Cote D'ivoire / Ivory Coast Country Reader Table Of
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COTE D‘IVOIRE / IVORY COAST COUNTRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS Park D. Massey 1957-1958 Consul, Abidjan Donald R. Norland 1958-196 Consul, Abidjan Brandon Grove 1959-1961 Vice Consul, Abidjan Gerald Michael Bache 1961-1965 Commercial Attach), Abidjan James W. Wine 1962-1967 Ambassador, Ivory Coast Robert B. .akley 1963-1965 0conomic .fficer2Political Counselor, Abidjan Robert J. MacAlister 1963-1965 Director, Peace Corps, Abidjan David Michael Wilson 1963-1965 Junior .fficer Trainee2Press Infgormation, 6SIS, Abdijan George Allen Morgan 1965-1969 Ambassador, Ivory Coast John D. Pielemeier 1966-1968 Peace Corps, Abidjan, Ivory Coast George 0. 8ichtblau 1966-1969 Regional 8abor Attach), Abidjan Ronald D. 9lack 197 -1971 Commercial .fficer, Abidjan Charles :. Twining 197 -1972 Ivory Coast, 6pper Volta, Niger Desk .fficer, Washington, DC 1972-1974 Political .fficer, Abidjan David Shear 1972-197? Director, 6SAID, R0DS., Abidjan Roy Stacey 1973-1975 Regional Planning .fficer, 6SAID, R0DS., Abidjan Gilbert J. Donahue 1974-1976 0conomic .fficer, Abidjan Robert S. Smith 1974-1976 Ambassador, Cote d>Ivoire Charles C. Christian 1978-198 Deputy Director, 6SAID, R0DS., Abidjan Gordon W. 0vans 1978-1982 Mission Director, 6SAID, R0DS., Abidjan Bruce 9. Duncombe 1979-1983 0conomic Counselor, Abidjan Mary A. Ryan 198 -1981 Administrative Counselor, Abidjan Carl C. Cundiff 1983-1986 Deputy Chief of Mission, Abidjan Robert :. Miller 1983-1986 Ambassador, Ivory Coast Dennis Kux 1986-1989 Ambassador, Cote d>Ivoire Robert B. Petersen 1989-1992 Public Affairs .fficer, 6SIS, Abidjan 9rederick 0. Gilbert 199 -1993 Director, 6SAID, R0DS., Abidjan Charles .. Cecil 1992-1995 Deputy Chief of Mission, Abdijan :ume :oran 1992-1995 Ambassador, Cote d>Ivoire :aywood Rankin 1996-1998 Counselor for Political, 0conomic and Refugee Affairs, Abidjan 8eon Weintraub 2 -2 2 Deputy Director, Western African Affairs, Washington, DC PARK D. MASSEY Consul Abid an (1957-1958) Park D. Massey was born in New York in 1920. He graduated from Haverford Co ege with a B.A. and Harvard University with an M.P.A. He a so served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1946 overseas. After entering the Foreign Service in 1947, Mr. Massey was posted in Me-ico City, .enoa, Abid/an, and .ermany. 0hi e in USA1D, he was posted in Nicaragua, Panama, Bo ivia, Chi e, Haiti, and Uruguay. A: 0e , it2s interesting that you shou d have gotten to know Mike Harris whose name comes up fre3uent y in this pro/ect. He died a few years ago. Then you served for three years in a non5 abor capacity and then6 MASS0C: 9rom then I was transferred after a brief period in Washington for training to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, as the American Consul where I opened the first American Consulate in the Ivory Coast and was responsible for the Ivory Coast and what was then 6pper Volta, now Burkina 9aso. Theoretically because that was still a 9rench colony I was accredited to 9rance and my boss was the American Ambassador in Paris. To the best of my knowledge, he was totally unaware of my existence and I did nothing whatsoever to change that situation. A: You reported direct y to 0ashington without going through Paris6 MASS0C: I reported directly to Washington with a copy to Dakar and a copy to Paris but without having to go through them and without them having any control over the content of my reporting. In other words, I was a small, independent mission. Three people. A: This wou d have been in the ear y 1960s6 MASS0C: No, this was the late 195 s, 1957 to 1958 approximately. DONALD R. NORLAND Consul Abid an (1958-1960) Ambassador Dona d R. Nor and was born in 8aurens, Iowa in 1924. He joined the Foreign Service in 1952. His career inc uded positions in Morocco, the Ivory Coast, France :NATO), the Nether ands, and .uinea, and ambassadorships to Botswana, Lesotho, Swazi and, and Chad. Ambassador Nor and was interviewed by Char es Stuart Kennedy in 1993. A: Then you got a very interesting assignment. You went to Abid/an, where you served from 258 to 261. N.R8AND: Actually, I left in December of D6 . A: How did this assignment come about6 N.R8AND: ElaughterF I tell you, it was an example of the Department personnel system. I was working on the Moroccan Desk and was walking down the hall one day, when I met Charlie 8emmo, an admin officer in A90G (0xecutive BureauI. Charlie said that our consul in Abidjan was being PNGed, and they were looking around for someone to send out. Would I be