INCREASING U.S. SUPPORT FOR COTE D'IVOIRE'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000095 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/26/2017 TAGS: EAID PHUM PREL PGOV IV SUBJECT: INCREASING U.S. SUPPORT FOR COTE D'IVOIRE'S ELECTORAL PROCESS REF: ABIDJAN 0043 Classified By: POL/ECON Jim Wojtasiewicz, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (U) Post strongly supports the IFES proposal for a two-year project to expand U.S. support for the electoral process in Cote d,Ivoire. ¶2. (U) IFES has done excellent work in the first phase of this project. In particular, the Prime Minister,s Secretary General wrote to us that the roundtables that IFES is organizing with all the electoral process stakeholders are an important contribution to the Prime Minister,s efforts to organize the elections. He expressed the Prime Minister,s thanks to IFES and the United States for the commitment this shows to helping Cote d,Ivoire emerge from its crisis. ¶3. (C) Indeed, as we noted in reftel, the fact that Cote d,Ivoire is in a political deadlock with elections seen as the exit door out of this crisis only makes it all the more important for the United States to remain engaged, to play a catalytic role in helping the Ivoirians take control of their future. The expanded technical support that IFES proposes to provide to Cote d,Ivoire,s electoral institutions, and the civic and voter education campaign that it proposes to organize, are excellent ways to put our words of support into action, and increase our leverage over the parties here. Conversely, to end our support for the electoral process now would send the wrong signal that we are losing hope and/or interest. The United States is respected by all sides in the crisis here as a neutral party, and we believe an expansion of the support we are providing would have a multiplier effect in helping to bring about free and fair elections as soon as possible. Hooks