Dispute Process Extended; Mambe Weakened by Dissent within

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABIDJAN 000059

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE PASS TO AMEMBASSY MALABO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/08
TAGS: PGOV KDEM IV
SUBJECT: Dispute Process Extended; Mambe Weakened by Dissent within
CEI

REF: 10 ABIDJAN 15

CLASSIFIED BY: Tanya Salseth, Political Officer, Department of State,
Embassy Abidjan; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (U) Summary: After weeks of speculation, the Prime
Minister's Office and the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI)
announced on February 2 that the period for filing challenges to
the provisional electoral list will be reopened from February 4
through 14. The day after the announcement, 10 of the 31 central
CEI commissioners signed a declaration stating they would "abstain"
from fulfilling their duties during the reopened process and would
refuse to cooperate with the prime minister's observation
committees. The ongoing fraud "scandal" has eroded Mambe's
authority and various commissioners are acting independently,
creating increasing confusion. Meanwhile, a series of disturbing
incidents, including protests in Divo, Katiola, and Man, and a
break-in into a CEI office in Abidjan, signal a general sense of
uneasiness about the latest glitches in the electoral process.
End Summary



DISPUTE PROCESS RE-OPENED, BUT COMMISSIONERS WON'T WORK


2. (C) The dispute process, which officially came to an end
on January 9, will be reopened from February 4 through 14,
according to a February 2 CEI announcement. Ten central CEI
commissioners (most of whom are thought to be pro-FPI) reacted to
this news by issuing a joint declaration on February 3, stating
they would not assist with the dispute process, nor cooperate with
the observation committees set up by the Prime Minister's office
(ref A). The commissioners cited "increasing administrative and
procedural anomalies" on the part of CEI President Mambe as the
reason for their decision, and stated that they would "abstain"
from working until the fraud charges are resolved. Alain Dogou,
one of the CEI's four vice-presidents and President Gbagbo's
representative at the CEI, told Emboffs on February 5 that Mambe
has lost support among the commissioners, as many continue to
question what role he played in the scandal. Dogou said this loss
of confidence has weakened the leadership of the CEI, citing the
example of one central commissioner who, without Mambe's
permission, asked all of the regional CEI commissioners reporting
him to close their offices following the February 3 declaration.



DISTURBING INCIDENTS MULTIPLY


3. (SBU) While the CEI is wracked by internal divisions,
disturbances in the electoral landscape seem to be on the rise.
Demonstrators in Divo, a southern city not far from Abidjan which
saw considerable electoral violence during the 2000 elections,
clashed with police on February 1. The incident began after police
arrested and detained three people whom members of the ruling FPI
party claimed were foreigners who were fraudulently registered on
the provisional electoral list. Two police officers were injured
in the clash; seven demonstrators suffered bullet wounds.




4. On February 2, the town hall responsible for
administrative documents in the northern city of Katiola repeatedly
refused authorized requests to examine the town's birth registry in
an attempt to verify the nationality of some petitioners who were
accused of being foreign. As a result, youth from the opposition
RHDP coalition protested, destroying property in the process. That
same day, newspapers reported that three opposition RDR members
working at a CEI in the Attecoube neighborhood of Abidjan broke
into the CEI office and took 19 boxes of petitioner cases under
dispute. The RDR members claimed the break-in was necessary
because the head of the office, an FPI partisan, had refused to
transfer the documents to the observation committees in compliance
with the prime minister's instructions.



On February 5, the embassy received an unconfirmed report from an
NGO that pro-ruling party demonstrators are protesting in the
western city of Man and are blocking CEI operations from taking
place.




5. (C) Comment: This latest declaration by the ten CEI
commissioners is disturbing on several levels. Although it is no
secret that the president's camp was against the CEI's creation
from its inception (the majority of the commissioners are

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affiliated with the opposition, including CEI President Mambe),
this marks the first time the organization's integrity is being
attacked from within. With Mambe's authority and position in
question, individual CEI commissioners, at both the national and
regional levels, are now deciding on an individual basis whether
or not they will implement the prime minister's directive to
transfer disputed cases to the observation committees for a
decision. The end result is that some CEI offices untouched by
the scandal have continued working, while others have stopped work
completely or have been prevented from working by protestors. End
Comment.
NESBITT