VZCZCXRO2585
PP RUEHGI
DE RUEHGI #0103/01 1461107
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 261107Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY BANGUI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0904
INFO RUEHPNH/NVC PORTSMOUTH 0001
RUEHGI/AMEMBASSY BANGUI 1133

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGUI 000103 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR CA/FPP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC CT
SUBJECT: FRAUD SUMMARY - BANGUI 
 
REF: State 074840 
 
¶1. (U) This is Embassy Bangui's response to State 074840, 
regarding general conditions fraud, and consular fraud issues in 
the Central African Republic. 
Country Conditions 
¶2. (U) The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked 
country of 4.5 million people, ranked among the least developed 
countries with an annual per capita income of USD 700 (2008). 
Its economy is based mainly on agriculture, diamonds and 
forestry. Diamonds are the country's principal export, but some 
gold is also mined and uranium exploration projects continue. 
Nearly self-sufficient in food production, the CAR has the 
potential to become a net exporter of agricultural products. 
However, the CAR's economy suffers from the country's landlocked 
position, which isolates it from foreign suppliers and markets 
and contributes to high import prices.  The CAR is believed to 
have petroleum deposits along its border with Chad which could 
be exploited.  It also has hydroelectric potential that could be 
developed to export electricity to neighboring countries. 
¶3. (SBU) The Government of the Central African Republic (CARG) 
is weak and suffers from four separate rebellions stretching 
along the north of the country. The country held presidential 
and legislative elections in 2005, judged credible by the 
international community and domestic observers. Former coup 
leader Francois Bozize was elected President in a May 2005 
run-off election, bringing to end two years of transitional 
process. In early December 2004, citizens overwhelmingly 
approved a new constitution by referendum. The Central African 
Republic remains one of the poorest countries in the world with 
an economy in a state of collapse after years of civil unrest 
and corruption. The current President has appointed several 
family members to key positions within the government, which has 
brought marked criticism from local and international observers. 
In addition, public salary arrears stemming from insufficient 
public revenues and probable corruption within the CARG have 
caused intermittent but persistent strikes by public sector 
workers. Rebellions in the NW and NE prefectures began shortly 
after the 2005 election, and rebel forces remain control of 
large swaths of the northern countryside. Repeated CARG efforts 
to reform government services, improve revenue collection, pay 
salaries regularly, and end corruption and impunity have failed, 
calling into question the CARG's political will to implement 
reform. 
¶4. (SBU) Embassy Bangui currently operates with four (4) 
American Officers and its Consular services include limited 
American Citizen Services only. Post judges that there is a high 
level of document and identity fraud in the Central African 
Republic. 
NIV Fraud 
¶5. (U) Embassy Bangui does not issue visas, including NIVs, and 
does not actively monitor NIV fraud. 
IV Fraud 
¶6. (U) Embassy Bangui does not issue visas, including IVs, and 
does not actively monitor IV fraud. 
DV Fraud 
¶7. (U) Embassy Bangui does not issue visas, including DVs, and 
does not actively monitor DV fraud. 
ACS and U.S. Passport Fraud 
¶8.  (SBU) Embassy Bangui adjudicates limited passport 
applications with the cooperation and support of the U.S. 
Embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon. These applications are scrutinized 
by the Vice-Consul at Post, and documents whose veracity is in 
doubt are verified by the Consular Assistant at the originating 
office in Bangui. Applications are forwarded to Yaounde, where 
name-checking and other checks are performed on the applicants 
and the applications are entered into the ACS+ system. 
Approximately eight U.S. passports were adjudicated during the 
reporting period using this system. 
Adoption Fraud 
 ¶9. (U) Embassy Bangui did not handle any cases of American 
citizens adopting Central African children in 2008. 
Use of DNA Testing 
¶10. (U) Embassy Bangui is aware of only one institution which 
can perform DNA testing in the CAR: the Institut Pasteur in 
Bangui. Post did not require or receive DNA testing results for 
any of its limited Consular functions during the reporting 
period. 
Asylum and other DHS Benefit Fraud 
¶11. (U) Embassy Bangui does not issue visas, including asylum 
cases, and does not actively monitor asylum or DHS fraud. 
Alien Smuggling, Trafficking, Organized Crime, Terrorist Travel 
¶12. (U) Embassy Bangui monitors trafficking-in-persons networks 
in the CAR, including child and child-labor trafficking, sex 
trafficking, and labor trafficking. There are significant 
instances of child labor in the country, mostly in subsistence 
agriculture and some in the diamond mining sector. Many of the 
child trafficking networks in the country are informal, 
family-based networks, in which poor relatives and/or rural 
children are sent to live with extended family members and used 
as servants or manual laborers. The CAR is a source and transit 
country for child trafficking and for sex trafficking, though 
 
