COTE D'IVOIRE: UPDATE ON DEMOBILIZATION,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABIDJAN 000856

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W-EPLUMB AND INR/AA-BGRAVES

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/10/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL IS IV
SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: UPDATE ON DEMOBILIZATION,
DISARMAMENT, AND REINTEGRATION


Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES VICKI HUDDLESTON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) A
ND (D).


1. (C) Summary. Alain Michel Lobognon, Communications
Director at the Prime Minister's Office, and Jean-Luc Stalon,
Chief of the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire
(UNOCI) Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR)
Unit, told Poloff that agreement on the ranks of the Forces
Nouvelles (FN) combatants who will be integrated into the
national military is near. According to Stalon, 5,000 FN
combatants will be integrated into the national military
(Forces Armees Nationales de Cote d'Ivoire - FANCI) and the
remaining 5,000 will be demobilized. Stalon said UNOCI has
proposed to the Minister of Defense that weapons be collected
at the 17 regrouping process sites identified in the
Ouagadougou Political Accord (OPA) and requested U.S. support
for this position. According to Stalon, the government has
devised a "civic" program that will include all former
militia and the 5,000 FN to be demobilized. Stalon stated
that UNOCI continues to conduct patrols along the green line
because the 6 mixed brigades that were to be deployed there
are not yet operational. Stalon said the Integrated Command
Center is dysfunctional. End Summary.


2. (SBU) The Communications Director at the Prime Minister's
office, Alain Michel Lobognon, told Emboffs August 2 that the
soldiers who will leave the Forces Nouvelles (FN) have
already been chosen, but what activity they will engage in to
reintegrate them into society has not yet been determined.
Lobognon said the 2 FN generals will remain generals, 450 FN
officers' ranks will be harmonized with those of their
counterparts in the national military, and the 35
non-commissioned officers (among them many of the so-called
Zone Commanders or "ComZones," such as Cherif Ousmane) who
were promoted to officer rank will remain at their current
grade until national elections are held and will then retire.


3. (C) The Chief of the United Nations Operation in Cote
d'Ivoire (UNOCI) Disarmament, Demobilization, and
Reintegration (DDR) Unit, Jean-Luc Stalon, told Poloff August
6 that UNOCI exerts little influence over the Ivorian
Government. Stalon said the challenge facing UNOCI is to
ensure that DDR meets minimum international standards.
According to Stalon, elections are a priority for the
Ivorians and DDR is not.


4. (C) Stalon stated that both the government and the FN, but
especially the FN, have exaggerated the number of combatants.
Stalon estimated that the FN do not have more than 10,000
combatants. He added that the ratio between FN combatants
and weapons is low because many FN combatants never engaged
in battle or had weapons. Stalon said the disarmament
process now only affects the FN since it is completed in the
south of the country. He said that of the 4,000 so-called
"New Recruits" quickly brought into the FANCI after the 2002
outbreak of conflict, 1,000 were released from service some
time ago and the remaining 3,000 were unilaterally integrated
into the national military by a presidential decree, which
was in violation of the disarmament agreement. Stalon
expressed surprise that the FN accepted this. He said it is
estimated that there are 10,000 militia in the west of the
country and that only 2,000 of them are programmed for
disarmament. Stalon explained that 981 militia members were
disarmed last year, but since they only had 105 weapons,
UNOCI advised the government to suspend the program in light
of the low combatant to weapon ratio. (Comment: In our recent
visit to the west, the UNOCI officials were adamant that
elections in the west would not succeed unless disarmament
had taken place due to the continuing bitter land disputes -
and militia backers - between foreigners (allogenes) and
natives (autochtones).


5. (SBU) Stalon said 5,000 of the total 10,000 FN combatants
will be reintegrated into the national military, half of them
in 2007 and the other half in 2008. He noted that some
members of the national military will have to retire to make
room for them since the national military's ranks cannot
exceed 22,000. Stalon said agreement has almost been reached
on the rank issue. Stalon said 15 senior officers will keep
their ranks while the others' ranks will have to be
harmonized with those of their counterparts in the national
military.


6. (C) Stalon said the FN want to keep their weapons until
the identification hearings ("audiences foraines") were
completed. However, the Ouagadougou Political Accord (OPA)
identifies 9 regrouping process sites in the north and 8 in
the south and Stalon said the UN has proposed to the Minister

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of Defense that weapons be collected at these sites. Stalon
requested U.S. support for this proposal because elections
cannot take place without proper disarmament. (Comment: We
will follow up on ways in which the U.S. might be helpful.)



7. (C) Stalon told Poloff that the government has devised a
"civic" program that will include all former militia from the
west, the militia in Abidjan, and the 5,000 FN to be
demobilized. According to Stalon, the program will last 18
months and target 40,000 young people. He said it will be
conducted in centers throughout the country and those in the
program will receive a salary, clothes, food, and lodging.
Stalon said the Government of Israel is advising the
Government of Cote d'Ivoire on how to begin the program.
Stalon finds it interesting that the Government of Cote
d'Ivoire has not asked the international community to fund
the program and said it is a way to address the problem of
unemployment.


8. (C) Stalon told Poloff that 6 mixed brigades were to be
deployed along the green line of what was the Zone of
Confidence. Stalon stated that only 3 of the 6 brigades are
operational and that even the 3 that are operational are not
performing at their full capacity. (Comment. As of August
10, 5 of the brigades are operational. But, according to
UNOCI officials, in the west, the mixed brigades have limited
ability to control the various militias operating in the
area.) According to Stalon, this is because some FN do not
want to participate until the audiences foraines take place
and some have complained that they are not receiving a
salary. As a result, UNOCI is conducting patrols along the
green line. Stalon called the Integrated Command Center set
up by the OPA a "joke." He said the Integrated Command
Center has no decision making power and all disagreements
have to be bumped up to the Chiefs of Staff for resolution,
which sometimes never comes. Stalon said the Integrated
Command Center is poorly staff and did not even participate
in the July 30 "flame of peace" symbolic disarmament ceremony
in Bouake.


9. (C) Comment: The Ouaga agreement is a beginning, but much
remains to be done. Among the essential ingredients to bring
about sustainable peace is disarmament, therefore any U.S.
expertise in this area may be quite valuable. Another key to
eventual success would be inclusion in the process of the
major opposition party leaders Ouattara and Bedie. Without
Ouattara and RDR's acquiescence, the northern leaders will
remain skeptical of the process of identification "audiences
foraines" needed to complete the electoral process.



HUDDLESTON