MONTHLY REPORT--ABIDJAN BUREAU--DECEMBER 1983

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86-00040R000100170001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 1, 2008
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 9, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2008/04/01: CIA-RDP86-00040R000100170001-6
FOREIGK BROADCAST INFORMATIC SERVICE
ABIDJAN BUREAU
NAB 400l
9 January 1984
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, FBIS
THROUGH Chief, Operations Group
SUBJECT : Monthly Report - Abidjan Bureau - December 1983
The problems connected with extensive power rationing in Abidjan are
affecting bureau operations and the lives of FBIS employees and their
families. Commercial power in Ivory. Coast, about 90 percent of which is
normally provided by hydroelectric generating plants, is now supplied by
a single obsolete, poorly maintained thermal plant. Power outages of 10
to 12 hours per day are the norm. The bureau is consistently without
commercial power from about 0800-1800 daily, and there are frequent outages
of two hours or more at night as well. When commercial power to the embassy
is cut, TCU's satellite antenna often fails to track properly and the bureau
loses communications until the antenna is reoriented manually. This usually
takes only a few minutes during normal embassy. working hours, but at night
or on weekends when TCU operators must be called in, commo outages are
lengthier. During power outages the bureau relies on a 12kw generator to
maintain operations. The bureau generator supplies power for receivers,
printers and communications equipment, but does not have enough capacity to
provide air conditioning. Bureau employees are coping sweatily in Abidjan's
pervasive heat and humidity.
Family life is also badly affected by lengthy daily power outages.
Routine household chores that require electricity, such as laundry, ironing
and vacuuming, must be concentrated in a few hours during the evening.
Children attending the International School must work in sweltering, poorly
lit classrooms. Food kept in freezers is beginning to spoil. This is a
financial problem for some people, since frozen food traditionally has been
purchased in bulk from the U. S., often in large quantity. One embassy
family with a failing freezer gave a party and served $400 worth of steak
that would have spoiled otherwise. Bureau engineer has tied STAT
one large freezer into the line served by the generator, thus providing FBIS
employees with some communal food storage capacity. Little relief from these
conditions is expected until late February or early March. The embassy is
ordering generators for residences, with enough capacity to run air condi-
tioners as well as lights and kitchen appliances, and these should be installed
by that time. The bureau will be acquiring a 66kw generator which will enable
us to provide air conditioning throughout the building.
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Editorial/Monitorial
1. The year 1983 did not end uneventfully at Abidjan Bureau. On
31 December the bureau opened earlier than usua]i at 0530, to monitor a
speech by Ghanaian leader Jerry Rawlings marking the second anniversary of
his assumption of power. Shortly before 0800, however, the bureau was
alerted by the wire to a report saying that a coup was in progress in
Nigeria. The bureau immediately began an open-speaker watch on Nigerian
media and shortly thereafter monitored a broadcast by a Nigerian Armed
Forces spokesman announcing that the military was taking over from President
Shehu Shagari's government to put an end to the "serious economic predicament
and crisis of confidence afflicting the nation." The bureau filed a series
of flash FYI's on the initial announcement. Additional staff was called in
and an extra evening shift was added, which in fact lasted until the arrival
of day shift in the early hours of the new year.
The bureau's open watch on this essentially bloodless and precisely
executed coup d'etat was extended to a number of Nigerian regional stations,
Lagos International Service and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). The be-
havior of and reports from the regional radios proved to be a good barometer
of the military takeover's success. In the ensuing 118-72 hours the bureau
filed numerous unique items from diverse sources. It was satisfying-to see
AFP picking up -- via the BBC Monitoring Service -- a number of our reports
and media behavior FYI's. Indeed, the BBC Newsburo noted that Abidjan's
monitoring was the "first with the news" on Nigerian developments, adding
that "your constant stream of reports kept us ahead of the competition most
of the time, particularly on the first day. It was also pleasing to note
the frequency with which BBC World Service ran stories based exclusively on
monitoring. Regional radio and NAN was also very valuable as it helped give
a more general picture of the situation." To date the bureau has filed nearly
50,000 words on the coup and its aftermath.
2. Earlier, the bureau maintained a close watch and filed some of
the first reports on events in Senegal and Guinea. A series of strong earth-
quakes in Guinea leveled 16 villages, leaving more than 400 dead and many
injured, while secessionist riots in Senegal's Casamance Province in 7 and
18 December resulted in over 20 dead and scores-injured.
job with the African eve opmen ank.
were promoted STAT
2. Monitor esigned effective 30 December to take a STAT
during December, to FBN 9/6 and 9/7 respectively.
III. ADMINISTRATION
Personnel
1. Monitors
STAT
Attachment
Monthly Production Report
cc: Chief, Swaziland Bureau
Deputy Chief, London Bureau
Chief,, Abidjan Bureau
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 Approved For Release 2008/04/01 : CIA-RDP86-0004OR000100170001-6
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