By Matthew Russell Lee, 2d in Exclusive series
UNITED NATIONS, April 13 -- French government documents 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.
