MONTHLY REPORT--ABIDJAN BUREAU--JULY 1987

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP94-00798R000200190014-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: August 1, 1987
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200190014-0
695 " P1
ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
Monthly Report -- Abidjan Bureau
FROM:
EXTENSION
NO.
Chief, Operations Group
DATE
July 1987 S
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.)
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FORM 610 USE EDITIO PREVINSOU
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200190014-0 , ,I,
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200190014-0
EMBASSY OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE
ABIDJAN BUREAU
MAB 6039
1 August 1987
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, FBIS
THRU: Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT: Monthly Report--Abidjan Bureau--July 1987
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. West Africa was the venue for an unprecedented and historic joint
sojourn by a 50-member plus delegation of "liberal" South African Afrikaners
and ANC members. The delegation visited Senegal, 9-12 July; Burkina Faso,
13-15 July; and Ghana, 15-17 July. The respective groups in the delegation
.were led by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, well-known South African political
figure and director of the Institute for a Democratic Alternative in South
Africa (IDASA), and by Thabo Mbeki, director for the ANC information service.
The delegation was received in Dakar by Senegalese President Diouf, in
Ouagadougou by Burkinabe President Sankara, and in Accra by Ghanaian Chairman
Rawlings. The delegation and their hosts engaged in a free and open exchange
and dichotomy of views. The delegation issued a statement that IDASA and ANC
groups would meet again in 1 year's time in an unspecified African country.
2. On 1 July, Nigeria's Armed Forces Ruling Council announced the
long-awaited findings of the government white paper on the nation's future
form of government. Later, in a speech broadcast to the nation, President
Ibrahim Babangida noted the major points of the white paper which were: the
return to civilian rule will take place in 1992 instead of 1990 as planned
earlier; the presidential system of government will be maintained; only two
political parties will be sanctioned; and there will be a bicameral legis-
lature, with a Senate and House of Representatives patterned after the U.S.
system. President Babangida emphasized that any military disengagement from
the political arena and return to civilian rule must be gradual and orderly.
3. On the morning of 24 July, an Air Afrique airline jet was hijacked
over Italy and forced to land in Geneva. Air Afrique is a multinational Afri-
can-owned and operated airline with headquarters in Abidjan, where the hijacked
jet is registered. The latter fact prompted Ivorian President Felix Houphouet-
Boigny to order the plane's crew not to take off from Geneva. Initial reports
on the hijacking were monitored from Paris AFP and were covered jointly with
Austria Bureau. The bureau alerted AMEMBASSY Abidjan to the incident and kept
it abreast of developments.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200190014-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200190014-0
4. The 23d OAU heads of state and government summit was held in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 27-29 July.' Chadian President Hissein Habre attended
the summit for the first time and championed the Chadian cause in the long-
standing territorial dispute with Libya. The Chad-Libya conflict was a
prominent issue at the summit during which the participants called for a
peaceful solution.
B. Communications
BACH 1.3A was received and installed in the Communications Section this
month. The bureau is now using the automated equipment as the primary communi-
cations system. Extels and telex are being used as back-ups.
C. Lateral Services
At the invitation of the DCM, an FBIS staff representative now attends
the Ambassador's semi-monthly political team meeting.
A. Personnel
1. Junior editor) and his wife,) ` arrived PCS
on 13 July.
2. Staff en ineer (returned from R&R on 9 July. TDY en-
gineer who had filled in for departed on 13 July.
3. Deputy Chief) Idepa my for a 4-week R&R in
CONUS. Financial/Administrative assistant departed on 20 July for
6 weeks of home leave.
4. FBNI received a PSI during the month.
B. Buildings and Grounds
Embassy contractors have finally completed construction of solid
vehicular and pedestrian security gates at the five staff residences. This
brings to completion all of the residential security enhancements begun in
the fall of 1986.
1. The bureau was visited during the month by three officers from
head uarters components:
Deputy Chief/Operations Group/OIT
________________
and Operations Duty utticer/UIT on 9 July; and
Chief Africa Program/Production Group/FBIS, 15-18 July.
2. Newly-assigned political liaison officer Allan Simon was briefed
on bureau operations during a short orientation visit on 2 July.
Bureau Chief, Abidjan Bureau
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200190014-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200190014-0
Attachments:
Monthly Production Report
cc: Chief, Swaziland Bureau
Deputy Chief, London Bureau
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/22 : CIA-RDP94-00798R000200190014-0