    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 6 (Monday, February 13, 2006)]
    [Pages 199-201]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Message to the Congress Reporting on the Executive Order on Blocking
    Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Conflict in Cote
    d'Ivoire

    February 8, 2006

    To the Congress of the United States:

        Consistent with subsection 204(b) of the International Emergency
    Economic Powers

    [[Page 200]]

    Act, 50 U.S.C. 1703(b) (IEEPA), and section 301 of the National
    Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1631 (NEA), I hereby report that I have
    issued an Executive Order (the ``order'') blocking the property of
    certain persons contributing to the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire. In that
    order, I declared a national emergency to deal with the unusual and
    extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the
    United States posed by that conflict, as described below.
        The United Nations Security Council, in Resolution 1572 of November
    15, 2004, expressed deep concern over the resumption of hostilities in
    Cote d'Ivoire, the public incitement of hatred and violence, and the
    repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement of May 3, 2003. United
    Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1572 determined that the
    situation in Cote d'Ivoire poses a threat to international peace and
    security in the region and called on member States to take certain
    measures against persons responsible for the continuing conflict. The
    United Nations Security Council has continued to express serious concern
    at the persistence of the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire and of obstacles to
    the peace and national reconciliation process from all sides in UNSCRs
    1643 of December 15, 2005, and 1652 of January 24, 2006.
        Despite the intervention and efforts of the international community,
    there have been massacres of large numbers of civilians, widespread
    human rights abuses, significant political violence and unrest, and
    attacks against international peacekeeping forces in Cote d'Ivoire. Such
    activity includes the killing of large numbers of civilians in Korhogo
    in June 2004, and in Abidjan in March 2004; significant violence and
    unrest, including public incitements to violence, in Abidjan in November
    2004; human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, in
    western Cote d'Ivoire in April and June 2005; attacks on a police
    station and prison in July 2005 in Anyama and Agboville, and violent
    protests in Abidjan and attacks on U.N. and international
    nongovernmental organization facilities in western Cote d'Ivoire in
    January 2006. Also, notwithstanding the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement
    signed by the Ivorian political forces on January 24, 2003, the related
    ceasefire agreement of May 3, 2003, the Accra III Agreement of July 30,
    2004, the Pretoria Agreement of April 6, 2005, and the Declaration on
    the Implementation of the Pretoria Agreement of June 29, 2005,
    consolidating the implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis peace and
    national reconciliation process, Ivorian parties have continued to
    engage in military operations and attacks against peacekeeping forces in
    Cote d'Ivoire leading to fatalities.
        Pursuant to the IEEPA and the NEA, I have determined that these
    actions and circumstances constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat
    to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and
    declared a national emergency to deal with that threat and have issued
    an Executive Order to deal with the threat to U.S. national security and
    foreign policy posed by the situation in or in relation to Cote
    d'Ivoire.
        The order blocks the property and interests in property in the
    United States, or in the possession or control of United States persons,
    of the persons listed in the Annex to the order, as well as of any
    person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation
    with the Secretary of State,
     <bullet>    to constitute a threat to the peace and national
                reconciliation process in Cote d'Ivoire, such as by blocking
                the implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis, Accra III, and
                Pretoria Agreements;
     <bullet>    to be responsible for serious violations of international
                law in Cote d'Ivoire;
     <bullet>    to have directly or indirectly supplied, sold or
                transferred to Cote d'Ivoire arms or any related materiel or
                any assistance, advice, or training related to military
                activities; or
     <bullet>    to have publicly incited violence and hatred contributing
                to the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire.
        The designation criteria will be applied in accordance with
    applicable domestic law, including where appropriate, the First
    Amendment to the United States Constitution. The order also authorizes
    the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of
    State, to designate for blocking any person determined to have
    materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or
    technological support for, or goods

    [[Page 201]]

    or services in support of, the activities listed above or any person
    listed in or designated pursuant to the order. I further authorized the
    Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of
    State, to designate for blocking any person determined to be owned or
    controlled by, or acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of,
    directly or indirectly, any person listed in or designated pursuant to
    the order. The Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the
    Secretary of State, is also authorized to remove any persons from the
    Annex to the order as circumstances warrant.
        I delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation
    with the Secretary of State, the authority to take such actions,
    including the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ all
    powers granted to the President by the IEEPA and the United Nations
    Participation Act, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the
    order. All executive agencies are directed to take all appropriate
    measures within their authority to carry out the provisions of the
    order.
        The order, a copy of which is enclosed, became effective at 12:01
    a.m. eastern standard time on February 8, 2006.
                                                    George W. Bush
     The White House,
     February 8, 2006.