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DE RUEHRY #0238/01 0571224
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O 261224Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY CONAKRY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0735
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHFT/GOLFCO MSGBN AMCONGEN FRANKFURT GE IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE//POLAD/J2/J5// IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 CONAKRY 000238 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR GUINEA TASK FORCE, AF/W, AF/EX, CA/OCS, DS/IP/AF 
PLEASE ALSO PASS TO AID/AFR, PEACE CORPS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ELAB PINS ASEC CASC AEMR GV
SUBJECT: TFGV01: CONTE AGREES TO APPOINT A NEW PM, STRIKE 
SUSPENDED 
 
REF: CONAKRY 236 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: PolOff Jessica Davis Ba, Reason 1.4 (b,d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (C) ECOWAS envoy and former Nigerian President Ibrahim 
Babangida announced February 25 that President Lansana Conte 
has agreed to appoint a new consensus prime minister from a 
short list of names proposed by the unions and civil society. 
 The inter-union coalition suspended the general strike 
effective at midnight February 26, designating the day of the 
26th as a national day of prayer.  Babangida offered himself 
as "moral guarantor" of this agreement and will return to 
Conakry on March 2 to assess progress. 
 
¶2.  (C)  Babangida's intervention has yielded a necessary 
next step but whether it will be sufficient remains to be 
seen, even if it is fully implemented -- and the individual 
selected agrees to serve.  The public event at which the 
ECOWAS delegation declared success was not attended by any 
government or military officials, although national 
television and radio broadcast the speeches.  We will be 
closely watching the formation of the new government to 
determine how balanced and broad-based it actually is.  As 
long as Conte and his circle remain in place, any government, 
no matter how well intentioned, is likely to be 
dysfunctional.  End Summary. 
 
----------------------------------- 
ECOWAS Delegation Takes It to Conte 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Following intensive meetings with all sectors of 
Guinean society February 22-24 (Conakry 235, 236), the ECOWAS 
delegation led by former Nigerian President Ibrahim Babangida 
met on the afternoon of February 24 with President Lansana 
Conte.  Meeting at his village home in Wawa, they informed 
him that the people would accept nothing less than for Conte 
to appoint a new prime minister, to serve as head of a 
government of broad consensus.  Conte reportedly agreed to do 
so. 
 
¶4.  (C) The morning of February 25, Babangida and ECOWAS 
Executive Secretary Mohammed Ibn Chambas asked unions and 
civil society to propose specific names of individuals they 
would accept as a prime minister.  The ECOWAS delegation 
promised that Conte had agreed to accept to name a candidate 
from the proposed list.  The unions were asked to put forth 
three names and civil society was asked to propose two 
individuals who fit the criteria outlined in the tripartite 
agreement of January 27. 
 
----------------------- 
And the Nominees Are... 
----------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) Unions and civil society leaders told us that they 
wanted their short list to include all ethnicities and all 
regions.  However, they did not directly consult with these 
individuals before proposing them.  The candidates put forth 
are: 
 
-- Mohammed Beauvogui, the only person proposed by both the 
unions and civil society, is Director General for Central and 
West African Affairs at the United Nations International Fund 
for Agricultural Development, based in Rome.  There since 
2000, Beauvogui works closely with African heads of state, 
the U.N., World Bank and the IMF to implement agricultural 
development projects.  Prior to this position, he worked for 
the U.N. Office for Project Services implementing U.N. 
initiatives, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Beauvogui is a 
young, fast-rising star within the U.N. system and the 
international community.  With a Peuhl mother and a father 
from the Forest Region, he cuts across two ethnicities, but 
he is not readily identified with either -- an important 
asset at this critical juncture.  Many of our interlocutors 
believe if chosen, Beauvogui will not accept. 
 
