VZCZCXRO3091
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHAB #0539 1421719
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221719Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2987
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 0095
RUEPGBA/CDR USEUCOM INTEL VAIHINGEN GE//ECJ2/ECJ3/ECJ5//

UNCLAS ABIDJAN 000539 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ELAB IV
SUBJECT: UNIVERSITY TEACHERS STRKE CONTINUES, PROMPTS 
FESCI VIOLENCE 
 
 
¶1. (SBU)The public university teachers, strike, which has 
continued on and off for more than a year, has garered 
renewed attention by the recent actions aganst it by the 
thuggish, pro-Gbagbo students, unin, FESCI (septel).  The 
strike, led by the Natioal Coordination of Higher-Level 
Teachers and Resarchers, CNEC, is primarily over higher pay. 
 Teahers want to receive higher compensation if they hve 
advanced degrees;  currently PhDs get the sam salary as 
those with BAs. 
 
¶2. (U) The strike,which began last year, has been suspended 
severa times before resuming again after failed 
negotiaions.  Most recently, teachers renewed their strik 
on April 13.   President Gbagbo has lately take a tough 
stance against the strikers, rejecting heir salary demands 
in a Labor Day speech on May1, warning them against taking 
"ill-timed, repeatd, and unreasonable strikes8 during a 
time of crsis for the country.  Although insisting that &Iam not going to jeopardize the economic balance ofthe entire 
country,8 Gbagbo offered to continue egotiations with the 
CNEC. 
 
¶3. (U) On May 16, Gagbo relented somewhat by issuing two 
decrees grnting a higher civil service status to the 
univesity-level teachers and to medical doctors, 
pharmacists, and dentists at university teaching hospitals. 
However, the decrees did not include a new salary scale and 
were rejected by CNEC members as wholly insufficient.  As a 
result, CNEC reaffirmed its determination to remain on strike 
until the President at least issues a formal pledge of 
continued negotiations on pay. 
 
¶4. (U) The leadership of FESCI, which ostensibly represents 
secondary and university students, has demanded that the 
teachers to return to work while negotiations with the 
government continue.  FESCI leadership has capitalized on 
legitimate student concerns that, if the strike continues, 
the university year will be cancelled.  (According to two 
professors at the University of Cocody, the English 
Department there has not even started its 2006-07 school year 
while the Economics Department operated for only a month 
before closing down.) 
 
¶5. (SBU) Since many of the striking public university 
professors have been working at private universities that 
remain open, FESCI has adopted the motto, &If they don,t 
teach us, they won,t teach you.8  Thus FESCI has promised 
to close down all private universities.  According to a 
university student leader who is not a FESCI member, FESCI 
has caused disruptions at Universite de l,Atlantique, the 
Universite Canadienne, and the Universite Catholique. 
Another private school, AGITEL, closed of its own accord 
before it was attacked.  The National Arts Institute, INSAC, 
has also been attacked.  On the morning of May 22, a private 
vocational school in front of the Embassy was attacked by a 
handful of FESCI students, but these were chased away by the 
students.  On May 21, FESCI also looted two human rights NGOs 
(LIDHO and APDH)), and prevented New Forces minister Sidiki 
Konate from addressing students at the "Sorbonne" (an 
open-air talk shop frequented by pro-FPI youth) in downtown 
Abidjan. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment:  The long-running strike may have presented 
FESCI with a convenient excuse to act after seeing its 
influence and clout diminish following the Ouagadougou peace 
accord.  The disruption prompted by the strike will likely 
force the new coalition government to act, either against 
FESCI or to settle the dispute with the university teachers. 
So far, the Gbagbo-Soro tandem has remained silent on the 
recent disturbances and FESCI looters have been unmolested by 
security forces. 
HOOKS