Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ABIDJAN171
2009-03-12 14:49:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Abidjan
Cable title:  

CORRUPTION ARTICLE PROVOKES DESTRUCTION OF

Tags:  PHUM PGOV PREL SOCI IV 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7771
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHAB #0171 0711449
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121449Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4990
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS ABIDJAN 000171 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL SOCI IV
SUBJECT: CORRUPTION ARTICLE PROVOKES DESTRUCTION OF
NEWSPAPERS AND DEATH THREATS

UNCLAS ABIDJAN 000171

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL SOCI IV
SUBJECT: CORRUPTION ARTICLE PROVOKES DESTRUCTION OF
NEWSPAPERS AND DEATH THREATS


1. (U) On February 28, the "Nouveau Reveil," a newspaper
closely affiliated with former President Henri Konan Bedie's
PDCI political party, announced it would publish an article
on the theft of 4 billion CFA (approximately 8 million USD)
by government officials with ties to President Gbagbo. The
article, entitled "The ATCI-Warid Communication Affair: How
Those Close to Gbagbo Embezzled 4 Billion in State Funds,"
appeared in the March 4 edition of the newspaper.


2. (U) The article alleged that government officials
affiliated with President Gbagbo's FPI political party
embezzled funds from a government deal with Warid Telecom, a
subsidiary of the international Abu Dhabi Group owned by the
royal family of Abu Dhabi. According to the article, Eugene
Diomande, Chairman of the Board of Comium, one of the cell
phone providers in Cote d'Ivoire and reportedly close to the
First Lady, facilitated meetings between Warid Telecom and
Sylvanus Kla, Director General of the telecoms regulatory
body. Kia, who belongs to the FPI and is the president of
the General Council of San Pedro, freed up service channels
for Warid Telecom so the company could establish itself as
the sixth cell phone service provider in Cote d'Ivoire.
According to the article, Warid deposited nearly 4 billion
CFA in a Spanish bank account in the name of a shell company
owned by Diomande.


3. (U) Journalists at the "Nouveau Reveil," including
editor-in-chief Denis Kah Zion, said they received
threatening phone calls during the four days between the
newspaper's announcement that it would publish the article
and its publication. Some callers allegedly promised large
sums of money if the paper shelved the article and others
allegedly made death threats. According to the newspaper's
distributor, Edipresse, early on the morning of March 4,
organized groups of young persons in 3 neighborhoods of
Abidjan systematically destroyed thousands of copies of that
day's "Nouveau Reveil" edition, which contained the
ACTI-Warid article. After shredding the papers, the groups
of youth reportedly then hauled away the destroyed papers in
garbage bags. The state-owned daily "Fraternite Matin"
reported on March 5 that approximately seventy-five percent
of the 15,000 "Nouveau Reveil" newspapers of March 4 never
made it to readers. No other newspapers were targeted during
the destruction.


4. (SBU) Comment. Although the National Press Council
denounced the vandalism as "reprehensible" and Zion filed a
formal complaint against those who destroyed the newspapers,
it is highly unlikely that there will be any prosecutions
given the lack of capacity of the police and the
dysfunctional state of the justice system. End Comment.
NESBITT