US embassy cable - 05ABIDJAN695

UNCLAS  ABIDJAN 000695 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DAKAR FOR OFDA/WARO DAVIS 
ROME FOR FODAG 
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH 
CONAKRY FOR POL; USAID FOR AADAMS 
FREETOWN FOR POL AND USAID 
MONROVIA FOR OFDA AND FFP 
NAIROBI FOR OFDA/EARO 
EUCOM FOR POLA/J3/J4/J5 
BRUSSELS FOR USAID PLERNER 
NEW YORK FOR TMALY 
 
STATE FOR PRM, AF/W, IO 
NSC FOR JMELINE 
USAID FOR USAID/A, AFR/AA, AFR/WA 
USAID FOR DCHA/OFDA GGOTTLIEB, MMARX, CPRATT 
USAID FOR DCHA/AA, DCHA/FFP, DCHA/OTI, DCHA/DG 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID, PREF, IV, LI, PHUM, WFP, Civilian Protection 
SUBJECT:  COTE D'IVOIRE: ADDRESSING PROTECTION CONCERNS 
 
REF:  ABIDJAN 129 
 
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Summary 
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1.  (SBU) The International Committee of the Red Cross 
(ICRC) is conducting training sessions for militia groups, 
as well as the National Armed Forces of Cote d'Ivoire 
(FANCI) and the Armed Forces of the Forces Nouvelles (FAFN) 
in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and the Geneva 
Conventions.  Protection of civilians in the Zone of 
Confidence continues to decline.  UNICEF has recently 
expanded its work with children associated with armed 
forces (CAAF), opening a center in Man, in addition to the 
existing center in Bouake.  Young CAAF girls experience 
particularly difficult reintegration challenges.  Rates of 
pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections are high 
among young girls in the west.  The U.N. Mission in Cote 
d'Ivoire (UNOCI) troops are charged with the mandate of 
protecting civilians under imminent threat under U.N. 
Security Council Resolution 1528, however the fulfillment 
of that mandate has been disappointing and confusing to 
many in the humanitarian community.  Clarification 
regarding UNOCI's capabilities in this respect, especially 
in and around the Zone of Confidence, would be helpful. 
There is an overall lack of coordination in the protection 
sector.  The U.N. Office for the Coordination of 
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is probably best placed to take 
on this task.  End Summary. 
 
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Background 
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2.  (U) USAID/DCHA/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster 
Assistance (OFDA) Principal Regional Advisor (PRA) visited 
Abidjan February 13-19 to follow up on the protection 
issues discussed in reftel.  She met with the ICRC, several 
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and U.N. agencies, as 
well as the Human Rights Division Chief of the UNOCI to 
understand better what is currently being done to address 
the multitude of protection concerns that permeate the 
country and continue to worsen.  What follows is an array 
of measures that are being taken to address various 
protection issues.  It is by no means an exhaustive 
composite. 
 
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Combatants Training in International Humanitarian Law 
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3.  (SBU) Following the violence that occurred in Abidjan 
in November 2004 and ICRC's inability to access some of the 
injured, it began training sessions with various militia 
groups in IHL and the Geneva Conventions, including the Red 
Cross/Red Crescent's role in a conflict zone.  The ICRC 
specified that human rights training is not included.  In 
Abidjan, attendees have included the Jeunes Patriots (JP) 
and the FESCI, a student's organization.  ICRC said it had 
not yet been successful in engaging the Group of Patriots 
 
 
for Peace (GPP), another militia group based in Abidjan. 
ICRC is also holding the same trainings in Guiglo, in the 
west, and in Gagnoa, located in the south, where ICRC 
recently opened an office due to the growing protection 
concerns in the area. 
 
4.  (U) There is general agreement among the humanitarian 
community that the number of militias is growing while the 
government's ability to control them is declining.  During 
the second week of February, Ble Goude, the leader of the 
JP, visited Guiglo, Tai (south of Guiglo), Toulepleu, 
Douekue, and Blolekin.  He held rallies in each town, 
traveling by helicopter.  On 28 February, the ceasefire was 
violated near Logouale, south of Man, by a militia group 
called the Ivoirian Movement for the Liberation of the West 
Cote d'Ivoire (MILOCI).  Most of the 15,000 displaced that 
fled to the Duekoue area after the Logouale incident have 
yet to return to their home villages.  Reconciliation 
efforts have been difficult and tense, reports the U.N. 
The growing number of arms in the west is also cause for 
concern. 
 
5.  (SBU) For years, the ICRC has been conducting the same 
kind of sessions with the FANCI.  According to ICRC, the 
FANCI is updating its manual for soldiers and is planning a 
training seminar to review it.  It has asked the ICRC to 
participate as an advisor in the review of the manual. 
FANCI's Chief of Staff Colonel Mangou himself made the 
request. 
 
