VZCZCXRO0495
RR RUEHPA RUEHROV
DE RUEHFR #1656/01 0750805
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 160805Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5225
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1194

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001656 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2016 
TAGS: PREL IV TO CT FR
SUBJECT: FRENCH MFA OFFICIAL DISCUSSES COTE D'IVOIRE, TOGO, 
C.A.R., JUDICIAL INVESTIGATIONS 
 
REF: A. ABIDJAN 246 
 
     ¶B. 05 PARIS 952 
     ¶C. 05 PARIS 1229 
     ¶D. PARIS 1118 
     ¶E. PARIS 553 
 
Classified By:  Political-Minister Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons 
 1.4 (b/d). 
 
¶1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  In a March 13 meeting devoted to Liberia 
(septel), MFA DAS-equivalent for West Africa Bruno Foucher 
offered brief comments on Cote d'Ivoire (February clash 
between French and Ivoirian forces in western Cote d'Ivoire 
was deliberately instigated by the Ivoirian side), Togo 
(Faure is accepted as Togo's leader but needs to escape the 
influence of his father's entourage; Gilchrist Olympio is 
impeding reconciliation talks), and C.A.R. (no functioning 
economy).  Foucher said that the MFA was not involved 
substantively in judicial investigations involving Cote 
d'Ivoire and Togo. END SUMMARY. 
 
COTE D'IVOIRE 
------------- 
¶2.  (C)  After providing a readout on March 13 on Liberian 
President Johnson-Sirleaf's March 7-10 visit to Paris 
(septel), MFA DAS-equivalent for West Africa Bruno Foucher, 
visibly irritated, commented on the clash between French and 
Ivoirian forces in western Cote d'Ivoire during the February 
26-28 period (ref A).  He said there was no doubt on the 
French side that the Armed Forces of Cote d'Ivoire (FANCI) 
had improperly entered into the Confidence Zone in the 
vicinity of Bouenue and that FANCI units had sought to 
provoke French forces.  Foucher commented that Gbagbo took 
every opportunity to attract attention away from PM Banny in 
order to "stay in the picture," and he cited the Bouenue 
incident as an example.  Foucher said that the presence of 
the media to witness and record the confrontation was 
evidence that the incident was deliberate and had been 
planned in advance.  Defense Minister Alliot-Marie's letter 
to UN Secretary-General Annan complaining about the incident 
was completely justified in France's view, he said.  Foucher 
considered ongoing discussions on having UN forces return to 
western Cote d'Ivoire, from which they had withdrawn on 
January 15, as a positive step.  However, he said that French 
distrust of Gbagbo could only grow as a result of this latest 
clash. 
 
TOGO 
---- 
¶3.  (C)  Foucher commented that Faure had consolidated his 
power and was accepted as Togo's leader.  However, Foucher 
said that Faure continued to be unduly influenced by his 
father's entourage.  Foucher mentioned specifically French 
citizen Charles Debbasch, a longtime Eyadema advisor who has 
become Faure's advisor.  Expressing scorn for Debbasch, 
Foucher said that the French have informed him that if he 
tried to use his Togolese diplomatic passport to return to 
France, he would be subject to arrest, based on his 
conviction in a fraud case in France (refs B and C).  (NOTE: 
Togo's ex-Interior Minister Francois Boko has told us that 
Debbasch traveled to France during the December 2005 holiday 
season without any problems -- ref D.  END NOTE.)  Foucher 
remarked that another troublesome French member of Faure's 
inner circle was Robert Montoya, under investigation for 
Belarus/Togo/Cote d'Ivoire arms trafficking and his 
involvement in the November 6, 2004, bombing in Cote d'Ivoire 
that resulted in the death of nine French military and an 
Amcit civilian (refs D and E). 
 
¶4.  (C)  Foucher said that Togo's other main problem was 
Gilchrist Olympio, the Paris-based head of the UFC opposition 
movement and son of the president whom Eyadema deposed in 
¶1963.  Foucher said that Togo had made substantial progress 
in meeting 22 of the 23 conditions that might permit a 
restoration of relations with the EU, including renewed 
economic assistance.  However, there has been little progress 
regarding the 23rd condition concerning a national 
reconciliation dialogue.  Foucher laid most of the blame on 
Gilchrist Olympio, who refused to engage in the dialogue and 
who used his position as ostensible "leader" of the 
opposition to block progress.  Olympio, Foucher said, enjoyed 
credibility with the EU and many of its members, which made 
it difficult to work around him.  Echoing what Boko has told 
us, Foucher said that Olympio seemed mired in the past, had 
not changed with the times, and might no longer be the best 
person to serve as opposition leader.  Foucher said that 
Faure was ready to engage in dialogue but received no 
cooperation from Olympio.  Olympio recently failed to meet 
with Faure in Rome, which could have been an opportunity to 
 
PARIS 00001656  002 OF 002 
 
 
engage in positive dialogue, Foucher observed. 
 
¶5.  (C)  In passing, Foucher noted with gloom Faure's recent 
eight-day visit to China, commenting that if Togo's prospects 
with the EU dimmed, Togo might seek a range of assistance 
from the PRC, which would likely not add conditions requiring 
democracy, human rights, and environmental reforms when 
providing aid.  Foucher said that a lack of progress in 
meeting all of the EU's 23 conditions by July 22 could mean 
that a substantial part of the EU-Togo dialogue would have to 
be redone.  He hoped this would not happen, referring again 
to Olympio's need to cooperate. 
 
JUDICIAL INVESTIGATIONS 
----------------------- 
¶6.  (C)  Asked how various French judicial investigations 
involving Cote d'Ivoire and Togo (ref E) were affecting 
relations with those countries, Foucher stated firmly that, 
because of the French system and the independence enjoyed by 
the French judiciary, the MFA was not involved in the 
substance of the investigations at all.  On occasion, the MFA 
might help investigators with logistics or provide 
information about the overall situation in a particular 
country but it did not and could not get involved in the 
investigations themselves.  Foucher indicated that Cote 
d'Ivoire and Togo, as former French colonies, knew how the 
system operated and tried to work with the GOF without 
letting the investigations impede other aspects of relations. 
 
C.A.R. 
------ 
¶7.  (C)  Foucher said that C.A.R. was fortunate in that it 
did not have its own homegrown ethnic problem and the 
violence arising therefrom, although its proximity to Sudan 
and Chad certainly placed it at high risk of suffering from 
its neighbors' problems.  Elections in C.A.R. had been 
"good."  Prospects existed for renewed foreign assistance 
from a number of sources (EU, World Bank, African Development 
Bank).  The problem was that C.A.R. did not, in Foucher's 
view, have a functioning economy.  He noted a recent visit to 
Paris by C.A.R.'s Finance Minister, who seemed virtually 
powerless and penniless.  Foucher noted that many of C.A.R.'s 
sources of revenue -- agriculture, forestry, livestock, 
minerals -- however meager, were not within the Finance 
Minister's purview and were formally the responsibility of 
other government agencies.  This made it very difficult, if 
not impossible, for the Finance Minister to be effective, 
Foucher lamented.  He indicated that the French were trying 
to advise C.A.R. on how to improve management of its 
resources and economy but that this project would require a 
great deal of time and energy before results, if any, could 
be realized. 
 
 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
Stapleton