[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 50 (Thursday, April 7, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2241-S2243]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             COTE D'IVOIRE

  Mr. INHOFE. That is not why I am here, however. I want to be sure 
that something I have been talking about over the last days has now 
come to a peak where we must do something.
  I have been concerned about what is happening in Cote d'Ivoire, in 
west Africa. I am very close to the situation. I have had occasion to 
be there over the last few years nine different times. I know the 
President is there, the current President and his wife, Laurent and 
Simone Gbagbo. I was familiar with the election that came around, so I 
have been on the floor talking about what I believe should happen 
there, that we should call for a new election. Unfortunately, the 
United States and our State Department--I will be very critical of 
them--have joined with the United Nations and with France in taking the 
side of Alassane Ouattara from the north who was the challenger, who 
has been challenging this administration now for at least 10 years that 
I know of.
  I got a scathing reply from the Ambassador to the United States from 
France. I am not going to read it. I am not going to enter it into the 
Record. It doesn't make any sense. I only wish to respond to a couple 
of things in that letter. First of all, they talk about the fact that 
this was a legitimate election and it was certified properly and it was 
in accordance with the Constitution of Cote d'Ivoire, and I don't 
believe that. I will respond to that by saying the independent 
electoral commission did not fulfill its constitutional mandate to 
announce the final provision vote tallies within 3 days. That is what 
the Constitution says in the country of Cote d'Ivoire and west Africa. 
It announced then, almost 16 hours after it was constitutionally 
mandated, to report them to the Constitutional Council. It is my 
understanding it is the Constitutional Council of Cote d'Ivoire and not 
the electoral commission which certifies and declares the winner of 
Presidential elections.
  On three occasions now I have talked about this election and the 
abuses that were taking place. In one case we had information that was 
given to me by members of the opposing party to President Gbagbo where 
they submitted that in one of the five regions in the north--let's keep 
in mind the challenger, Ouattara, is from the north, a Muslim area up 
there. They had, in five of these regions--in one of them--149,598--and 
I showed how it was calculated. I showed the actual results that were 
there from the electoral process, and this was just one of five 
northern cities. But when the total was officially reported in the 
total vote column, Ouattara received 244,000 votes, a difference of 
almost 95,000 votes.
  If you do your math and you say this happened in all five of these 
areas in northern Cote d'Ivoire, that would be more than enough to 
declare--enough mistakes that would take the election away from the 
duly reelected President, President Gbagbo. If you don't want to get 
into the weeds that far, all you have to do is look at the results they 
had. In that election they came out with the results that said Gbagbo 
in those northern precincts--we call them precincts, they call them 
something else--that they actually had thousands and thousands of votes 
in what we would call the primary, but when the primary runoff came up, 
he got zero votes. That is a statistical impossibility. So I have given 
all those things to our State Department, and I haven't gotten any 
positive response.
  In the accusations in the letter the French say he refused to 
accept--he being Gbagbo--refused to accept proposals by the African 
union, a high-level group, while these proposals have been formally 
accepted by President Ouattara. It is not true, just flat not true. As 
late as March 27 the African Union sent former Cape Verde Foreign 
Minister Jose Brito to mediate between Ouattara and Gbagbo. Gbagbo 
accepted the mediation, Ouattara didn't.
  I have a whole list of the accusations that were made and my response 
to these accusations, and I am going to be submitting them at this 
portion in my presentation in lieu of reading them at this time. I ask 
unanimous consent that they be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

           Inhofe Fact Check on French Embassy ``Fact Sheet''

              (From the French Ambassador, April 6, 2011)

     French say:
     Fact Sheet on Cote d'Ivoire
     (April 6, 2011)
       ``After many delays, including on the part of then-
     President Laurent Gbagbo, a presidential election was held in 
     Cote d'Ivoire last fall. Since then, its results have been 
     certified by the local monitoring mission and acknowledged by 
     the international community, including the United States, the 
     European Union (EU), the Economic Community of West Africa 
     States (ECOWAS), and the African Union (AU).''
     Inhofe responds:
       In fact the Independent Electoral Commission did not 
     fulfill its constitutional mandate to announce the final 
     provisional vote tallies within three days. It announced them 
     almost 16 hours after it was constitutionally mandated to 
     report them to the Constitutional Council. And it is my 
     understanding, that it is the Constitutional Council of Cote 
     d'Ivoire and not the Electoral Commission which certifies and 
     declares the winner of presidential elections. It seems that 
     this election was not carried out in accordance with the 
     constitution of Cote d'Ivoire.
       In addition, there is evidence of massive electoral fraud 
     in the rebel held north. I submitted this evidence in two 
     letters to Secretary Clinton and am awaiting a response to 
     these specific allegations.
       I also submitted an electoral document showing official 
     regional electoral returns, where it shows Ouattara receiving 
     a total 149,598 from one of five northern cities. But when 
     the total is officially reported in the total vote column, 
     Ouattara receives 244,471; a difference of 94,873 votes!
       The evidence submitted to Secretary Clinton includes 
     tallies of precincts where, in the first round of voting, 
     President Laurent Gbagbo received multiple thousands of 
     votes, but in the second round he received zero votes. That 
     is a statistical impossibility.

