On the 29th of June, 2007, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro of Ivory Coast along with his delegation and nearly two dozen journalists, were taxiing at an airport in Bouake, a large city in the West African nation, when their plane came under rocket and machine gun fire. Prime Minister Soro was unhurt in the rocket attack, with the BBC reporting at the time: "Three rockets were fired from Bouake's airport as Mr Soro's plane was landing... 'There were some injured that are being treated now at the hospital. Mr Soro is in his office working - he had no injuries. He's very fine and very alive.'"
And indeed, Prime Minister Soro was not only alive and well, it seems that he benefited quite handsomely from the attack.
Two weeks before the rocket attack on the presidential plane, Prime Minister Soro traveled to Washington to meet with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. [1]
Before traveling to Washington, Prime Minister Soro met with the US Ambassador to Ivory Coast, delivering a "matrix with a timetable" and emphasizing to the State Department official that
"June would be a month of action."
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| Pres. Gbagbo |
US embassy officials were impressed with PM Soro, reporting back to Washington that he was "matter-of-fact and business-like." PM Soro is a businessman, but he's also a rebel, and it was through his waging of asymmetric warfare that he rose to the rank of Prime Minister, by signing an agreement with President Laurent Gbagbo two months before meeting with the US.
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| PM Soro. WKM |
After traveling to Washington for days of negotiations with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, PM Soro had a layover in Belgium, where he met with EU officials. At that stage, his plot to guarantee that things went according to plan went into full overdrive.
Although the mainstream media reported that Prime Minister Soro's plane was catastrophically struck and that he came under heavy arms fire, the facts as reported by the Defense Attache to the US Embassy contradict those reports. A diplomatic cable sent the same day of the attack indicates that the US knew that "there
was only one incident against Soro's plane and that there had been no
subsequent fighting." [2]
According to a French embassy official, "rockets and AK-47 fire had
been directed at the plane as it was landing but that the
rockets had not exploded." The cable from the day of the attack further goes on to detail that the "shooting had continued in Bouake [nearby city] but this may have been the
reaction of security forces to the original attack."
The cable also highlights that one of PM Soro's ministers would later go on to tell the US Embassy a contradictory story, alleging that "the attack occurred while Soro and his entourage were on their way to town from the airport
and was carried out by some 15 soldiers using light weapons."
It was during this shooting and confusion that the people who were with PM Soro died, thereby indicating that they were either sacrificial lambs or opponents of his plans for a deal with the IMF and the World Bank.
And indeed, in a cable sent a few days after the attack, US embassy officials speculated that the most possible conspirators in the assassination were seated in the "presidential camp." [3]
Although US government officials are trained to quickly dismiss any conspiracy theory as outrageous before the media, the facts as laid out by their communications indicate that US embassy personnel routinely engage in conspiracy theorizing, with the US Ambassador reporting to Washington that "regardless of whether he [President Gbagbo] or someone from
his entourage was the author, it is plainly evident to most
observers that Gbagbo has been able to profit handsomely from
the attack.
Although the United States suspected that the attack was arranged by President Gbagbo against the "business-like" rebel leader who'd become Prime Minister, the two continued happily working together after the attack, using the panic and ensuing crackdown to solidify their objectives in securing IMF and World Bank "assistance."
Within a month of the attack against Prime Minister Soro, he and his suspected conspirator, President Gbagbo, signed what the BBC described as a "sketchy deal," putting an end to the country's five-year conflict.
Two weeks before, they both had met with the IMF, who expressed concern in their own documents that "the development of the financial sector has been adversely affected by the crisis."
To the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the conflict was a problem not because people were dying -- their documents describe the impact of the conflict from an emotionless, economic point of view -- but rather because banking in the West African Economic and Monetary Union was affected.
Just last month, President Gbagbo went on trial in The Hague, in what the BBC describes as the "most high-profile case" the International Criminal Court has seen. He denies the charges of "murder, rape, attempted murder, and persecution" against him. The trial could last up to 4 years, after which period he may be acquitted and once again qualify for an IMF loan.