-- Lansana Kouyate was one of the union candidates.  Based in 
Abidjan, he is currently the Special Representative of the 
International Organization of "la Francophonie," working on 
elections and transparency issues.  Kouyate served as ECOWAS 
Executive Secretary from 1997 until Chambas assumed this 
 
CONAKRY 00000238  002 OF 004 
 
 
position in 2002.  Prior to ECOWAS, Kouyate was U.N. 
Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs focusing on 
West African issues and Vice President of the U.N. Economic 
and Social Council.  A former Guinean diplomat, he served as 
ambassador to Egypt, Sudan, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, and 
Lebanon.  Kouyate's mother is a Soussou from Conte's village, 
but he is of the lower griot caste, a disadvantage here. 
Kouyate has been asked several times in the past to accept 
the prime ministership and has declined each time.  Kouyate 
was in Guinea for several days during the strike for 
consultations. 
 
-- Kabinet Komara was the second candidate proposed by civil 
society.  Komara is the Director of Projects and 
Administrative Services for the African Export-Import Bank 
based in Cairo, Egypt.  He seems to have been associated with 
the bank since its founding in 1993.  A journalist by 
training, in 1990 he was appointed to the Transitional 
Committee for National Redressment (CTRN), the entity that 
drafted and refined Guinea's constitution.  Komara, an ethnic 
Malinke, is revered in Kankan where he and his wife 
consistently provide the local hospital with basic supplies. 
 
 
-- Saidou Diallo was the final union proposition.  Diallo is 
currently the General Director of the Guinean Social Security 
system.  He is an economist by training and was a former Vice 
Governor of the Central Bank during the 1980s.  Diallo was 
the Director of Integration at the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and Ambassador to Nigeria in the 1990s.  He is Peuhl. 
 
 
-- A fifth candidate, the head of the Guinean Red Cross, was 
generally rejected due to political baggage from the Sekou 
Toure regime. 
 
¶6.  (C) Contacts in the unions, civil society, and religious 
communities indicate that Beauvogui is a clear front runner 
for them.  He is young, of mixed ethnic heritage, and from 
the underrepresented Forest Region.  Our contacts at the 
presidency believe that if Conte were to name a new prime 
minister, he might favor Saidou Diallo, a "Guineo-Guinean" 
who has worked most of his life within the country in various 
administrative positions.  Babangida told the representatives 
that Conte promised to name the new prime minister before 
March 2. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
ECOWAS Announces Breakthrough and Moral Guarantee 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶7.  (C)  Representatives from Guinean society and the 
international community gathered at the Palais du Peuple for 
the February 25 press conference.  Notably absent were the 
Guinean government and the military.  Not even the National 
Assembly President, Aboubacar Sompare, attended, even though 
the event took place in the National Assembly's meeting hall. 
 As the press conference was delayed a couple of hours, many 
in the crowd wondered if Conte had had a change of heart. 
When Babangida returned and opened the press conference, he 
allayed these fears. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Babangida expressed gratitude for the honor to 
serve as special envoy to "this beautiful country that is 
held in high esteem throughout Africa for its special place 
in history."  He thanked Conte for his warm reception and 
support for his work, demonstrating that Conte is truly "the 
father of the country".  Babangida remarked on the patriotism 
and commitment of his interlocutors. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  Chambas read out the communique, declaring that 
following consultations, all actors agreed to the 
propositions set forth and that Conte agreed to name a new 
prime minister.  The crowd responded with resounding applause 
and cheers.  The communique stated that the unions would 
suspend the strike on February 26, with workers due back to 
work on February 27.  Babangida would be the moral guarantor 
of this accord and return to Guinea on March 2 to assure that 
it has been implemented.  Chambas also called on the 
international community to mobilize resources for Guinea's 
development. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Unions Call Off Strike and Others Give Thanks 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
 
