VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDK #0864/01 1100713
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 200713Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8116
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0238
RUEHLC/AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE 0939
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON 0789
RUEHLU/AMEMBASSY LUANDA 0413
RUEHTO/AMEMBASSY MAPUTO 0448
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0026

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 000864 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, INL, DRL/AE AND INR/AA 
ACCRA ALSO FOR USAID/WA 
LAGOS ALSO FOR DEA 
LISBON ALSO FOR DAO 
PARIS FOR POL - D'ELIA AND DEA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/19/2017 
TAGS: PGOV SNAR ECON PHUM PU
SUBJECT: GUINEA-BISSAU FORMS NEW GOVERNMENT AND SCORES 
MAJOR DRUG BUST 
 
REF: DAKAR 0381 
 
Classified By: CDA Robert P. Jackson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
¶1.  (U) Guinea-Bissau has a new consensus government headed 
by Martinio N,Dafa Cabi, a vice president of the Party for 
the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). 
President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira chose Cabi out of a 
field of three choices presented by the coalition of parties 
that voted no confidence in Prime Minister Aristides Gomes. 
Cabi made a strong start by halting expenditures and calling 
for fiscal responsibility.  He vowed to improve cashew policy 
and hit corruption and drugs.  His vow to address drug 
trafficking comes after Vieira publicly called on his 
Government to address the growing problem and after the 
country,s second largest drug seizure on April 3.  Three 
people are being held for trial in the cocaine bust including 
two members of the military, one of them extremely close to 
Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Batista Tagme Na Waie. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
MEET THE NEW BOSS 
----------------- 
¶2.  (C) New Prime Minister Martinio N,Dafa Cabi told PolOff 
his priorities were to fight corruption, revamp cashew export 
policy and bring transparency and responsibility to the 
Finance Ministry.  One of his first acts as Prime Minister on 
April 16 was to freeze all government expenditures and order 
an accounting for all transactions since the announcement of 
the no confidence vote in Aristides Gomes, government on 
March 19.  Cabi said his goal was to get the house in order 
and restore confidence before asking for any foreign 
assistance.  He put Issufo Sanha, who served as Economy 
Minister under Gomes, in charge of the Finance Ministry.  The 
move will surely reinforce Cabi,s efforts to bring 
transparency to the process as Sanha was almost universally 
considered the star of the Gomes government for his ethics, 
pragmatism and strategic planning. 
 
¶3.  (C) Reinforcing his message of attacking corruption and 
drug trafficking, former Defense Minister Helder Proenca was 
noticeably absent from the goQrnment roster.  Proenca,s 
involvement in the drug trade is an open secret in Bissau. 
However, Proenca will continue to wield considerable 
influence behind the scenes and some candidates in next 
year,s legislative elections will undoubtedly look to him 
for campaign financing. 
 
¶4.  (C) Cabi also told PolOff he will focus on cashew policy. 
 Gomes, failed policies caused farmers and the Government 
major losses last year.  He has vowed to negotiate with 
Indian buyers to address their concerns.  The largest, Olam 
International, closed its operation in Bissau because of 
harassment to pay bribes by former Finance Minister Mandinga. 
 Cabi said he will hew to the fair market price instead of 
setting an arbitrarily high price as the Government did last 
year. 
 
DRUG SEIZURE AND ARRESTS 
------------------------ 
¶5.  (C) The military doesn,t seem to have time for politics 
these days for it is reeling after the April 3 seizure of 635 
kg. of cocaine.  Colonel Rui Flak, a close friend and advisor 
to General Tagme, a seaman named Augusto Armando Balanta, and 
civilian Malam Sadio were apprehended transporting the drugs 
from a rural airstrip to Bissau.  Cohorts escaped with the 
rest of the estimated 2.5 ton shipment because Judicial 
Police making the arrest did not have enough vehicles or 
weapons.  The traffickers were so confident in the safety of 
their operation after using the same route undisturbed for so 
long that they were not even armed to protect their USD 53 
million cargo. 
 
¶6.  (C) The two soldiers are being held in a military prison 
and Sadio is in a civilian holding cell.  Flak is widely 
rumored to be the trigger puller in the 2004 death of 
Tagme,s predecessor, former Armed Forces Chief Verrissimo 
E 
 
Seabra Correia, a crime which has never been investigated. 
Under Bissau-Guinean law, all military personnel caught in 
&flagrante delito8 must be held in a military prison, but 
since the men are accused of a civilian crime they will be 
tried by a civil court. 
 
¶7.  (C) Attorney General Jorge Fernando Ribeiro, who in 
January attended the International Visitor Program entitled 
&Administration of Justice in the U.S.,8 moved quickly to 
preserve samples of the seized cocaine and publicly destroy 
the rest.  Samples were passed to Interpol Canada and are 
also available for U.S. officials.  Ribeiro and Eduardo Costa 
Sanha, President of the Superior Military Court, told PolOff 
they are collaborating closely to proceed with the trial for 
the three accused men: all of whom have signed confessions. 
They understand international observers are watching the case 
and expect justice to be delivered through fair and 
transparent trials. 
 
¶8.  (C) The operation and subsequent destruction of the drugs 
would not have been possible without UN intervention.  The 
operation was carried out with a UN photographer present. 
Shortly after the operation, then presidential security chief 
(now the Minister of the Interior) Baciro Dabo entered 
Judicial Police headquarters demanding to take possession of 
the drugs.  He immediately dropped his demands and left when 
he saw Daniel Ruiz, Deputy to the Representative of the 
Secretary General, standing guard with police. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶9.  (C) Perhaps the most important aspect of the change in 
government is that it happened through peaceful, 
constitutional means.  The military had no apparent role and 
the capital remained calm through the transition.  The new 
government has less than one year to operate before 
legislative elections in spring 2008.  There is little that 
can realistically be accomplished in that time, but the 
climate in the capital is one of cooperation given the 
collaborative way in which the Gomes government was brought 
down.  However, as is usually the case in Bissau-Guinean 
politics, the Government will probably dedicate much of its 
energy to getting its members elected next spring.  In terms 
of cashew policy and corruption, almost any steps taken would 
be improvements over the past government. 
 
¶10.  (C) It appears the police action was instigated by the 
police and UN.  Its success shows there are still honest, 
dedicated people in the police, judiciary, and even the 
military who are interested and capable of fighting drug 
trafficking.  However, their resources remain extremely 
limited and their personal safety is constantly in jeopardy. 
The UN had to buy the gas for the police vehicles.  Post 
submitted a request to provide a counter-narcotics police 
official to UNODC in Bissau (reftel).  If the position were 
funded, the officer could provide similar support to 
Bissau-Guinean police in future operations.  The UNDP says it 
is now ready to contribute as much as USD 100,000 if the U.S. 
can provide a person for the position.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶11.  (U) Visit Embassy Dakar's SIPRNet site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/af/dakar. 
JACKSON