6.  (SBU) The ICRC began similar sessions in Bouake for the 
FAFN after the conflict began in 2002.  The training occurs 
regularly in Bouake and has begun in Korhogo and Man, as 
well.  Initially, the FAFN were composed of many former 
members of the FANCI so there was some awareness of ICRC 
and the responsibilities of belligerents in an armed 
conflict.  As time has passed, however, the FAFN command 
and control has declined and with it has come a 
deterioration in behavior.  The FAFN recently reorganized 
and increased the number of zones in the north in an effort 
to address its problems.  The ICRC delegations in Man and 
Bouake are also trying to engage the Dozo, traditional 
hunters and fighters. 
 
7.  (SBU) ICRC is currently in discussions with the police 
and the Ministry of Security about how to develop a 
training-of-the-trainers program for police, which would be 
a similar program encompassing IHL and the Geneva 
Conventions.  It has already begun the same training with 
the gendarmes. 
 
8.  (SBU) Even though visiting jails is part of ICRC's core 
mandate, the delegate told the PRA that ICRC is paying 
special attention to what is happening in the jails these 
days - in the north, as well as the south - as such visits 
provide openings for discussion about the behavior of 
combatants. 
 
 
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Protection in the Zone of Confidence 
------------------------------------ 
9.  (SBU) The Zone of Confidence (ZC) presents its own 
challenges as it is not clear who is legally in charge of 
the zone.  The western part of the ZC is the most insecure 
area of the country.  There is no civil administration and 
no judicial system in the ZC, and UNOCI does not have the 
legal authority to take charge of law and order, however 
this is not understood by all.  On 31 March, UNOCI issued a 
press statement saying that it is under constant 
solicitation to solve human rights violations in the ZC, 
which underlines the urgency to accelerate the return of a 
civil administration. 
 
10.  (U) Once a week, ICRC staff makes a tour in the west 
and in the western part of the ZC.  Their continued 
presence, along with other humanitarian organizations, 
serves as a protection measure.  The ICRC is also working 
in the north with the National Red Cross in teaching them 
how to tend to the wounded. 
 
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Protecting Children Associated with Armed Forces (CAAF) 
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11.  (U) UNICEF has been working in Bouake to demobilize 
children since October 2003.  On 19 February, it expanded 
its program to Man, after two postponements due to renewed 
violence.  The official launch followed a weeklong series 
of training workshops for some 50 civilian and military 
partners, including 17 women, in the Man/Danane area. 
UNICEF's Prevention, Demobilization and Reinsertion (PDR) 
program will function initially through two Transition and 
Orientation Centers (TOCs) in Man for the demobilization 
and reinsertion of children associated with armed forces 
(CAAF), including girls.  A TOC for girls already existed 
in Man and currently is providing care for some 70 girls, 
and eight of their children.  There are also four TOCs in 
Bouake - two for boys and two for girls.  UNICEF relayed 
that the girls are especially stigmatized as many of them 
have had children with soldiers and some also are HIV 
positive. 
 
12. (U) With its partners International Rescue Committee, 
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Save the 
Children Alliance, and the U.N. Office for the Coordination 
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UNICEF hopes to create a 
common front for advocacy to end the use and/or implication 
of children in regular and irregular paramilitary and 
political groups.  UNICEF admits it is a daily struggle. 
In addition, UNICEF partners closely with several national 
NGOs, as it tries to augment the capacity of local groups 
to address these issues. 
 
13.  (U) Save the Children/UK (SCF/UK) is also working with 
CAAF.  SCF/UK has identified 27 villages in the two major 
departments in the west (Moyen Cavally and 18 Montagnes) 
where there are a number of CAAF.  It is currently working 
 
 
in fourteen of the 27 villages (with ECHO funding) and is 
looking for funding for the other thirteen to assist in the 
reintegration process.  Demilitarized children face special 
problems in reintegration, says SCF/UK, especially those 
who were working with the FAFN and return to a government- 
controlled village or girls who were "wives" of commanders. 
SCF/UK assists in tracing, and in providing non-formal 
education, including literacy, and recreational activities. 
It also works with each village to form a protection 
committee to help change attitudes towards these children. 
 