[[Page S2242]]

       From all the evidence I now have gathered, I am convinced 
     that it is mathematically impossible for President Gbagbo to 
     have lost the election by several hundred thousand votes. And 
     if a similar amount of fraud exists in the other four regions 
     of the rebel-held north, Gbagbo is actually the winner of the 
     presidential election.
     French say:
       ``Since the results, former President Laurent Gbagbo has 
     not only refused to acknowledge the results, and listen to 
     the will of the people of Cote d'Ivoire, but actually 
     dismissed several initiatives, including by the AU, ECOWAS 
     and other African leaders, to avert any bloodshed and find a 
     peaceful solution of the crisis. Most recently, he again 
     refused to accept proposals by the AU High Level Group, while 
     these proposals have been formally accepted by President 
     Ouattara.''
     Inhofe responds:
       Not true. As late as March 27, the African Union sent 
     former Cape Verde foreign minister Jose Brito to mediate 
     between Ouattara and Gbagbo. Gbagbo accepted the mediation, 
     but Ouattara rejected it!
     French say:
       ``This deadlock has precipitated a deterioration of the 
     humanitarian situation. In addition, it has led to growing 
     violence, of which the first victims have been civilians, in 
     spite of the presence on the ground of the U.N. Operation in 
     Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI). It is in this context that the United 
     Nations Security Council adopted its Resolution 1975 on March 
     30. This decision was adopted unanimously, including with a 
     positive vote from the United States and the three African 
     members of the Council (namely, Gabon, Nigeria and South 
     Africa). It stresses the protection of civilians, and the 
     need to prevent the use of heavy weapons in this regard, as a 
     key element of the impartial implementation of UNOCI's 
     mandate.''
     Inhofe responds:
       There is no evidence that President Gbagbo ordered the 
     shelling or killing of civilians in Abidjan or throughout the 
     country. He has repeatedly denied it, and it is in fact 
     actions by forces under the control of Ouattara who have 
     carried out military and terrorist actions. This consisted 
     of attacks upon police and Army forces by ``invisible 
     commandos'' and the outright offensive launched from the 
     north that has led to the present crisis.
     French say:
       ``In Cote d'Ivoire, French forces are acting on the basis 
     of an international mandate given by U.N. Security Council, 
     in support to the internationally constituted U.N. 
     peacekeeping operation (UNOCI).''
     Inhofe responds:
       Focus should be on the word ``peacekeeping''. 
     Unfortunately, the United Nations and French forces are not 
     engaging in peace-keeping, but war-making.
     French say:
       ``Most recently, their intervention has been strictly 
     consistent with Resolution 1975, and responded to a request 
     to President Sarkozy by UN Secretary-General Ban with a view 
     to support UNOCI as it enforces its mandate. In particular, 
     French forces' intervention in Abidjan has been strictly 
     consistent with this goal, and designed to neutralize the 
     heavy weapons used against civilian populations and UN 
     personnel in Abidjan.''
     Inhofe responds:
       Not true. Abidjan is a densely populated city of four 
     million people. In this urban environment, the collateral 
     damage caused by the attacks by UN and French attack 
     helicopters and ground troops has caused hundreds if not 
     thousands of civilian casualties. Specifically, hundreds of 
     youths supportive of President Gbagbo formed a human shield 
     around the presidential palace in an attempt to halt the 
     Ouaratta and French offensive. No one knows how many of these 
     youths have been killed by UN and French forces.
     French say:
       ``In the context of its commitment to the protection of 
     civilians and the fight against impunity in Cote d'Ivoire, as 
     in the rest of Africa and worldwide, France reiterated its 
     calls for an immediate halt to all violence against 
     civilians, and underscored that the perpetrators of these 
     crimes must be held accountable before a court of law. France 
     welcomes President Ouattara's pledge in this regard.''
     Inhofe responds:
       The only reported slaughter of civilians has been 
     perpetrated by Ouattara forces. This occurred in the western 
     town of Duekoue where up to 1000 people were massacred by the 
     Dozos, traditional hunters who fought alongside Ouattara 
     forces. This has been confirmed by the United Nations and 
     Human Rights Watch.
     French say:
       ``France is looking forward to the end of the current 
     violence, and hopes that the constitutional and democratic 
     order will eventually prevail. It is for president Ouattara 
     and the people of Cote d'Ivoire to find the political 
     solutions that will favor a democratic, peaceful, prosperous 
     and reconciled nation.''
     Inhofe responds:
       Not true. President Gbagbo has called for an immediate 
     cease-fire several times and has been ignored by Ouattara, 
     the UN and French forces. The killings can come to an 
     immediate end if these forces agree to a cease-fire.
     Conclusion:
       This past Wednesday, April 6, marked the 17th anniversary 
     of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. We now know that UN General 
     Secretary Koffi Annan and others knew of the extend of this 
     violence early on, but did nothing about it.
       We all want to prevent another genocide from occurring.
       That is why the United States must call for an immediate 
     ceasefire to prevent Ouattara and his rebel army from 
     committing more mass slaughters of the Ivoirians.
       Lastly, I renew my request to Senate Foreign Relations 
     Committee Chairman Kerry requesting that he convene a hearing 
     as soon as possible into the atrocities committed by forces 
     loyal to rebel leader Ouattara, as well as into what I 
     believe were flawed elections that gave legitimacy to his 
     claim of the presidency.

