[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
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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.