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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 001118 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2016 
TAGS: PREL PHUM MARR PINR TO IV FR
SUBJECT: TOGO/FRANCE:  EX-MINISTER BOKO UPSET AND AFRAID 
AFTER PRESS LEAKS ON TOGO-COTE D'IVOIRE ARMS TRAFFICKING 
ISSUES 
 
REF: A. PARIS 741 
     ¶B. PARIS 553 
     ¶C. 05 PARIS 4103 
 
PARIS 00001118  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons 
1.4 (b/d). 
 
¶1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  Togo's ex-Interior Minister Francois Boko 
said on February 17 that he was very upset by apparent press 
leaks concerning his testimony about the November 6, 2004, 
bombing incident in Cote d'Ivoire.  Boko had told a French 
judge investigating the incident that French authorities had 
neglected to act on intelligence from Togo both before and 
after the bombing.  After the public exposure of Boko's 
testimony, he said he feared for his and his family's safety 
through Togolese reprisals.  Separately, Boko sought U.S. 
support for his candidacy for a position at the African 
Development Bank (see Guidance Request, para 9).  Boko deemed 
his February 4 meeting with the Togolese diaspora a success 
and noted that he was considering meeting with Gilchrist 
Olympio to see if their political agendas could be reconciled 
in an effort to promote unity among Togo's opposition.  Boko 
remained convinced that President Faure was going to govern 
Togo much like his father Eyadema had, and provided a 
chilling anecdote supporting this conclusion.  END SUMMARY. 
 
INCENSED AND AFRAID 
 
¶2.  (C)  Togo's former Interior Minister Francois Boko has 
previously described to us the arms trafficking link between 
Togo and Cote d'Ivoire, and how French ex-gendarme and Togo 
insider Robert Montoya helped provide Cote d'Ivoire weapons 
and Belarusian military personnel involved in the November 6, 
2004, bombing in Bouake, Cote d'Ivoire, that led to the 
deaths of nine French soldiers and an Amcit civilian (Ref A). 
 Boko has also reported that he had informed the French of 
these links and had directed the arrests of eight Belarusians 
after the bombing (including the two pilots directly 
involved) when they attempted to transit through Togo after 
the bombings.  He said that the French told him to release 
the pilots after he had held them in custody for two weeks, 
on the grounds that France did not want to cause problems 
with Belarus over the incident. 
 
¶3.  (C)  Boko was late to our February 17 meeting because he 
had called earlier that day on French judge Brigitte Raynaud, 
who is investigating the bombing and the related Togo-Cote 
d'Ivoire arms trafficking issue.  Raynaud had officially 
interviewed Boko on February 9, at which time Boko provided 
Raynaud with the same information on the bombing, the arms 
trafficking link, Montoya's role, and the GOF suggestion to 
release the Belarusians that he had earlier related to us. 
Boko met with Raynaud on February 17, he said, because the 
French news weekly Nouvel Observateur on February 16 reported 
the essence of Boko's February 9 testimony (emphasizing the 
GOF's advice that Boko release the Belarusians and not get 
further involved).  Boko told Raynaud he was very upset and 
angry that this information had been leaked to the press.  He 
said she denied that she or her office had leaked the 
material, and that other parties involved in the case must 
have done so. 
 
¶4.  (C)  We told Boko that a short item about his testimony 
to Raynaud and that named him had also appeared in the 
February 17 edition of Le Figaro (of which he had not been 
aware).  Further upset, Boko said he was afraid that news of 
his testimony could put him and his family in danger, 
especially since he was already viewed as an enemy of the 
regime in Togo.  He noted that there had already been a 
demonstration, consisting of regime supporters, in front of a 
house he owned in Lome.  The UNDP representative in Togo had 
been leasing this house (a good source of income for Boko) 
but had recently departed Togo.  The house was now vacant, 
and Boko was afraid it would be destroyed in retaliation for 
his testimony and for his February 4 meeting with the Paris 
diaspora (see para 10 below).  (NOTE:  One internet story 
refers to the possible destruction of the house -- 
www.togoforum.com/Ap/Press/Gazette/0216062.ht m., and another 
comments on the trouble Boko faces as a result of public 
knowledge of his testimony -- 
www.togoforum.com/Ap/Press/Gazette/022206.htm .  END NOTE.) 
 
¶5.  (C)  In addition to his anger and fear, Boko expressed 
puzzlement over the leak.  He was particularly vexed that he 
had now become a victim of the leak, as he had only tried to 
help the French by providing what he thought was useful and 
important information about the arms trafficking and bombing 
incident.  Acknowledging that he was speculating, Boko said 
the story may have been given to the media by Raynaud (who 
 
PARIS 00001118  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
Boko believed supported French presidential hopeful Nicolas 
Sarkozy) in order to discredit Sarkozy's political rival, 
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.  Villepin served as 
Foreign Minister until March 31, 2004, and then as Interior 
Minister (including at the time of the November 6, 2004, 
bombing) and was therefore, in either position, likely to be 
at the center of any decision making in response to the 
information Boko was providing on the arms trafficking both 
before the bombing and especially concerning events at the 
time of and following the bombing.  France's decision to do 
nothing about the Belarusians could harm Villepin 
politically, inasmuch as French soldiers had been killed, 
Boko surmised. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  NOTE:  Along those lines, Le Figaro's February 17 
article led to its publication on February 20 of a letter 
from a reader who commented that "one learns with 
stupefaction that the Belarusian pilots, having participated 
in Cote d'Ivoire in an attack on the French army (with nine 
deaths and a number of seriously wounded), were arrested, but 
that France did not deem it opportune to demand their 
extradition, apparently in order not to ruffle relations with 
¶M. Gbagbo."  END NOTE. 
 
