Leaked
French
Memos Discuss Destablizing Gbagbo, Coup Plots & Leaders
By
Matthew
Russell Lee, 2d in Exclusive series
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 13 -- French government memos obtained by Inner City
Press reflect, as far back as 2005, France and the UN wanted to “put
in place a plan of action to destablize Laurent Gbagbo.” See
document here,
under the rubric “From New York: Departure of Gbagbo.”
The
French were
monitoring, to say the least, plans for a coup d'etat against Gbagbo,
that would result in Gbagbo's “displacement”
outside of Cote
d'Ivoire. See document here.
France's
internal
reporting on military
forces and leaders in Cote d'Ivoire is here.
Also
obtained by
Inner City Press is the French analysis of the “failure” of
African leaders Tandja,
Mbeki of South Africa and Obasanjo of
Nigeria -- later given UN mandates and pay elsewhere. Click here and
here
for
French analyses of the three heres, and here again for
a French memo on the intentions of Guillaume Soro, referring to
another childhood friend of Gbagbo and his “ethnie Bete” -- Bete
ethnicity.
After
Inner City
Press' publication
on April 8 of the first installment in this series,
which endeavors to use primary documents as background to recent
action in Cote d'Ivoire -- as well as to question why a
French
diplomat, Romain Serman, arrested in New York for attempt purchase of
cocaine and resisting arrest, has resurfaced as France's general
consul in San Francisco -- Yousoufou Bamba, who has represented the
forces of Alassane Ouattara at the UN for months, called Inner City
Press.
Bamba,
who has
always been amiable and on the record, complained he thought Inner
City Press is “being used,” adding that in Ivory Coast, these
French documents are seen as helping Gbagbo. But question then the
contents of the documents.
And
on l'affaire
Serman, France has not come forward with any explanation of
re-sending Serman or of the other documents -- such explantions or
comment would of course be published here -- and the US
Mission to the UN has yet to answer questions it confirms it received
from Inner City Press over the weekend, to know
as
quickly
as possible, whether the US was informed / aware of French
diplomat Romain Serman's arrest in New York in 2006 for attempted
purchase of cocaine and resisting arrest before Serman re-appeared in
the US as France's current general consul in San Francisco.
See,
e.g., http://www.innercitypress.com/nypd1serman.pdf
Separately,
please
comment on the applicability of US law and precedent to this
case, l'affaire Serman.
This
is something
the US State Department should be able to answer. Watch this site.
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