VZCZCXRO8191
PP RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #3208/01 3621709
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281709Z DEC 05
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3782
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 003208 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, AF/PDPA, DRL/PHD AND INR/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SG
SUBJECT: JOURNALIST ACCUSES PRESIDENT WADE OF MURDER 
 
REF:  DAKAR 2756 
 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY: In a recent book entitled "The Judge Seye 
Affair: A Contract Killing," journalist Abdou Latif 
Coulibaly accuses President Wade of instigating the 
assassination of Supreme Court Judge Babacar Seye.  Pape 
Ibrahima Diakhate, Assane Diop and Cledor Sene, shot Judge 
Seye on May 15, 1993.  The three men were found guilty and 
sentenced to 18-22 years in prison.  Wade himself was 
jailed for seven months during an investigation before 
being released for lack of evidence.  In an attempt to 
close debate on this issue before the 2007 electoral 
campaign, Wade's parliamentary majority passed in 2004 the 
Ezzan Law, which amnestied all political crimes over the 
past 25 years, including the Seye affair.  Coulibaly's 
book attempts to undermine the goal of the Ezzan Law.  It 
has rekindled the debate about political violence in 
Senegal and has weakened Wade's moral authority.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
ONE OF THE MURDERERS BEARS HIS SOUL 
----------------------------------- 
¶2.  (U) Abdou Latif Coulibaly's book is based largely on 
the testimony of Diakhate, who indicated that the murder 
weighed on his conscience.  Diakhate gave details of the 
execution, claiming President Wade (who at the time was 
leader of the opposition), his wife and some members of 
their entourage -- such as Samuel Sarr, current Director 
of Senelec (Senegal's electricity company) -- ordered the 
assassination.  According to the book, Wade was greatly 
disappointed by the results of the 1993 presidential 
elections and, therefore, decided to focus his political 
ambitions on legislative elections later that same year. 
However, when the President of the Constitutional Council 
quit and Minister of State Youssoupha Ndiaye was named to 
replace him, Wade feared Ndiaye would squelch any 
victories by Wade and his party.  Consequently, he 
allegedly told Diakhate and the others, "You must 
assassinate him."  Coulibaly reports in his book that Mrs. 
Viviane Wade gave Diakhate and his associates the 
equivalent of thousands of dollars prior to the 
assassination to buy arms and rent a get-away car.  After 
determining that murdering Ndiaye was not logistically 
feasible, they decided to "prove their loyalty" to Wade by 
killing Ndiaye's deputy, Seye. 
 
¶3.  (U) After nine years in prison, Diakhate and the other 
two murderers were freed following the Ezzan law's 
adoption in 2004.  Coulibaly writes that during their 
imprisonment and even after their release, all three were 
given large sums of money to maintain silence.  Coulibaly 
also indicated that the Ezzan law was orchestrated, at 
least in part, to free the three men. 
 
¶4.  (U) After the book's publication, Diakhate gave a 
radio interview, retracting his testimony and asserting 
that he had lied to Coulibaly.  Since then, some in the 
media have openly questioned why all the criticism has 
been directed at Coulibaly while overlooking Diakhate's 
role in the book.  As one local newspaper put it, "Did he 
lie when confiding in Abdou Latif Coulibaly, or in 
recanting his own account?" 
 
WADE'S UNDERSTATED REACTION 
--------------------------- 
¶5.  (SBU) Wade has publicly stated that he will not seek 
to have Coulibaly arrested, is not concerned by the 
allegations and will not respond to them.  That said, some 
of Wade's associates who are accused in the book of being 
complicit have indicated that they will sue the 
journalist.  There are already rumors that the book will 
be banned in Senegal.  One bookstore that sold a limited 
number of copies of the book received a visit from customs 
officers.  An employee of the store told Embassy staff 
that she did not know if they will have the book on sale 
again.  The GOS appears to be exerting pressure on 
booksellers to prevent free distribution of the book in 
Senegal.  Unofficial versions are readily available on the 
Internet, but Coulibaly says he only takes responsibility 
for the accounts presented in the hardcopy edition 
published by Harmattan press in Paris. 
 
COULIBALY A PAWN? 
----------------- 
¶6.  (SBU) Wade confidants have asserted that Coulibaly is 
the instrument of people who wish to tarnish Wade's image. 
A close aide to Minister of Interior Ousmane Ngom told 
Embassy staff that the Government is sure Coulibaly is 
being manipulated because Harmattan agreed to publish the 
 
DAKAR 00003208  002 OF 002 
 
 
book only after a substantial order was placed.  The aide 
said Coulibaly lacks the financial resources to make such 
an order.  Several in Wade's entourage think former prime 
minister Idrissa Seck, now opposed to Wade and in the 
midst of a criminal trial, supplied information and 
funding to Coulibaly to discredit Wade and accelerate the 
end of his political career.  Segments of the ruling 
Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) and their allies are 
already calling for Coulibaly's arrest. 
 
¶7.  (U) As Senegal's most notorious muckraking journalist 
(on November 11 he received Transparency International's 
"Integrity Award" for his investigative work on corruption 
in Senegal), Coulibaly is no stranger to controversy.  He 
has close ties to the Sud Communications Group, a media 
group under legal fire following its October 17 broadcast 
(Sud FM) and printing (Sud Quotidien) of an interview by 
Casamance separatist military leader Salif Sadio. 
Coulibaly is a former Director of Sud FM and currently 
Director of a private journalism school bankrolled by Sud 
Communications.  Sud's media outlets are among the most 
brazen and vocal critics of President Wade's regime. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶8.  (SBU) COMMENT: Coulibaly's book marks a new episode in 
the fierce battle between the PDS and its opponents.  The 
Ezzan Law, intended to defuse debate that could harm the 
PDS, has started to backfire, as opposition figures and 
journalists no longer hesitate to make serious allegations 
against the President and his entourage.  There is a 
growing conviction that political battles will be won in 
the media and the court of public opinion rather than in 
courtrooms.  END COMMENT. 
 
JACKSON