STATUS OF IDENTIFICATION PROCESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABIDJAN 000051

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2018
TAGS: PGOV KDEM IV
SUBJECT: STATUS OF IDENTIFICATION PROCESS

REF: A. 07 ABIDJAN 1187


B. 07 ABIDJAN 1181

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


1. (C) Summary. The Government of Cote d'Ivoire is moving
forward on the identification process, which is a critical
stage in the implementation of the Ouagadougou Political
Agreement (OPA) and at the heart of the country's political
crisis. All 111 audiences foraines teams that are to issue
birth certification have in fact been deployed and are
covering all areas of the country. The President signed a
decree on reconstitution of civil registries and a working
group is to be formed to determine modalities for
reconstitution. The President also signed a decree
designating French company SAGEM-Securite as the technical
operator for the identification process. SAGEM's operating
guidelines indicate a compromise was reached between the
President and the Prime Minister regarding the role to be
played by the National Institute of Statistics (Institut
National de la Statistique - INS). While SAGEM will cooperate
with INS, it will not be supervised by the INS, as sought by
the President's camp. End Summary.


Audiences Foraines
--------------


2. (SBU) Ibrahima Ba, head of the Prime Minister's Working
Group on "Audiences Foraines" (mobile courts issuing birth
documentation to persons over 13 whose births were never
registered) and Reconstitution of Civil Registries, told
Poloffs January 15 that as of January 1, 2008, all 111
audiences foraines teams covering the entire country, had in
fact been deployed. He provided Poloffs with a list of areas
where the teams are deployed. According to Ba, citizens know
where the teams will work because notices are posted in each
location and United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire
(UNOCI) radio announces the locations on a daily basis. Ba
noted that each team is supposed to work for 3 months and
that the entire audiences foraines process would be completed
at the end of March 2008. Ba stated that as of December 26,
2007, there had been 101,192 applications; 97,594 had been
approved; 3,601 had been rejected. He explained that most
rejections occurred because persons applied in the wrong
jurisdiction or were under the age of 13.


3. (C) Drissa Kone, Cabinet Director to the Secretary General
of the Rally of Republicans (Rassemblement des Republicains -
RDR) party told Poloff January 16 that the RDR will not
agitate if the audiences foraines process is not perfect. He
expressed skepticism that the process will actually end at
the end of March.

Civil Registries
--------------


4. (SBU) The President signed a decree in December 2007
concerning reconstitution of civil registries. Ba told
Poloffs that the Ministry of Justice has responsibility for
reconstitution of the civil registries. The decree states
that a commission will be created in each sub-Prefecture
nationwide and in each commune of the city of Abidjan. Ba
said that each commission would be headed by the sub-Prefect
or the Mayor. According to the decree, the commissions will
publish their findings and present them to the court of first
instance, requesting that the court order reconstitution of
the registries. According to Ba, the court will have 48
hours to respond. Ba explained that a working group will be
created to determine how the reconstitution of the registries
will be carried out. He stated that the reconstitution will
be completed in 3 months and told Poloffs that this is a
feasible timeframe.


5. (SBU) Poloff asked Ba about the coordination between his
working group and the EU/World Bank project on reconstitution
of civil registries. Surprisingly, Ba responded that there
is no connection. Ba said the Ministry of Interior approved
the EU/World Bank project, which focuses on modernization of
civil registries. Ba argued that modernization makes no
sense in Cote d'Ivoire because Ivorian law does not allow
information obtained from computers to be presented in court.
Ba said all the country needs is hard copy replacements of
its civil registries.

SAGEM's Role
--------------


6. (SBU) The President signed a decree on January 13, 2008

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designating French company SAGEM-Securite as the technical
operator for the identification process. Ba gave Poloffs a
copy of the operating guidelines for SAGEM. The guidelines
indicate that SAGEM will provide materials and software to
carry out the identification of the population and the
electoral registration. SAGEM will report to the
government's Working Group on Identification of the
Population on the progress it makes, the challenges it
encounters, and the solutions it proposes to address these
challenges. SAGEM will cooperate with the National Office of
Identification (Office National d'Identification) and the
National Supervisory Commission on Identification (Commission
Nationale de Supervision de l'Identification - CNSI) on
production of the identity cards and with the Independent
Electoral Commission (Commission Electorale Independante -
CEI) and the INS on production of voters' cards and the
voters' list.


7. (C) SAGEM's operating guidelines seem to be a compromise
between the President and Prime Minister. Failure to agree
on modalities to carry out the identification process
derailed the November 18-22, 2007 meeting of the OPA
Evaluation and Monitoring Committee (Comite d'Evaluation et
d'Accompagnement - CEA). Minister of Interior and member of
the Ivorian Popular Front (Front Populaire Ivoirien - FPI)
ruling party Desire Tagro wanted SAGEM to be under the
oversight of the INS and the Prime Minister's camp refused to
agree. The opposition parties view INS Director General
Mathieu Melleu, who was appointed by President Gbagbo in
2002, as a partisan FPI supporter (See Reftel A). SAGEM's
operating guidelines include cooperation with the INS, but do
not give INS oversight over SAGEM.


8. (C) Comment: Identification is at the heart of the
country's political crisis. Kone told Poloff January 16 that
the RDR will insist that every Ivorian have an opportunity to
obtain an identity card, but did not explain what actions the
RDR will take if it determines that the identification
process is not thorough. In November 2007, Kone had told
Poloff that the RDR will not boycott the elections. Prime
Minister Soro, who like the RDR has a northern constituency,
also needs to deliver a thorough and transparent
identification process. Ba's resistance to the EU/World Bank
project to modernize the civil registries makes no sense
unless the government is trying to announce that the
reconstitution of the civil registries has been completed
ahead of the elections. The EU/World Bank modernization
project is likely to take years rather than months. End
Comment.
AKUETTEH