VZCZCXRO6251
PP RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #1294 1930847
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 120847Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8030
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1602
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1704
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1675
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 1629
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL
RUEPGDA/USEUCOM JIC VAIHINGEN GE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JCS NMCC WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 9332

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 001294 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EINV EAID ECON TI
SUBJECT: LET THEM EAT SOMETHING OTHER THAN CAKE!  DUSHANBE'S MAYOR 
FIGHTS POPULAR BISTRO 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  A letter from the French Ambassador asking the 
Dushanbe city government to halt street construction during an 
outdoor Bastille Day celebration has led to the temporary 
closure of a popular Dushanbe restaurant and highlighted just 
how risky it is to invest in Tajikistan, or even more dangerous, 
to invest in a successful enterprise.  La Grande Dame, 
Dushanbe's only truly European restaurant, announced by email 
July 11 it was closed until further notice, due to 
"circumstances beyond control."  The restaurant had catered two 
large U.S. Embassy receptions a week earlier, and enjoyed a full 
house most nights, thanks not only to the fresh mozzarella, top 
quality steaks, and flourless chocolate cake, but also due to 
the lack of alternative high quality European eateries in 
Dushanbe. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  PolOff visited the site July 11 to find a distraught 
wait staff, an irate French ambassador and French cultural 
attachi standing on the terrace amidst roof panels that had been 
torn off and stacked.  The staff explained that the Mayor's 
office had ordered the demolition of the front part of the 
restaurant, claiming it was illegally constructed. (NOTE:  The 
proprietor, an Australian national who also manages a U.S-funded 
health project, built an addition and a fagade to give the 
building the feel of a French bistro.  END NOTE.)  The staff 
reported that various fire and tax inspectors had come weeks 
earlier, but walked away without the usual payoffs they have 
come to expect from small businesses because the restaurant 
thought its permits were in order. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The French Ambassador said a few days earlier he had 
sent a letter to the city government asking them to halt road 
construction during the French Embassy's July 14 reception, to 
be held at La Grande Dame.  For unknown reasons, the request 
unleashed the wrath of the Mayor, who ordered the closure and 
demolition. "Tajikistan is a medieval Emirate," raged the 
Ambassador. "The Emir decides something, and no one else can 
contradict him."   The Ambassador reported he had officially 
complained to the Foreign Minister and a senior official in the 
presidential apparatus, who refused to call the Mayor's office. 
"Everyone is afraid of the Mayor," fumed the Ambassador. "The 
Emir always gets what he wants. It's the Middle Ages here." 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  PolOff later spoke with the proprietor, who between 
sobs explained that the order was only the latest in a long 
story involving the restaurant and the Mayor's office.  "We 
thought we had taken care of all the paperwork.  The French 
Ambassador's letter just stirred up a hornet's nest."  While the 
restaurant received no written document ordering the demolition, 
she resigned herself to losing this battle.  She later noted 
that the city's demolition team acknowledged that her building 
paperwork was in order, and refused to demolish the fagade for 
fear of being sued. However, she preferred to demolish the 
addition herself, in order to rebuild, than let the city do it. 
"This time we'll do a remodelling that the Mayor's office cannot 
reject." 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  This incident represents more than just 
small business fighting city hall and underscores how precarious 
any investment in Dushanbe can be.  Conflicting regulations, 
surprise inspections and corruption from the top down create a 
business environment designed to keep even the most 
conscientious business owners in fear that if they do not grease 
the right palm, their business will be shut down.  Embassy 
Dushanbe knows plenty of examples of the Mayor's capricious and 
egregious behaviour, particularly in his administration's 
reluctance to allow Dushanbe's sister city Boulder, Colorado, to 
donate a million-dollar Internet cafi. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  COMMENT CONTINUED:  La Grande Dame offered good food 
and a lovely atmosphere, a change from the typical faux- Russian 
cuisine with a neo-Soviet ear-splitting floor show that passes 
for high-class dining in Tajikistan.  Not only does its closure 
eliminate the only restaurant a foreign businessman might feel 
comfortable patronizing, the saga adds to the long list of 
reasons for visiting foreign investors to exercise caution.  The 
closure of La Grande Dame is another sign that Tajikistan's 
power figures just don't get what it will take to get lasting 
investment in the economy.  END COMMENT. 
 
HOAGLAND