lassane Ouattara — recognized as the winner of the African country’s Nov. 28 presidential runoff by the United Nations, the U.S. government and others — has hired lobby firm Jefferson Waterman International (JWI), according to Justice Department records filed last week.
Details of payment for the firm have yet to be worked out since “compensation for these undertakings will await the full and effective establishment of my powers and those of my government, in accordance with the will of the Ivorian people and the international community,” according to a letter to JWI from Ouattara that was filed with Justice.
“We have an oral agreement and we anticipate an eventual formal agreement. That is why we are putting our backs into this so hard,” Ken Yates, senior vice president at JWI, told The Hill.
The firm has already set up a website, ivorycoastdemocracy.com, to have visitors “join the world in repudiating former President [Laurent] Gbagbo’s stunning disregard for human rights and Ivory Coast’s democratic ideals.”
“We are trying to build the kind of the understanding that will lead to the smooth running of the government, as well as good relations with the U.S.,” said Yates, a former Foreign Service Officer.
Forces allied with Ouattara and Gbagbo have skirmished since the election, putting the country on the brink of civil war. On Dec. 2, the Ivory Coast’s elections officer declared Ouattara the winner. But the next day, the head of the Constitutional Council, considered a close Gbagbo ally, threw out election results from Ouattara strongholds in the north of the country, leading both men to claim the presidency.
West African leaders have been meeting to try to find a solution to the standoff but have made little progress so far, with Gbagbo refusing to cede power.
Like Ouattara, Gbagbo has turned to K Street for help.
Gbagbo hired former Clinton White House special counsel Lanny Davis to provide “legal advice and legal representation in Washington,” according to Justice records. But Davis terminated the $300,000, three-month agreement last week.
Davis said he was not hired to take sides in the dispute, but to find a peaceful resolution between Gbagbo and Ouattara, which he says he came close to accomplishing. Davis ended the agreement last week after the State Department told him that Gbagbo refused to take a phone call from President Obama.
“I pleaded with the embassy to persuade Mr. Gbagbo to take the phone call from President Obama,” Davis said.
Davis is a columnist for The Hill as well as a contributor to The Hill’s Pundits Blog.
Gbagbo has hired other people to help advance his cause. Justice Department records show that Augustin Douoguih, a lawyer born in the Ivory Coast but now a U.S. citizen, has been hired “to act as a liaison between any hired public-relations firm or publicity agent” and Gbagbo.
Douoguih said Gbagbo was “legitimately reelected” and lawmakers need to take “a critical look” at what happened in the Ivory Coast.
“Our purpose is not to hire lobbyists. The purpose is to have the American public and decisionmakers hear the truth. If we have to hire lobbyists [to do that], we will do that as well,” Douoguih said.
Pascal Kokora, a former Ivory Coast ambassador to the United States and Georgetown University professor, is also working in support of Gbagbo. He declined to answer questions from The Hill but e-mailed an analysis of the elections that said that they were unfair.
The White House has been clear that Gbagbo should leave the presidency since he lost the election. In a press briefing last month, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the Obama administration was considering imposing sanctions on Gbagbo and his family.
“That election was clear. Its result was clear. And it’s time for him to go,” Gibbs said.
(source:thehill.com)
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