MONTHLY REPORT--ABIDJAN BUREAU--OCTOBER 1987

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-00733R000100030004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: November 1, 1987
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/13: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100030004-7
ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
Monthly Report -- Abidjan Bureau
FROM:
EXTENSION
NO.
Chief, Operations Group
DATE
3-5991
October 1987
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
OFFICER'S
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
RECEIVED
FORWARDED
INITIALS
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
1.
C/Ops
2.
3.
C/E&PS
4.
Y
DD/FBIS
D/FBIS
6.
7.
PO/RA
SA/CD
9.
10.
C/AS
C1
11.
12.
C/AG
`-
13.
Admin Staff
14.
C/B&F
15.
Exec. Reg.
FOR
1-79M 610
USE PREVIOUS
EDITIONS GPO : 1983 0 - 411-632
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/13: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100030004-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/13: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100030004-7
EMBASSY OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE
ABIDJAN BUREAU
FBIS 2600-87
1 November 1987
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, FBIS
THRU: Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT: Monthly Report--Abidjan Bureau--October 1987
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. Bureau coverage in October was dominated by a coup in Burkina Faso
in which popular and charismatic leader Thomas Sankara was killed and replaced
by his longtime associate Blaise Compaore. The bureau monitored the initial
announcement at 1816 gmt from Ouagadougou Domestic Service in French and filed
a flash fyi which cleared the bureau four minutes later. It was the first of
almost 200 items filed during the month on this story which has several
interesting twists and which drew wide reaction from Burkina's neighboring
countries.
According to Compaore, Sankara had become increasingly autocratic in his
decisionmaking and had decided to arrest and execute several high-ranking
associates on the 15th. Learning of this plot, Compaore's 5th Military Region
troops supposedly moved without his orders against Sankara. In the fighting
that ensued, Sankara and several of his bodyguards were killed. Compaore later
said that events had gotten out of hand, that there was no original intention
to kill Sankara and that he "had been overwhelmed with grief" by the death of
his former friend. Compaore has now become head of state, head of government
and chairman of the new ruling Popular Front. His key associates in the coup,
Capt Henri Zongo and Maj Jean-Baptiste Lingani have become ministers of economic
promotion and defense respectively. There has been no clear indication of new
policy directions so far. Compaore speaks in vague terms of a "rectification"
process to get the revolution back on track.
Opposition to the coup so far has centered around the commander of the
3d Military Region, the colorful "Lion of Bulkiemde", Capt Boukary Kabore.
Ouagadougou derisively suggested he might be more lamb than lion when his
opposition folded without serious fighting on October 27 as troops loyal to
Compaore moved into the area. He is currently rumored to have fled to Ghana.
Ouagadougou also reported that the commander of the 2d Military Region had
blocked a motion of support for the new regime, since rectified, and there
have been some isolated instances of students expressing pro-Sankara sentiments
but at the moment there is no open opposition being reported.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/13: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100030004-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/13: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100030004-7
Burkina's neighbors have been split in their reaction to the coup.
Togo and Ivory Coast for example have pledged to work with the new regime
while Ghana continues to extoll Sankara (thought to be a personal friend of
head of state Rawlings) and broadcast "eyewitness" accounts of Sankara's
murder that differ markedly from Compaore's version. Congo has also been
critical with the Youth Union, believed to include top Congolese officials,
calling for Burkina youth to reject Compaore.
To cover the coup, the bureau remained open late several times, once
throughout the night, and had an open speaker watch both on Ouagadougou
Domestic Service and on Bobo-Dioulasso radio broadcast from the second largest
town in Burkina Faso.
2. In Liberia charges and counter charges of spying were reported in
the wake of Bob Woodward's new book on the CIA which reportedly implicates the
agency in a 1985 assassination attempt against Liberian leader, Liberia subse-
quently tightened control of contacts with foreign diplomats and President Doe
stated publicly that he wasn't about to take orders from the CIA or KGB. In
one of the few official comments on the issue, the Liberian Ministry of
Information, Culture and Tourism on 9 October called on the United States to
come out with a "convincing statement" on this issue. It said "Liberia cannot
afford the double faced and hypocritical role being played by their historic
friend," but there has been little other official comment monitored. Mean-
while, President Doe has used the occasion to claim that some of the bishops
and religious leaders who oppose his policy are spies and the opposition has
in turn accused the Liberian ambassador to the United States of being a spy.
3. Other noteworthy events during the month included a rumored
assassination attempt against the Mauritanian head of state on October 27,
an unsuccessful coup attempt in Mauritania on the 22d, continued Libyan over-
flights of Chad, and Ghanaian charges that the CSSR and EEC were shipping
contaminated powdered milk to them that was radioactive due to the Chernobyl
incident.
B. Lateral Services
1. The bureau supplied the Ivory Coast Foreign Ministry with a
transcript of the first speech by Blaise Campaore, the new Burkinabe head of
state, in which he addressed the nation on the reasons for the coup.
2. The bureau received a message of appreciation from U.S. Embassy
Nouakchott for "high quality work." The message states that "FBIS items are
always timely and very well translated. We find them quite valuable as we
attempt to interpret events in a society where reliable information is often
hard to find."
C. Technical
A date-time stamp received this month from Swaziland Bureau was
added to the bureau's inventory of non-expendable equipment.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/13: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100030004-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/13: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100030004-7
1. Ambassador Dennis Kux attended the bureau staff meeting on 26 October.
He complimented the staff on coverage of the Burkina Faso coup.
2. Vienna deputy commo supervisor) (spend one day TDY at
the bureau. His discussions with communications and monitorial personnel on
automation at Vienna Bureau were particularly interesting and useful.
3. Newly-assigned USIA Cultural Attache Amelia Broderick toured the
bureau and received a short briefing on operations.
Chief, Abidjan Bureau
Attachments:
Monthly Production Report
cc: Chief, Swaziland Bureau
Deputy Chief, London Bureau
STAT
STAT
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/13: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100030004-7 ~
Abidjan Bureau F'roduction Reoort -for- October 1987
TOTAL. F'UBL.1: SHABLE WORDAGE FILED LED DURING MONTH-. 7:3564
TO"1_AI._. NON--F'UD1_.. I SHABL_E WORDAGE FILED DURING MONTH: 17'i 70
NUMBER OF PUBLISHABLE ITEMS FILED DURING MONTH: 730
BROAD- PRESS PL.)BL I -
CASTS AGENCIES CATIONS
1 7: , I NF'UT OF REGULAR COVERAGE: 8037. 00 2:3'70(--). ()() 1 1 *5. 00
(mi nl..lte or i ssl.les per week:) min. min. i E sues
III. OUTPUT FROM ALL SOURCES:
(publi=sable words per month)
BENIN
Cotonou DomEMsti c: Service in
F7rench
Parakou Domestic Service in
French
Cotonou EHUZU in
French
BURk:: I NA
Ouadou.looU Domestic Service in
French
OU