VZCZCXRO9680
RR RUEHLMC
DE RUEHBP #1432 3540904
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 200904Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6622
INFO RUEHLMC/MCC WASHINGTON DC 0022

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 001432 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2016 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV ECON ML
SUBJECT: POLICE OFFER TO PROVIDE SECURITY TO UNION LEADERS 
 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL OFFICER GLENN FEDZER FOR REASON 1.4 (b) 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary:  Leaders of the National Union of Higher 
Education (SNESUP), who have accused Minister of Education 
Mamadou Lamine Traore of attempts at intimidation during 
their month-long strike, were pleasantly surprised by a local 
police offer of enhanced security for strike leaders.  While 
disturbing SNESUP allegations, including of a staged traffic 
accident that nearly killed one member, remain wholly 
un-corroborated, the attitude of security forces is no doubt 
a refreshing change of pace for organized labor in West 
Africa.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (C)   Union leaders Doctor Amadou Malle and Professor 
Djibonding Dembele have claimed Minister of Education Mamadou 
Lamine Traore is behind several unspecified attempts at 
intimidation since they went on strike on November 27. 
Malle, SNESUP's Secretary General, also blamed Traore for a 
December 2 incident in which he claims a man on a motorbike 
(a pervasive menace in Bamako's turbulent local 
transportation scene) followed him from his home and tried to 
run him over the side of a bridge crossing the Niger river. 
 
 
¶3.  (U) SNESUP, an umbrella organization representing the 
over 1000 professors and researchers working in the 
University of Mali system, say three major points of dispute 
have been under discussion since July:  A housing allowance 
or subsidy; the annulment of final exams given to 13,000 law 
students in the summer of 2006 by interim administrators 
after the regular faculty departed for annual leave; and the 
organization of new exams that "respect professional norms." 
After promises of innovative housing programs to supplement 
staff salaries failed to materialize after five months of 
negotiations, SNESUP moved to strike. 
 
¶6.  (U)  Malle said his members are still angry over final 
exams given to 13,000 students in June, after the end of the 
regular academic year.  The late exam schedule was a response 
to student strikes that had pushed the student calendar ahead 
of the professor's normal stopping point; the professors went 
home, and an interim management team from the Ministry of 
Education then decided to offer final exams.  Malle claimed 
that the test was given unprofessionally, that many students 
cheated or paid the ad hoc proctors bribes, and that the 
results, if allowed to stand, would undermine the credibility 
of a Malian academic diploma. 
 
¶7.  (C)  Dembele had assumed a summons to the local police 
station December 8th was part of an intimidation campaign, 
and was "shocked" that the police offered to help with the 
security of union leaders.  According the Dembele, the police 
had heard rumors that Dembele and Malle might be at some 
risk, and wanted to make sure they had enough protection. 
Dembele believing the police were sincere in their offer. 
 
¶8.  (C)  COMMENT:  SNESUP's strike gives a picture of what 
drives Malian labor activities--and in this case how these 
activities disrupt higher education.  Mali's academic sector 
has been plagued by student and teacher strikes for years, 
and it appears that the system will lose another half year if 
the government fails to settle.  The government is unlikely 
to re-test 13,000 students to keep 1000 professors happy, but 
may offer SNESUP some of the cash they demand, especially to 
settle the strike in an election year.  Malle's accusation 
against the Minister of Education is unsubstantiated  - and 
indeed, Bamako's traffic has terrorizing ability in its own 
spontaneous right.  Nevertheless, we find the police offer 
and the (albeit surprised) confidence SNESUP's leaders 
expressed in the security forces to be a refreshing reminder 
of the sense of fair play taking root in  Mali's democratic 
institutions. 
McCulley