  Mr. INHOFE. I came to the conclusion that on Wednesday, April 6--that 
marked the 17th anniversary of the terrible thing that happened in 
Rwanda, the genocide--and we have information that actually Secretary 
General Kofi Annan had knowledge of that. It wasn't shared. We didn't 
have warning, and we all know 800,000-plus people were brutally 
murdered in Rwanda during that genocide.
  What I wish to do now is make sure we are on record in warning the 
United States, France, and the United Nations what is going on right 
now.
  First of all, if we look--they say it is all decided, everyone has 
made up their minds, yet President Obiang--President Obiang of 
Equatorial Guinea. He is also the current President of the African 
Union, or the chief of the African Union. He is on record saying that 
Africa must be allowed to manage its own affairs, and this is a quote:

       Africa does not need any external influence. Africa must 
     manage its own affairs.

  This is the President who is the head right now of the African Union.
  President Sarkozy has said--so there is no doubt about whether he has 
authorized his troops to go in there and participate in these raids 
that have taken place, two of them that I will describe in a minute. 
French President--this is reported on BBC News--Nicolas Sarkozy said in 
a statement he had authorized 1,600 strong French Licorne forces in the 
country.
  That shows definitely, and I don't think anyone is questioning that. 
Here is another one:

       One source said soldiers from a 1,000-strong French Licorne 
     force--

  This is a very strong force--

     in the Ivory Coast has been deployed in Zone 4, in the south 
     of the city.

  I think also it is important to see that France has authorized its 
military--and I am reading now from the same report:

       France has authorized its military to participate in a 
     United Nations operation in the Ivory Coast to protect 
     civilians against escalating violence there. The Elysee 
     Palace said the operation aimed to neutralize heavy weapons 
     belonging to troops loyal to President Gbagbo.

  So he is talking about sending them in. Of course, I think most of 
us--I will go ahead and read one more thing here that I think is 
significant: ``French helicopters opened fire on a military camp in 
Abidjan on Monday.''
  That is going to go down in history as ``Black Monday.''
  If anyone wants to see what was happening with helicopters and 
rockets firing on all kinds of targets near the palace in the residence 
in Abidjan of Ouattara, go to my Web site. We have pictures of that.

       Earlier, French President Nicholas Sarkozy said he had 
     authorized France's military to join a U.N. operation against 
     forces loyal to Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo.

  So, clearly, they are the ones who had--I want to say this: There are 
two major assaults on Cote d'Ivoire. I mistakenly thought that the 
French were involved in the one in a city called Duekoue. I find out 
later that they weren't. They were supporting, of course, Ouattara--the 
forces that were there, but they did not have a direct participation in 
it. A man named Guillaume Ngefa, who is the head of the United Nations 
mission in Cote d'Ivoire, said that Ouattara's forces had carried out 
the killings in Duekoue, and we have pictures--I am quoting them now:

       We have pictures. We have evidence. This is retaliation.


[[Page S2243]]


  That is what the deputy head of the mission in Cote d'Ivoire of the 
United Nations mission said.
  Then: ``We have credible reports of serious abuses being committed by 
Ouattara's side.'' That came from Corinne Dufka, a Human Rights Watch 
researcher based in Dakar, Senegal. It is raising very serious 
concerns.
  Then further quotes. It goes on and on. I will enter all of these 
quotes into the Record.
  But the bottom line here is that Ouattara's forces are the ones that 
were involved in Duekoue when they--the estimate they have right here 
is that--it comes from Patrick Nicholson, a spokesman for the Catholic 
aid agency Caritas, saying that an agency team in town last week on a 
routine aid mission had found a lot of dead bodies. ``We estimate 
between 800 and 1,000 dead,'' Nicholson said in a telephone interview 
from Rome.

