VZCZCXRO6400
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHAB #0549/01 1441625
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 241625Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1365
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABIDJAN 000549 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2016 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV ECON EFIN IV
SUBJECT: YOUNG PATRIOTS CONTINUE TO OCCUPY HIGH SCHOOL 
TEACHER UNION HEADQUARTERS AS UNION PRESSES DEMANDS FOR 
SALARY INCREASES 
 
REF: ABIDJAN 716 
 
Classified By: ECONOFF ERFANA DAR FOR REASON 1.4 (B AND D) 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y added tags ELAB, PGOV, ECON, EFIN, 
changed classification to 1.4 b & d 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Congress of Young Patriots (COJEP), the 
leading faction of the Young Patriots youth militia and 
headed by Ble Goude, continues to occupy the headquarters of 
the Secondary School Teacher,s Union (SYNESCI).  Despite 
complaints to the Ivorian government, COJEP remains in place 
with impunity.  SYNESCI has led several strikes during the 
2006 academic year, most recently in April 2006 to protest 
the lack of movement on its request for pay increases absent 
since 1994 (reftel).  SYNESCI,s efforts to continue to 
negotiate with the government have been hampered by COJEP,s 
take-over, DESIGNED TO support the pro-FPI faction within 
SYNESCI.  End Summary 
 
Key Players 
 
¶2. (U) SYNESCI is a labor union of secondary school teachers 
in Cote d,Ivoire.  Within SYNESCI there are two factions, 
each claiming legitimacy in leadership and control of the 
union,s financial assets.  One faction is led by Mamadou 
Soro, who won both the 2000 and 2003 elections.  Soro is 
recognized as the elected leader of SYNESCI by the majority 
of its members.  The schism in SYNESCI occurred in 2003 when 
Evariste Koudou became head of a dissenting group and refused 
to recognize Soro as SYNESCI's elected leader.  Since that 
time, Koudou has claimed leadership of SYNESCI.  Koudou, who 
is a member of the ruling FPI party, has been able to sustain 
his claim by drawing on the political support of the Minister 
of Education and President Ggagbo. 
 
Headquarters attacked while SYNESCI met with PM 
 
¶3. (U) COJEP's invasion of SYNESCI headquarters occurred on 
May 4, while Soro was meeting with Prime Minister Banny to 
discuss SYNESCI,s demand for pay increases for its members. 
Two teachers were reported wounded as staff members were 
forced out by the militias. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The invasion of SYNESCI headquarters was apparently 
an FPI effort to force acceptance of Koudou's leadership. 
During Soro's meeting with the prime minister, a 
representative from Koudou,s faction walked out to protest 
his group,s exclusion from a mid-April planning session that 
SYNESCI had held with the Prime Minister's staff to set the 
agenda for the May 4 meeting. 
 
¶5. (U) According to Soro, SYNESCI does not intend to go back 
on strike any time soon.  However, if the current 
negotiations with the PM,s office fall through and SYNESCI 
again walks out of the classroom, its members have already 
demonstrated their ability to paralyze the secondary school 
system (reftel).  Now that the schools are back in session, 
the students and teachers are simply expected to catch up. 
Despite the lost hours in the classroom, no one anticipates 
that the Ministry will nullify the entire school year. 
However, minor concessions have already had to be made, e.g., 
the annual exams have been moved from June to July. 
 
¶6. (U) Since the COJEP invasion occurred, neither Mamadou 
Soro nor his staff have had access to SYNESCI,s 
headquarters, hampering the efforts of SYNESCI to represent 
its members.  Soro has filed a protest of COJEP,s occupation 
with the police commissioner, the Ministry of the Interior 
and the Prime Minister,s office, all to no avail. 
 
¶7. (U) SYNESCI is not the only disgruntled group within 
within the secondary school system.  The owners of the 
private secondary schools had threatened to close their 
schools (as they have done before) starting on May 23 to 
protest the more than 60 billion CFA in unpaid subsidies that 
the government owes to them since 2002.  The owners agreed to 
put off the closure after meeting with the Prime Minister's 
Secretary General and receiving assurances that the 
 
SIPDIS 
government will pay 7.5 billion CFA in arrears by the end of 
the week.  If the money is not paid, the owners are likely to 
make good on their threat. 
 
¶8. (C) Comment:  The occupation of the union's offices by 
COJEP typifies the FPI's preferred approach of relying on 
strongarm methods to assert control through intimidation and 
violence.  Regardless of the merits of SYNESCI's case for 
higher pay, it is unlikely that the teachers will receive the 
increase they are seeking given the transitional nature of 
the current Ivoirian government and its existing budget 
constraints.  The most the union can hope for is a promised 
 
ABIDJAN 00000549  002 OF 002 
 
 
review of their wage scale after the next elections. 
Hooks