CONAKRY 00000238  003 OF 004 
 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Rabiatou Serah Diallo, CNTG General Secretary, 
thanked both Babangida and Conte for their contributions to 
the resolution.  Ibrahima Fofana, USTG General Secretary, 
congratulated Guinea's workers on their achievements and said 
that February 26 should be dedicated to the memory of all the 
victims.  He asked for the immediate and unconditional 
liberation of all detainees arrested during the strike and 
state of siege.  He announced that the unions would suspend 
the strike at midnight February 26. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) National Council of Civil Society Organizations of 
Guinea President Ben Sekou Sylla remarked that Guineans are 
ripe for change.  "No longer would they accept corruption, 
embezzlement, and misery," he said.  He thanked Guineans in 
the Diaspora for their support and the international 
community for assistance in caring for the victims of 
violence. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Initial Public Reaction Appears Positive 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶12.  (C) Guinean national radio broadcast the statements in 
their entirety on the February 25 evening news, summarizing 
the general content in all of Guinea's major languages. 
Initial feedback has been positive.  Union and civil society 
representatives told us they plan to meet over the next few 
days to propose additional candidates to comprise a new 
government.  On February 26, Rabiatou Diallo called Poloff to 
express sincere thanks to the Embassy, the Ambassador, and 
other officers, and for the support of the American people in 
keeping attention focused on Guinea's crisis.  Diallo said 
that she feels good about the progress made to date, but 
emphasized that now the real work begins. 
 
¶13.  (C) People were overjoyed with the ECOWAS-facilitated 
accord; many leaders left the Palais du Peuple singing the 
Guinean national anthem.  The involvement of ECOWAS meant the 
crisis was no longer isolated as a Guinean problem.  They 
underscored that Babangida's shrewd negotiations forced each 
side to see their shortcomings, making them amenable to 
compromise.  Most felt assured that Conte will "have to" 
appoint a new prime minister.  Others were far more hesitant 
and said that celebration was premature -- Conte has made 
this promise before and has yet to keep his word. 
 
¶14.  (C) The military leadership has made no public 
statements since General Kerfalla's February 23 order that 
all workers should return on the 26th.  Union leaders and 
others emphasized that Kerfalla had no authority to issue 
this order and expressed doubt that anyone would obey it. 
They set their own suspension purposefully in contradiction 
of Kerfalla's date.  The presidents of the National Assembly, 
Supreme Court, and Economic and Social Council have been 
conspicuously absent since the resounding defeat of Conte's 
proposal to extend the state of siege (although Sompare got 
credit among some local observers for allowing the assembly 
session to play out as it did).  The religious leaders are 
now recognized by most to have taken their place as the key 
Guinean mediators.  Current members of Conte's cabinet have 
kept a low profile for last few weeks, and many expect that 
they will soon lose their positions.  Other government 
contacts have expressed their excitement about a "new era." 
 
 
¶15.  (SBU) At present, there is moderate traffic in Conakry 
and some smaller shops resumed normal business.  The larger 
stores remained closed, awaiting the official suspension of 
the strike at midnight.  The mood in the streets is calm and 
does not reflect the tension of previous days.  There was no 
presence of military, gendarmes, or police in neighborhoods 
throughout the capital.  The conditions are similar in the 
interior, where most citizens are preparing to resume normal 
activities. 
 
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Comment 
------- 
 
¶16.  (C) The ECOWAS-brokered deal constitutes an important 
step forward to the extent that it resolves the immediate, 
acute crisis.  Authoritarian regimes seldom die, however, 
without putting up a fight.  Even if President Conte appoints 
a new, more consensual prime minister this week, one can 
expect a battle royal over ministerial positions when the new 
prime minister begins to form his government. 
 
CONAKRY 00000238  004 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶17.  (C) Moreover, as long as President Conte remains in 
office, certain greedy members of his family, his corrupt 
civilian and military subordinates, and his business cronies 
will continue to be in a position to exert negative influence 
and to inhibit normal governance.  Guinea appears to have 
overcome its immediate crisis, but government operations will 
likely remain dysfunctional as long as Conte is President of 
the Republic. 
 
MCDONALD