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Young Girls at Risk 
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14.  (U) The rates of pregnancies and sexually transmitted 
infection (STI) remain high, particularly in the west, even 
though SCF/UK does report a small diminution in the rates 
over the last few months.  Working in and around Blolekin 
(west of Guiglo), SCF/UK reports in the six months between 
August and January it received 716 pregnant women in its 
pre-natal clinic.  39 percent of them were younger than age 
19.  Of this 39 percent, 74 percent of them were 
experiencing their first pregnancy, 13 percent were in 
their second pregnancy, 10 percent in their third 
pregnancy, and 3 percent were already mothers of three 
children, not yet 19 years old, and in their fourth 
pregnancy.  Twenty seven percent of the young pregnant 
girls also had one or more sexually transmitted infections 
(STIs).  STIs rank as the number three problem in SCF/UK's 
mobile clinics, just below malaria and acute respiratory 
infections. 
 
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UNOCI's Protection of Civilians 
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15.  (U) The PRA also met with the Chief of UNOCI's Human 
Rights (HR) Division to discuss its efforts in protection. 
Under U.N. Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1528 of 27 
February 2004, which established the UNOCI operation under 
Chapter VII, UNOCI was given the mandate of protection for 
U.N. personnel, institutions, and civilians under imminent 
threat.  Section 6.i. of UNSC 1528 states, " . . . without 
prejudice to the responsibility of the Government of 
National Reconciliation, [UNOCI is] to protect civilians 
under imminent threat of physical violence, within its 
capabilities and its areas of deployment." 
 
16.  (U) The PRA was interested in discussing this section 
of the mandate with UNOCI as several humanitarian 
organizations have expressed frustration that UNOCI is not 
doing enough to protect citizens.  As described in reftel, 
in late December there was an incident in the ZC where a 
UNOCI contingent was 500 meters from a village that was 
attacked and rather than responding themselves, it called 
for the French Licorne force to assist.  The attackers 
killed a villager that worked for an international NGO and 
accused the NGO of providing arms to the other side. 
 
 
17. (SBU) The HR chief explained that his office works 
closely with UNOCI's civilian police unit, but does not 
report to the military.  After some investigation in his 
office of the U.N. documents supporting UNOCI's mission, 
the chief clarified that the civilian protection mandate 
comes under the troops' authority and does not come under 
his division or that of the civilian police.  His HR 
officers investigate the numerous allegations of human 
rights abuses, such as the FAFN's new effort for 
fundraising:  kidnapping several villagers and holding them 
for ransom.  Responding to attacks on villages or 
individuals rests with UNOCI troops. 
 
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Comment 
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18. (U) The last eight words of the quoted mandate above in 
para 15 are critical to note.  If an UNOCI contingent does 
not feel it has the capabilities to respond, it may either 
call the French Licorne (which may or may not be close) or 
do nothing.  Nor does UNOCI have the mandate to respond 
unless the threat to civilians is imminent.  This crucially 
conditional response-however understandable--needs to be 
clarified for all humanitarian aid workers in CI so that 
their expectations are lowered about UNOCI's actions, or 
lack thereof, as confusion still exists on this point.  It 
is also confusing for the frightened villagers who may have 
an UNOCI post nearby.  And the misunderstanding adds 
tensions to an already tense atmosphere. 
 
19.  (U) The lack of response from UNOCI has a 
reverberating effect on the citizens' confidence in the 
overall security situation.  The less confident they feel, 
the less likely they are to walk to their fields to plant, 
to go to market, or to go to a health center, which has a 
long-term detrimental effect on their food security and 
general welfare. 
 
20.  (U) Lastly, a critical gap is a lack of coordination 
in the protection sector.  As seen above, various 
organizations are trying to do their part, but no one is 
identifying gaps, asking particular organizations to try to 
address certain problems, or looking at the entire fabric 
of protection problems.  As readers can see, the landscape 
is vast, and many issues have not been addressed in this 
cable.  Even ICRC lamented the poor coordination and lack 
of action in this sector. 
 
21.  (U) OCHA is the most likely candidate to fill this 
role, as it is doing the same in other countries, such as 
Sudan.  (Note: OCHA head Besida Tonwe works closely with 
Deputy SRSG/Humanitarian Coordinator/UNDP chief Abdoulaye 
Mar Dieye, who oversees the entire UN humanitarian 
operation in Cote d'Ivoire.  End note.)  OCHA is already 
chairing protection meetings in Abidjan where information 
is shared, but much more is needed.  OCHA recently filled 
the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Advisor post that 
had been vacant for months.  It is hoped that this person 
 
 
will also assume responsibility for protection issues-not 
only for IDPs, but also for all Ivoirians and third country 
nationals that have been targets of violence-and vigorously 
pursue appropriate actions.  End comment. 
 
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Parting Shot 
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22.  (U) As a poignant reflection of how sensitive and 
upside down some issues have become in Cote d'Ivoire, 
UNICEF relayed that some Ivoirian government authorities 
questioned UNICEF's promotion of birth certificates for all 
children, accusing it of being a ploy to engender Ivoirian 
nationality for third country nationals. 
 
VALLE