VZCZCXRO9316
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHCO #0307/01 1971259
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 161259Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY COTONOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1030
INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1489
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COTONOU 000307 
 
PARIS FOR ARS (DWINTON) 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/PD (ANYASO, TITUS, LISENBY), ECA/PE/V/R/A 
(EBUTLER), AF/W (VHARPER) 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OEXC KPAO SCUL BN
SUBJECT: BENIN GPRA REPORT: AFRP CONFLICT RESOLUTION 
 
REF: SECSTATE 46194 
 
¶1. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY: Benin's participants in the June 8-26, 
2009 Conflict Resolution Program, Zacharie Dah-Sekpo, President of 
the Second Commercial Court and the Fourth Civilian Court dealing 
with land disputes and Charles Badou, Attorney at Law, returned to 
Benin and debriefed the Public Affairs Officer and the Cultural 
Affairs Assistant about their visit to the U.S. They also assured us 
that they will share the newly gained U.S. experience with their 
Beninese counterparts. 
 
¶2. DATE OF ACTIVITY: June 8-26, 2009; third quarter, FY 09. 
 
¶3. PROGRAM JUSTIFICATION/OBJECTIVES: The program was a good 
opportunity for both participants to get an understanding of U.S. 
perspectives on the use of dispute resolution, and of various 
techniques for mitigating or resolving a variety of conflicts and 
disputes resulting from ethnic, religious, socio-economic and 
regional differences. 
 
¶4. MPP UMBRELLA THEMES AND AUDIENCE REACHED: Subject program meets 
Post's objectives in promoting Democracy and Good Governance, Human 
Rights and Mutual Understanding. 
 
¶5. ACTIVITIES/IMPACT/RESULT: During the debriefing session, both 
participants expressed their appreciation for Americans' kindness, 
discipline and respect for public property. They were impressed by 
how decentralized American local government is and the very active 
and dynamic role that the civil society takes in the control of 
local governments as well as the high level of citizen involvement 
in local as well as social, economic and political affairs. As a 
member of the civil society of Benin, Attorney Badou alluded to his 
positive U.S. experience in his interview on TV on July 14 when the 
journalist asked his opinion about the President's policy toward 
combating corruption. He asserted that the Beninese civil society is 
not playing the role it should be playing, which is to speak up, 
denounce and condemn injustice, improprieties and poor management. 
 
 
¶6.  The participants were also pleasantly surprised to discover that 
mediation is used to avoid litigation in many cases in the U.S. 
They felt that this was an excellent model to encourage in Benin 
because it fosters communication between the different antagonists 
and allows for peaceful resolution of conflicts, as opposed to a 
traditional adversarial courtroom setting. They also noted that 
mediation could ameliorate the situation of overcrowded courtroom 
dockets.  They were struck by the fact judges in the U.S. had the 
authority to refer some cases to the mediator and they longed for 
the day when judges in Benin could be given that power or 
prerogative to delegate more minor cases to a mediator. 
 
¶7. As an immediate result of their participation in this program, 
they intend to organize meetings with leaders and civil society 
members to share with them the positive experience they had in the 
U.S. The PAO offered to host such a meeting at the American Cultural 
Center and she also suggested involving them in a TV panel 
discussion with the Charge d'Affaires to discuss actions Beninese 
could take based on their experience in the U.S. as it relates to 
President Obama's Ghana speech. 
 
¶8.  Both participants felt that it would be helpful to bring people 
together to begin thinking about how to anticipate and prevent 
eventual conflicts in the near future, in the lead-up to Benin's 
legislative and presidential elections.  Mounting problems of a 
widening gap between the rich and the poor and concentration of 
wealth in the hands of a few, flooding, poor government management, 
all factors that could lead to conflicts. According to Badou, the 
role of civil society is to reflect on these important issues 
related to the society's well being and see to its interests. He 
noted that the time has come and the need is great to establish a 
think-tank committee or organization that would take on the 
responsibility for seriously reflecting on the country's many 
problems with an aim of promoting recommendations and solutions for 
the government to follow. Both participants agreed that it will take 
a lot of work to educate the citizens about their civic 
responsibilities and the need to impose self- discipline and 
inculcate a sense of working for the good of the nation before 
incremental changes will come. 
 
¶9. The participants found the program to be well organized and 
tightly focused, with interesting presentations by most speakers. 
Nevertheless, they would have liked more simulations and real cases 
for the program. They also would have preferred that the program 
finish on Thursday to allow them to return home and get enough rest 
before resuming work on Monday. 
 
¶10. NON-USG SOURCES OF IN-COUNTRY FUNDING/IN KIND SUPPORT: None 
 
 
COTONOU 00000307  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶11. QUALITY OF USG SUPPORT: Excellent. The participants were very 
impressed by the quality and professionalism of the speakers, ELOs 
and programs. 
 
BOUSTANI