BANGUI 00000103  002 OF 002 
 
 
Post has little information on the scale or scope of the 
problem. The CAR is a very significant source of false foreign 
documents, but Post has little information as to whether the CAR 
citizens have used these documents to gain fraudulent entry into 
the United States or to other countries. Post is not aware of 
the circulation of false U.S. passports in the CAR. Post is not 
aware of terrorist travel through the CAR. 
DS Criminal Fraud Investigations 
¶13. (U) Embassy Bangui does not have a resident RSO, but 
receives periodic visits from the RSO in N'Djamena, Chad, who 
has regional responsibilities. Cooperation between the RSO and 
the Consular section in Bangui is good, and has allowed for 
continued cooperation in visa referrals and American Citizen 
Services. Because Post does not issue visas, Bangui's Consular 
section did not make any fraud referrals in the reporting period. 
CAR Passports: 
¶14. (U)  Regular passports:  The CARG has not started issuing 
biometric passports yet.  Regular passports are typewritten. 
The first inside page contains the information regarding the 
bearer of the passport and is laminated.  The ID photo is 
printed, but it is glued at the right corner and the front page. 
 Regular CAR passports are issued by the Immigration Service 
which is under the Ministry of Interior and the passport is 
signed by the Minister himself.  Although they are not 
biometric, they remain valid for travel to Europe.  The 
Government is not able to maintain a permanent stock of 
passports because of financial difficulties.  It happens that no 
passport has been issued for a period of 3 to 5 months because 
they are out of stock or the computer is out of order 
¶15. (U) Official and diplomatic passports (Passeport de Service 
& Passeport Diplomatique):  This category of passports is issued 
by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is entirely handwritten. 
(NOTE: Diplomatic/official passport issuance is not under 
surveillance, and almost anyone can apply and obtain a CAR 
official/diplomatic passport. Many CAR applicants who have no 
claim to diplomatic or official status receive diplomatic or 
official passports. Some CAR diplomatic passport holders may 
only have tenuous claims to CAR citizenship. END NOTE) 
¶16. (U) Birth/Marriage Certificates are issued by the city-hall 
(Mairie) in every big city and are easy to verify from the 
records. 
¶17. (U) National IDs are issued by the Director General of 
Police and are digital with bar codes. 
¶18. (U) The CAR Government regards visa fraud as a crime and 
officials are generally cooperative when verifying documents. 
CARG officials respond clearly and regularly when a document to 
be verified is fake or fraudulent. 
¶19. (U) The CAR Government recently started issuing controlled 
documents such as Drivers' Licenses.  These documents as well as 
the ID cards are issued on numerical cards with bar codes 
(similar to many U.S. Drivers' Licenses) and are not easy to be 
reproduced. Nonetheless, Diplomatic/official passport issuance 
is a major concern and is not/not under surveillance. Almost 
anyone can apply and obtain a CAR official/diplomatic passport. 
Areas of Concern 
¶20. (U) Many CAR Passport applicants who have no claim to 
diplomatic or official status receive diplomatic or official 
passports. Some CAR diplomatic passport holders may only have 
tenuous claims to CAR citizenship. 
¶21. (U) Staffing and training:  Officer and LES FPU staff: 
- David Wisner, Consular Officer.  Fraud prevention received 
during General Consular Training in Washington, DC in 2008. 
Departure expected February 2011. 
- Jean-Baptiste Boby, Consular Assistant:  No fraud prevention 
training received. 
- Victor Bead, Security/Investigator Assistant, No fraud 
prevention training received. 
COOK