VZCZCXRO7771
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHAB #0171 0711449
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121449Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4990
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS ABIDJAN 000171 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL SOCI IV
SUBJECT: CORRUPTION ARTICLE PROVOKES DESTRUCTION OF 
NEWSPAPERS AND DEATH THREATS 
 
¶1.  (U) On February 28, the "Nouveau Reveil," a newspaper 
closely affiliated with former President Henri Konan Bedie's 
PDCI political party, announced  it would publish an article 
on the theft of 4 billion CFA (approximately 8 million USD) 
by government officials with ties to President Gbagbo.  The 
article, entitled "The ATCI-Warid Communication Affair: How 
Those Close to Gbagbo Embezzled 4 Billion in State Funds," 
appeared in the March 4 edition of the newspaper. 
 
¶2. (U) The article alleged that government officials 
affiliated with President Gbagbo's FPI political party 
embezzled funds from a government deal with Warid Telecom, a 
subsidiary of the international Abu Dhabi Group owned by the 
royal family of Abu Dhabi.  According to the article, Eugene 
Diomande, Chairman of the Board of Comium, one of the cell 
phone providers in Cote d'Ivoire and reportedly close to the 
First Lady, facilitated meetings between Warid Telecom and 
Sylvanus Kla, Director General of the telecoms regulatory 
body.  Kia, who belongs to the FPI and is the president of 
the General Council of San Pedro, freed up service channels 
for Warid Telecom so the company could establish itself as 
the sixth cell phone service provider in Cote d'Ivoire. 
According to the article, Warid deposited nearly 4 billion 
CFA in a Spanish bank account in the name of a shell company 
owned by Diomande. 
 
¶3. (U) Journalists at the "Nouveau Reveil," including 
editor-in-chief Denis Kah Zion, said they received 
threatening phone calls during the four days between the 
newspaper's announcement that it would publish the article 
and its publication.  Some callers allegedly promised large 
sums of money if the paper shelved the article and others 
allegedly made death threats.  According to the newspaper's 
distributor, Edipresse, early on the morning of March 4, 
organized groups of young persons in 3 neighborhoods of 
Abidjan systematically destroyed thousands of copies of that 
day's "Nouveau Reveil" edition, which contained the 
ACTI-Warid article.  After shredding the papers, the groups 
of youth reportedly then hauled away the destroyed papers in 
garbage bags.  The state-owned daily "Fraternite Matin" 
reported on March 5 that approximately seventy-five percent 
of the 15,000 "Nouveau Reveil" newspapers of March 4 never 
made it to readers.  No other newspapers were targeted during 
the destruction. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Comment.  Although the National Press Council 
denounced the vandalism as "reprehensible" and Zion filed a 
formal complaint against those who destroyed the newspapers, 
it is highly unlikely that there will be any prosecutions 
given the lack of capacity of the police and the 
dysfunctional state of the justice system.  End Comment. 
NESBITT