       They are primarily killed by gunshot, though some of the 
     wounds were made by machetes. I don't think they were killed 
     in crossfire.

  It is interesting, because the forces of President Gbagbo had left 
that area of Duekoue a week before all of that happened. So that had to 
have happened with those forces that were Ouattara's. Well, anyway, I 
am still quoting from this, which was printed in the Washington Post:

       Ouattara's forces have also been accused of carrying out 
     reprisal killings and extrajudicial executions of prisoners 
     during their march to the capital.

  Gbagbo's forces had vacated a week before.
  We have pictures showing the French flags that were on the major 
massacre that took place and that was the one that took place on Monday 
night. I have already said all of this on the floor. We have talked 
about this and the problems.
  One thing I haven't mentioned is one of the first things Ouattara did 
when he marched on Cote d'Ivoire in the south and on Abidjan is to turn 
to release all of the prisoners in one of the major Abidjan prisons--
that is some 5,000 prisoners--and military sources loyal to the 
incumbent leader Gbagbo said the doors of the MACA prison--that is the 
big prison in that area--were opened by forces loyal to the President, 
Presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara, in the midst of an offensive 
aimed at Gbagbo.
  Afterwards, they go into detail as to hearing the gunfire; in other 
words, releasing prisoners to fight against the sitting President.
  Residents near the jail said thousands of youths streamed out of the 
prison, which had the capacity of 3,000 prisoners, but was believed to 
be holding over 5,000, into the neighborhood in Abidjan.

       We heard gun fire early this morning and afterwards the 
     doors of the prison were opened and prisoners were left 
     shouting for joy.

  That is something I have not had in the Record before.
  One of the things I have to repeat that I have stated before--let me 
ask the Chair how much time I have remaining.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 1 minute remaining.
  Mr. INHOFE. I request an additional 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. INHOFE. I wish to speak about one of the testimonials in Duekoue.

       I spot four pigs eating something dark in a charred 
     courtyard. Standing by a newly dug mass grave, a UN soldier 
     from Morocco is choking with rage and grief. I asked him if 
     any of the dead are children. He nods and begins to sob, 
     quietly, into his facemask.

  This is something that has been happening again. We talked about this 
before. I don't want to abuse the time we have, but a few minutes ago I 
got a notice from somebody I happen to know and he says:

       I must admit that it was very difficult. This day too--

  we are talking about in the last few hours--

     has been very confusing with the rebels parading in the 
     streets stealing and dispossessing people of their goods. 
     This is what makes it very dangerous because it is a no law 
     zone. Hundreds of people have started leaving town avoiding 
     the danger in Abidjan.

  That is what is happening right now. The report we have now recently 
is that the Ouattara rebel army is deploying death squads, and I will 
read from this because I think it is very important that we get this 
down right, because I am going to make some accusations here that maybe 
have never been made in recent history on this floor.

       I have just received devastating news about the situation 
     in Cote d'Ivoire.
       I have been told that there are ``death squads'' roving 
     around the streets of Abidjan ``disappearing''--

  they used the word ``disappearing''

     supporters of President Gbagbo.

  Do they kill the supporters of President Gbagbo? Probably so, but 
they use the word ``disappearing'' because there is no accounting of 
it.

       These death squads are led by soldiers of Ouattara's rebel 
     Army. They have already killed 400 people in the last few 
     hours.

  I am talking about contemporary, right now.

       If we do nothing, this soon will include the murder of 
     President Gbagbo and his wife Simone. Ouattara's armed rebels 
     are supported militarily by the United Nations and the French 
     government. I call on UN Secretary General Ban Kee Moon and 
     French President Sarkozy to condemn and halt immediately 
     these ``death squads.'' If they do not, I charge that they 
     are complicit in allowing these death squads to operate 
     freely on the streets of Abidjan.

  It also calls for immediate cease-fire.
  I will conclude and say that I remember well, because I was around 
when this happened, and when we knew--some people knew, we didn't know 
in advance, what was going to happen in Rwanda. President Kagame didn't 
know what was going to happen in Rwanda. Kofi Annan of the United 
Nations apparently did know what was going to happen and elected not to 
say anything about it, so that they weren't warned and 800,000 
mutilations later, we know what the genocide was all about. We know 
now. We know the death squads are there. The death squads have already 
killed, according to these reports, some 4,000 people in the last few 
hours.
  If we don't do anything about it, I have in my own mind--I feel very 
certain that those death squads run by Ouattara's rebel army will reach 
the hiding place of President Gbagbo and his wife Simone and their 
family, and they, too, will be murdered. If we don't do anything, we 
have been warned that can happen. We can intervene and stop the death 
squads roaming around in Abidjan in the country of Cote D'Ivoire.
  With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant editor of the Daily Digest proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be recognized 
as in morning business until such time as somebody else comes in and 
wants the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________