WILLFUL NEGLECT TO KEEP IN GBAGBO'S GOOD GRACES? 
 
¶7.  (C)  On the issue of why French authorities apparently 
did not act on the information Boko had provided before the 
bombing concerning the Togo-Cote d'Ivoire arms link and 
Montoya's involvement, and furthermore why France had failed 
to act when the Belarusians were in Togolese detention after 
the bombing, Boko speculated that France had early on decided 
to back Gbagbo's efforts to quash the northern rebels and 
restore order and unity to Cote d'Ivoire.  France had turned 
a blind eye to the arms trafficking, so long as it helped 
Gbagbo.  But, after the bombing and the deaths of the French 
soldiers, everything changed.  France was put in the 
difficult position of having supported someone who had killed 
French service members.  France's current objective, Boko 
thought, was to avoid having this become a public scandal. 
Hence the request that he release the Belarusians and the 
lack of GOF effort to investigate the case.  Judge Raynaud, 
however, was acting with the traditional autonomy of a French 
investigative judge, and her investigation was in part 
triggered by complaints from the families of the dead 
soldiers.  Boko was ambivalent about Raynaud -- on the one 
hand, her investigation was bringing the truth to light, but 
on the other, she had done him a great disservice if she or 
her associates had leaked his testimony to the press or had 
negligently handled his statement so that others could commit 
the leak.  (NOTE:  Le Monde's February 23 edition reports 
that Raynaud on February 16 requested that an international 
arrest warrant be issued against Robert Montoya for 
"complicity in murder" concerning his role in supplying the 
aircraft and Belarusian military personnel involved in the 
bombing.  The article also notes that Raynaud recently left 
her position as investigative judge and that the relatively 
inexperienced 32-year-old judge Florence Michon will now be 
handling the case.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶8.  (C)  In terms of retaliation, we noted that the Togo 
Embassy in Paris had recently circulated a diplomatic note 
announcing that the diplomatic passports of Boko and his 
family had been canceled.  Boko said he was aware of this but 
said the "cancellation" was not valid.  As former Interior 
Minister, he said he was familiar with how this worked -- 
according to Togo's laws and regulations, legitimately issued 
passports could only be canceled if they were physically 
canceled or destroyed by hand -- "they cannot be canceled 
through an announcement."  He said these provisions, in 
theory, prohibited the GOT from arbitrarily canceling the 
passport of anyone it did not like.  Boko said he would 
continue to use his diplomatic passport and would "see what 
happens" if it is challenged.  (NOTE:  Boko's diplomatic 
passport contains a five-year, multiple-entry U.S. visa 
issued in Paris in 2005. END NOTE.) 
 
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK/MCC AND U.S. SUPPORT 
 
¶9.  (C)  Boko said that current events caused him to think 
that he should consider leaving France.  Ideally, he thought 
a job at an international organization would suit him both 
professionally and in terms of security for him and his 
family.  He had mentioned earlier his interest in obtaining 
one of four open vice-presidential positions at the African 
Development Bank in Tunis.  This had been a bit of a pipe 
dream, he said, until the press leaks caused him to 
re-evaluate his presence in France.  He asked whether the 
U.S. could support his candidacy.  Boko said he was also 
 
PARIS 00001118  003 OF 003 
 
 
interested in consulting work regarding the Millennium 
Challenge Corporation.  GUIDANCE REQUEST:  Please advise as 
to what we can tell Boko regarding his interest in the 
African Development Bank position and Millennium Challenge 
Corporation.  END GUIDANCE REQUEST. 
 
POLITICAL ACTIVITIES, RELATIONS WITH GILCHRIST OLYMPIO 
 
¶10.  (C)  Boko said that his February 4 meeting with the 
Togolese diaspora in Paris (Ref A) had gone well, with some 
500 in attendance.  He said the meeting featured an open 
discussion of Togo and its problems and how Togolese should 
unite in dealing with the Faure regime.  Although pleased 
with the meeting, Boko said that this public foray into 
Togolese politics had increased his visibility and made him a 
potential target, all of which the leaked testimony made 
worse.  He again noted the demonstration in front of his 
house in Lome and the possibility it would be destroyed. 
 
¶11.  (C)  Boko said he was considering meeting with Gilchrist 
Olympio in an effort to bridge their differences.  Boko said 
he had earlier refused to meet with Olympio, also in exile in 
Paris, because Olympio had rejected Boko's proposal that 
they, along with other oppositionist personalities, meet 
jointly to discuss Togo's future. 
 
FAURE FAMILY VALUES 
 
¶12.  (C)  Boko said he was more convinced than ever that 
Faure intended to govern in the same manner as had his 
father.  He became further convinced when a Togolese military 
friend told him recently that Faure was perpetuating one of 
his father's more gruesome practices.  It seems that every 
year, during the night of January 12-13, Eyadema had a bull 
brought before him and his entourage, which he then shot and 
killed as part of a ritual to commemorate the 1963 coup and 
his personal killing of deposed President Sylvanus Olympio 
(Gilchrist's father) a day or two later.  Boko was very 
disturbed to hear that this year, during the night of January 
12-13, Faure had shot and killed a bull just as his father 
had for many years.  Boko said he had earlier told his 
military friend that he hoped Faure would end this tradition, 
but the friend reported, to the friend's own dismay, that 
Faure had not. 
 
¶13.  (SBU)  BIO NOTE:  Boko announced that his second child, 
a healthy baby girl, was born on February 15.  Her birth in 
the middle of these other complications made for a very busy 
period, Boko said.  He noted with relief that as her mother 
is a French citizen and because of her birth in France, he 
would not have to try to obtain a Togolese passport for the 
newborn.  Boko and his wife have one other child, a 
nine-year-old son. 
 
 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
Hofmann