PRESIDENT KICKS OFF 2000 SESSION OF NATIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000336

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W AND INR/AA, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2018
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PREL UN IV
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT KICKS OFF 2000 SESSION OF NATIONAL
ASSEMBLY


Classified By: Pol/Econ Section Chief Silvia Eiriz for Reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)


1. (SBU) President Gbagbo presided over the April 30 opening
ceremony of the first session of the 2008 National Assembly,
held in the political capital of Yamoussoukro. Two hundred
parliamentarians attended the ceremony. National Assembly
president and ruling Ivoirian Popular Front party (Front
Populaire Ivoirian - FPI) stalwart Mamadou Koulibaly told the
press that Gbagbo participated in the opening ceremony in
order to signal to the international community and Ivoirians
that the transfer of the political capital from Abidjan to
Yamoussoukro had been launched.


2. (SBU) In a May 8 meeting, Mr. Aka Koby, the Chief of
Legislative Services of the National Assembly, told Emboff
that the National Assembly's calendar for this session is
flexible and can be modified at any time to take into account
bills and international conventions that need urgent review.
To date, the National Assembly is scheduled to review reform
for driving permits, a proposed law to condemn racism,
xenophobia and racial and religious discrimination (an
initiative of President Gbagbo),and several regional
economic conventions. Koby noted, however, that the most
important political and economic bills are not submitted to
the National Assembly, but, instead, are submitted to
President Gbagbo to be signed into law as presidential
ordinances. Koby added that other important bills such as
the anti-trafficking bill will be submitted to the new
legislature that is expected to be elected at a date to be
determined after the presidential election scheduled for
November 30. Koby said that the current National Assembly is
not regarded as sufficiently representative of the nation for
such important national bills since it excludes major parties
like the Rally of the Republicans (Rassemblement des
Republicains - RDR). (NOTE: The RDR boycotted parliamentary
elections in 2001 and thus are not represented in the
National Assembly. END NOTE)


3. (C) Comment: While it is the first time a session opened
in Yamoussoukro since the 2002 coup attempt, the following
day, parliamentarians returned to Abidjan for "substantive"
meetings and plenary sessions. The new parliament building
in Yamoussoukro (Chinese funded) is under construction and
will not be complete for another two to three years. While
there was plenty of fanfare surrounding the opening ceremony,
the National Assembly does not have the political clout
needed to pass any real legislation of substance before this
session ends on July 30. Coming on the heels of former
President Bedie's recent pre-campaign trip to the south and
center west regions to visit migrant Baoule farmers, Gbagbo's
symbolic gesture of opening the Assembly in Yamoussoukro may
have been an ill-disguised effort -- if not a throw away
attempt -- to appeal to ethnic Baoule voters in central Cote
d'Ivoire.


4. (U) While the National Assembly seems to operate in the
mindset of business as usual, the international community
does not recognize the National Assembly's validity. United
Nations Security Council Resolution 1633 of October 21, 2005
noted that the mandate of the National Assembly would end by
December 16, 2005. On December 16, 2005, the Constitutional
Council decreed that the National Assembly would stay in
office. On January 15, 2006, the International Working Group
took note of the end of the National Assembly's mandate. End
Comment.
NESBITT