromise in
bargaining with Gbagbo, in which President Compaore was given
the final say indicating whether to ask the UNSC to retain
the HRE position. According to Soro, Gbagbo indicated he
would grudgingly accept a UN decision to appoint a new HRE.
End Summary.


2. (C) Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore chaired the
first-ever meeting of the March 4th Ouaga Accord's "Permanent
Consultative Mechanism" (CPC in French) on June 12 in
Yamoussoukro. In attendance were the members of the CPC as
laid out in the Ouaga Accord: signers President Gbagbo and
Prime Minister Soro, former PM and RDR head Alassaine
Ouattara, former President and PDCI chief Konan Bedie, along
with Ouaga mediator Compaore. The CPC met most of the day in
closed session, with even close associates relegated to an
adjoining room while the leaders hashed out outstanding
issues of the implementation of the OPA and put together the
day's press release.


3. (SBU) In the end, the CPC issued a brief,
clearly-drafted press statement that called for the PM to
quickly finish dismantling the militias, greater openness of
the state media to present viewpoints from all the major
parties, and the facilitator to consult intensively with the
Accord's signers to solve the vexing question of ranks for
the planned integrated officer corps, which would
substantially unblock progress in DDR.

============================================= ============
CPC Statement Mention of HRE Position Leaves Observers
Confused
============================================= ============


4. (C) The CPC press statement (not, according to Soro, an
official communique) also said "the CPC members requested the
facilitator to ensure that the UN maintains the post of High
Representative of the United Nations in Cote d'Ivoire." In
the initial days following the CPC, emboffs contacted senior
representatives from the major parties participating in the
CPC, and received a rather confusing set of explanations of
this statement.


5. (C) The President's Deputy Chief of Staff, Sarata Toure
Ottro, told emboff that the President does not support
maintaining the position of the High Representative, and that
"some members of the CPC had suggested, or made observations"
that the HRE position should be retained. Pressed, Toure
Outtro said the President "supports maintaining the elections
certification function of the HRE, but not the position, and
certainly not the person (i.e., Gerard Stoudmann)." A U.K.
diplomat told emboff his government had received the same
vaguely-expressed opposition to an HRE from other Presidency
officials. Similarly, French Ambassador Janier was told by
Interior Minister (and the President's chief negotiator at
the Ouaga talks) Desire Tagro that the President opposes the
continuation of the HRE.


6. (C) The Presidential camp's apparent initial disavowal
of the CPC's call to maintain the HRE flatly contradicted the
understanding of the other major parties. A senior PDCI
official told an emboff that his party was happy with the CPC
communique, and certainly satisfied with the call to maintain
the HRE position. The PDCI expressed satisfaction that
Compaore is playing a hands-on role, and sees the
continuation of the HRE's role as yet another check on
Gbagbo's efforts to manipulate the peace process to his own
ends. RDR leader Ouattara was reported to have immediately
flown to Paris and Washington as part of a "diplomatic
offensive," undoubtedly aimed at underscoring the need to
keep the HRE position, about which he has been outspoken
since the signing of the OPA (it is unclear whether he will
have returned to Abidjan to engage the UNSC's June 18-19
visit). The Forces Nouvelles putative #2 and chief OPA
negotiator, Minister of War Victims and Solidarity Dacoury
Tabley, was present at the Yamoussoukro conclave but was

ABIDJAN 00000633 002 OF 003


largely silent with Emboff concerning the HRE issue, taking a
(typical) sideswipe at the international community for its
supposed feebleness in the face of Gbagbo's attempts to seize
the upper hand.


7. (C) Outgoing HRE Stoudmann sent UNSYG a letter on June 8
(forwarded to AF/W) in which he acknowledged the UNSYG's
likely recommendation to fold the HRE's office into ONUCI.
He did express considerable dissatisfaction with the
President's efforts to marginalize the role of the HRE (be it
independent or within the ONUCI framework) in shaping and
certifying the identification process. The HRE sees
successful identification through the audiences foraines
process (due to restart this month, according to the CPC's
statement) as essential to get to elections and the end of
the OPA transition. Without a thorough process addressing
the needs of the 2-4 million Ivorians currently without
papers, the HRE believes the problems underlying the division
of the country will persist. Emboff received a French draft
UNSCR on Cote d'Ivoire from a western diplomat. The draft
resolution concedes the HRE position will be eliminated, but
calls upon ONUCI to have the robust power to certify all
stages of the electoral process, vice simply judging the
elections as "free and fair" at the end. The French draft
implicitly gives ONUCI the ability to act as arbiter of both
the identification process and elections preparations.

============================================= ===============
Soro Speaks to Senior Diplomats, Tries to Clear Up Confusion
on HRE
============================================= ===============


8. (C) On June 15, PM Soro hosted a lunch for selected
diplomats (U.S., EU, Germany, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Acting
SRSG Abou Moussa). On the HRE question, Soro said that he
had succeeded in softening the President's opposition to the
HRE post, and obtained a compromise by which OPA facilitator
Compaore would make the ultimate decision whether to
recommend to the UNSC to keep or jettison the position. He
added that President Gbagbo has indicated that he did not
want an HRE but would accept one if the UNSC decided to name
a replacement for Stoudmann. Soro dismissed the importance
of the more hard-line positions expressed by those in the
Presidential camp such as Tagro.


9. (C) During the luncheon, Soro touched on several other
sensitive areas of concern. On the audiences foraines, Soro
said the Minister of Justice (Forces Nouvelles) will issue a
report specifying how they will operate (the PM said there is
a problem related to financing),and that a new decree naming
sub-prefects will be submitted to the Council of Ministers by
the Interior Minister. The PM's office is reexamining the
choice for the contractor to provide identification cards to
those going through the audiences foraines; outgoing PM Banny
had chosen French firm SAGEM, but the reported $100 million
price tag made the new government balk. (The FPI also favors
choosing a new contractor.) New boards of directors for the
state-owned television and newspapers are to be announced
soon, and with them possible changes in management. (Note:
control of both RTI television and the Fraternite Matin
newspaper were seized by the President in November, violating
the Pretoria Accord. End note) Compaore was asked to put
forth a proposal to cut the Gordian Knot of military ranks,
indicating that the parties themselves appear unable to break
the deadlock.


10. (C) On the issue of disarmament of the militias, Soro
indicated that President Gbagbo had in private conceded the
Guiglo disarmament had been inadequate. Gbagbo reportedly
said the event "was not real DDM, but simply encouraging
illegally armed youth" to turn in their weapons. Soro said
that four centers in the West are ready to receive militiamen
and secure their arms, and that militiamen will be given a
time limit in which to turn in their weapons at these
designated sites. (Note: ONUCI held a DDR meeting on June
13 in which the organization's DDR director said he senses a
newfound exasperation on the part of the FANCI towards the
militias. ONUCI confirmed that militiamen are being given 15
days to relinquish their weapons, and said that, should they
fail to do so, they will face unspecified, strong actions.
Meeting attendees from the international community expressed
some degree of skepticism that the FANCI and gendermerie will
actually forcibly disarm the western militias in 15 days.
End Note.)



11. (C) Comment. The controversy over the HRE highlights
the fact that the seemingly small details of implementing the
OPA can become important obstacles that continue to frustrate
the accord's overall goals. The PM wants to be seen as

ABIDJAN 00000633 003 OF 003


quietly active behind the scenes in engaging the Presidency
and developing compromise policies. Some proof of the
effectiveness of this strategy will become evident very soon,
when Compaore provides his recommendation to the UNSC and
UNSYG on the HRE. End Comment.
HOOKS