FRENCH-CAR RELATIONS SERIOUSLY STRAINED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGUI 000120

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C
PARIS FOR RKANEDA
LONDON FOR PLORD
AFRICOM FOR JKUGEL,CKOCH

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PINR CT
SUBJECT: FRENCH-CAR RELATIONS SERIOUSLY STRAINED

REF: 09 BANGUI 118

1.(SBU) SUMMARY: In the 49 years since the independence of the
Central African Republic (CAR),the French have been the
dominant foreign force and their military and financial aid
continues to be an essential crutch supporting the government of
President Francois Bozize. Yet despite France's historic
engagement in the CAR and the traditional deference which the
CAR's population holds the power of the French government, it is
increasingly clear that French patience is wearing very thin and
may be approaching its limit. Bozize, and indeed most Central
Africans, appear to be blind to what we see as clear signals
from Paris. President Bozize may still believe himself
indispensible to France, but Post suspects he is wrong. END
SUMMARY


2. (SBU) For at least the last eighteen months, in both Bangui
and Paris, the French have consistently expressed deep
frustration with the Central African Government (CARG) to
Embassy Bangui staff. They are now willing to express that
frustration directly to the highest levels of the United
Nations. The French ambassador was extremely candid with United
Nations Undersecretary for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe
during a recent lunch at the U.S. Ambassador's Residence. (NOTE:
Pascoe is the former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia. Also, present
was the United Nations' interim resident representative). On a
macro level, President Sarkozy has been calling for a
reorientation of French policy vis a vis Africa, away from the
post colonial patronage of previous Gaullist governments to a
more pragmatic relationship based on French economic interests.
An advisor on Sub-Saharan African Affairs to President Sarkozy
further confirmed this attitude in regards to Central Africa in
separate meetings with the Ambassador and POLOFF several times
over the last eighteen months. The Bozize/Sarkozy meeting of
twelve minutes in 2007, and the tongue lashing that accompanied
it, is renowned and symptomatic of the frosty relations between
the two capitals. According to reliable sources, Sarkozy said:
``This is what I/France have done FOR you and this is what you
have done TO me/France.'' The French refer to the meeting as the
``icy shower.'' The follow-on meeting at the Quai was longer and
chillier. It is very clear that the days of Valery Giscard
D'Estaing calling Emperor Bokassa his ``friend and family
member'' are long gone, even if this fact escapes most Central
Africans, especially those in the CARG.


3. (SBU) The Central Africans have not made this a difficult
decision for the French. The constant frustrations facing French
commercial giants such as Total and AREVA are well known. While
France used to count on the CAR as a valuable reserve of
uranium, it is very clear that the double dealing of the
Minister of Mines, among others, in renegotiating contracts is
pushing the French beyond even their normally generous limits.
Additionally, the obtuse behavior of the CARG in naming Saifee
Durbar, a man wanted for fraud in France, as Vice Minister of
Foreign Affairs has seriously strained relations. While it
appeared at first that the French might hold their noses and
grant a diplomatic visa to Durbar in exchange for the Areva
deal, it is now clear that this is not the case. French
indignation was probably increased then they learned that
Durbar's Hydro-Finance company had been given exclusive rights
to provide electrical power to Areva. Post does not have all the
details, but it is clear that the dam needed to provide this
power does not exist. Durbar has also secured the rights to
large concessions all around Areva's holdings for his Swiss
company, Uranio, AG. Again, Post do not have the details, but is
willing to speculate that Areva might be boxed in. The United
Nations' interim Resident Representative marveled to the U.S.
ambassador that in personal conversations with him, President
Bozize continued to defend Durbar. He dismissed any French
objections to Durbar as being simply sour grapes as Durbar had
defended Central African interests. NOTE: The French were not
amused when an anonymous leaflet appeared in Bangui inviting
violence against the French Deputy Chief of Mission for his
actions against Durbar. This is the first time that anyone can
remember such a leaflet circulating in Bangui. END NOTE.


4. (SBU) Furthermore, the French military, which has poured
surplus material and training into the FACA, the gendarmes and

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the police for many years, only to see the material fall apart
and the training ill used, is deeply frustrated as well. After a
French Gendarme was assaulted during the 14 July national day
ceremony in 2007 by a member of Bozize's Presidential Guard
(GP),all cooperation with the GP was cut off. (Bozize declined
to attend the French National Day in 2008.) Furthermore, the
French, who in the late 1990's had four military bases in the
CAR, now have 250 soldiers total in the country, based mostly in
Bangui. So while the French may still be at the center of
Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration efforts and
Security Sector Reform, as well as the main contributor of
bilateral aid, it is clear that this is more of a historic
remnant than a forward moving policy leading to deeper
cooperation. Indeed, the French say that they are shifting all
of their regional/geostrategic military engagement to MICOPAX.
To that end, they are helping to set up a headquarters staff in
Libreville. It appears that they hope eventually to be able to
use MICOPAX troops as a quick reaction force, until they can fly
in their own troops from Gabon, in the event of evacuation.


5. (SBU) COMMENT: If the French were indeed to retract all
political, economic and military aid, it is almost certain the
Bozize government, as it currently behaves, would crumble (RRF
09 BANGUI 118). Yet it is unclear that Bozize thinks this even a
remote possibility. In spite of, or because of, being raised in
the court of Emperor Bokassa and witness to his deposition by
the French, and to the various French military actions in the
CAR over the past 30 years (including the bombardment of rebels
headed towards Bangui in 2007),Bozize, and indeed most Central
Africans, remains blind to the shifting signals from Paris.
Bozize may believe that he has successfully rendered himself the
least of the evils in the CAR political landscape. He thus
appears to imagine himself indispensible to his neighbors and
the French, an assumption that AmEmbassy Bangui believes may be
badly mistaken. END COMMENT
COOK