UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COTONOU 000307

PARIS FOR ARS (DWINTON)
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/PD (ANYASO, TITUS, LISENBY), ECA/PE/V/R/A
(EBUTLER), AF/W (VHARPER)

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OEXC KPAO SCUL BN
SUBJECT: BENIN GPRA REPORT: AFRP CONFLICT RESOLUTION

REF: SECSTATE 46194


1. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY: Benin's participants in the June 8-26,
2009 Conflict Resolution Program, Zacharie Dah-Sekpo, President of
the Second Commercial Court and the Fourth Civilian Court dealing
with land disputes and Charles Badou, Attorney at Law, returned to
Benin and debriefed the Public Affairs Officer and the Cultural
Affairs Assistant about their visit to the U.S. They also assured us
that they will share the newly gained U.S. experience with their
Beninese counterparts.


2. DATE OF ACTIVITY: June 8-26, 2009; third quarter, FY 09.


3. PROGRAM JUSTIFICATION/OBJECTIVES: The program was a good
opportunity for both participants to get an understanding of U.S.
perspectives on the use of dispute resolution, and of various
techniques for mitigating or resolving a variety of conflicts and
disputes resulting from ethnic, religious, socio-economic and
regional differences.


4. MPP UMBRELLA THEMES AND AUDIENCE REACHED: Subject program meets
Post's objectives in promoting Democracy and Good Governance, Human
Rights and Mutual Understanding.


5. ACTIVITIES/IMPACT/RESULT: During the debriefing session, both
participants expressed their appreciation for Americans' kindness,
discipline and respect for public property. They were impressed by
how decentralized American local government is and the very active
and dynamic role that the civil society takes in the control of
local governments as well as the high level of citizen involvement
in local as well as social, economic and political affairs. As a
member of the civil society of Benin, Attorney Badou alluded to his
positive U.S. experience in his interview on TV on July 14 when the
journalist asked his opinion about the President's policy toward
combating corruption. He asserted that the Beninese civil society is
not playing the role it should be playing, which is to speak up,
denounce and condemn injustice, improprieties and poor management.



6. The participants were also pleasantly surprised to discover that
mediation is used to avoid litigation in many cases in the U.S.
They felt that this was an excellent model to encourage in Benin
because it fosters communication between the different antagonists
and allows for peaceful resolution of conflicts, as opposed to a
traditional adversarial courtroom setting. They also noted that
mediation could ameliorate the situation of overcrowded courtroom
dockets. They were struck by the fact judges in the U.S. had the
authority to refer some cases to the mediator and they longed for
the day when judges in Benin could be given that power or
prerogative to delegate more minor cases to a mediator.


7. As an immediate result of their participation in this program,
they intend to organize meetings with leaders and civil society
members to share with them the positive experience they had in the
U.S. The PAO offered to host such a meeting at the American Cultural
Center and she also suggested involving them in a TV panel
discussion with the Charge d'Affaires to discuss actions Beninese
could take based on their experience in the U.S. as it relates to
President Obama's Ghana speech.


8. Both participants felt that it would be helpful to bring people
together to begin thinking about how to anticipate and prevent
eventual conflicts in the near future, in the lead-up to Benin's
legislative and presidential elections. Mounting problems of a
widening gap between the rich and the poor and concentration of
wealth in the hands of a few, flooding, poor government management,
all factors that could lead to conflicts. According to Badou, the
role of civil society is to reflect on these important issues
related to the society's well being and see to its interests. He
noted that the time has come and the need is great to establish a
think-tank committee or organization that would take on the
responsibility for seriously reflecting on the country's many
problems with an aim of promoting recommendations and solutions for
the government to follow. Both participants agreed that it will take
a lot of work to educate the citizens about their civic
responsibilities and the need to impose self- discipline and
inculcate a sense of working for the good of the nation before
incremental changes will come.


9. The participants found the program to be well organized and
tightly focused, with interesting presentations by most speakers.
Nevertheless, they would have liked more simulations and real cases
for the program. They also would have preferred that the program
finish on Thursday to allow them to return home and get enough rest
before resuming work on Monday.


10. NON-USG SOURCES OF IN-COUNTRY FUNDING/IN KIND SUPPORT: None


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11. QUALITY OF USG SUPPORT: Excellent. The participants were very
impressed by the quality and professionalism of the speakers, ELOs
and programs.

BOUSTANI