interested? And I said of course IDd be interested. I was tired of WashingtonJ IDd been here almost three years. And so, on quite short notice, I was made consul in Ivory Coast, Abidjan. In historical perspective it may be useful to note that I was only the second consul. My predecessor had only been there for a year and a half (he came in April D57 I believeI, and until then weDd had no representation. We were still living under the most elementary conditions--a two-bedroom house for my family. I had two sons then, and a daughter was born there in March of 1959. According to local historians, she was the second white child born in Abidjan. The 9rench would send their wives to 9rance or upcountry to missionary hospitalsJ they wouldnDt think of having children born in Abidjan. We were having good luck with a local 9rench doctor, and didnDt see any reason not to stay, although there were no anesthetics or what youDd call modern hospital equipment. It was pioneering in many respects. A: 1n the first p ace, how did the consu get PN.ed :persona non grata)6 And then what was the situation there when you arrived6 N.R8AND: :e got PNGed because he had not shown sufficient respect for the 9rench. :e got picked up, apparently, and influenced...this is now hearsay, because IDve never been able to get the full facts, but people in Ivory Coast told me that he allowed the Gerox copying machine in the consulate general to be used for anti-9rench leaflets. Another one told me, on good authority, that he carried a pistol. In several other ways he had reportedly insulted the 9rench, so blatantly that the man who was in charge of that country then, and is still president today, :ouphouet-Boigny, supported the 9rench. :ouphouet was friendly with the 9rench, and did not do anything to stop my predecessor from being ousted. :e couldnDt probably have done much. A: Had you picked up anything whi e you were on the Desk, or before you went out, about the man2s attitude6 Did you think this was probab y a prob em6 N.R8AND: Ces, there was definitely something there. The Department didnDt fight it. ThatDs usually the first sign that thereDs something going on. And my predecessor didnDt fight it. And his wife reportedly did not like Abidjan. They were bridge players. And there was one person who was continuity and a source of some of those reports. The CIA officer was Bill Dunbar. Cou may have heard of himJ he was later a historian of the CIA on Africa. Bill came to Dakar to meet us and to escort us back to AbidjanJ he told us that my predecessor had done a lot of funny things. Bill was not one to make stories up. A: So we2re rea y ta king about a persona ity prob em and not any rea state to state...0e , when you went out there, you were basica y our representative to the Ivory Coast. This was before independence. N.R8AND: This was two years before independence. A: 0as anybody saying, AOkay, Don, this is what we want out of the Ivory Coast, and these are our interests there,A or anything ike that6 N.R8AND: There was so little knowledge about the country that I donDt think we could have fashioned a letter of instruction. What we did have (and this is something which IDm prepared to document, because it really is a ridiculous episodeI we had a consul general in Dakar, and the consul general thought that it could never happen that the rest of those countries in 9rench West Africa would become independent. A: 0ho was the consu genera 6 N.R8AND: Don Dumont. And Don Dumont was so sure that the situation that existed then was going to prevail that he could not believe that there was even a need for another person to be assigned to Abidjan. A: 0as he what you might ca a French hand6 N.R8AND: Ces, he was. And his wife was 9rench. A: Oh, yes. This so often was the case for a ong time. Dakar was sort of our French outpost down there, and we sent the e3uiva ent to the American co onia officers out there. N.R8AND: ThatDs right. And he actually was so convinced of this...And it was easy to do if youDve been to Dakar. Cou know there are those big, beautiful buildings. The 9rench had made of Dakar a real bureaucratic headquarters, a center from which they governed all the rest of West Africa. And they did it by having residents general in the other eight countries, but all reporting was sent through Dakar, where they had a person of the stature of a minister. 8ouis Joxe, for example, was one of the great governors general in Dakar. Don Dumont got in that circuit and was convinced that we should not only agree with the 9rench to do things their way, but we should actively oppose independence in these countries.