[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.