VZCZCXRO6857
PP RUEHPA
DE RUEHMV #1375/01 3341608
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 301608Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY MONROVIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9546
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MONROVIA 001375 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/W FOR PDAVIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2017 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM LI
SUBJECT: FORMER REBEL LEADER DENIES HARBORING FIGHTERS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Donald E. Booth for resasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  Former MODEL rebel group leader and NTGL 
foreign minister Thomas Nimely Yaya rejected accusations that 
he was training 150 Burkinabes at his family plantation in 
Grand Gedeh County.  He told Ambassador that he has no 
political designs whatsoever, and supports the Sirleaf 
government as well as U.S. and UN efforts, but cautions that 
government "witch-hunts" could create enemies where there are 
none.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Former MODEL leader and NTGL Foreign Minister Thomas 
Nimely Yaya made a point during a meeting with the Ambassador 
on November 21 to deny accusations from some levels of the 
government that he was training 150 Burkinabes at his family 
rubber plantation in Grand Gedeh County in order to overthrow 
the Sirleaf government.  According to Nimely Yaya, the 
accusations date from 2005, when he left Monrovia to begin 
work on his farm.  "Because they could not see me, they 
concluded I was training" and plotting an overthrow, he said. 
 He believed that the accusations came from Senate President 
Pro Tempore Isaac Nyenabo, and former LURD leader and Speaker 
of the House George Dweh, both from Grand Gedeh County, who 
went to President Sirleaf with the accusation.  He said that 
the elders of Grand Gedeh were embarrassed by the accusation 
and offered to hold a feast for him to apologize and 
reconcile the situation. 
 
¶3. (C) Nimely Yaya met with the President and the Vice 
President in January 2007 to discuss the accusation. 
However, the President raised only her concern that Nimely 
Yaya may be using foreign labor at his plantation, and wanted 
to encourage him to hire Liberian workers.  He assured the 
President he had no foreign workers on his payroll, but 
explained the difficulties of finding decent Liberian labors, 
as they were not used to performing the repetitive farming 
tasks.  On the other hand, Ivorian or Burkinabe workers were 
used to farm work and accepted $150 per year as a salary.  He 
asked if he could bring in a few Burkinabe workers to expand 
his operations.  The President suggested that he contact the 
(former) Minister of Justice as his "thick file" was turned 
over to the ministry.  He declined, saying that the minister 
had not contacted him, suggesting to him that there was "no 
case" against him. 
 
¶4. (C) He returned to the farm following that meeting, and 
there were no developments until about six weeks ago, when 
the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) took a 
census of non-Liberians in the area, to find only eight 
non-Liberians, three of whom were recognized refugees from 
Cote d'Ivoire.   The BIN officials charged each one a LD 100 
(USD 1.65) registration fee and left.  The next day, a 
detachment of the Ethiopian UNMIL Battalion brought five 
Liberian National Police officers (LNP) to the village.  One 
of the LNP pointed an "instrument" at Nimely Yaya's house 
"for about five minutes".  When he asked what the police were 
doing, he was told to ask the Paramount Chief, who advised 
him the BIN had sent a letter to the chiefs saying the agency 
was investigating a claim of 150 Burkinabes living on the 
plantation and requested the cooperation of the local 
leaders. 
 
¶5. (C) Nimely Yaya at that point decided to go public, and 
two weeks later, went on Smile Radio in Zwedru to publicly 
deny the accusation, saying he was interested in economics 
and not politics, and for that reason has not sought any 
political position.  He then traveled to Monrovia to meet 
with BIN director Chris Massaquoi, who told him that "he 
didn't know anything" about the accusations.  Nimely Yaya 
then went on radio Veritas November 17 once again to claim 
his innocence, this time saying that the government "appears 
to have a negative motive" and that it was not in the 
interests of reconciliation to arrest anyone for something he 
did not do.  He praised President Sirleaf, but cautioned her 
about receiving poor advice.  He added he would raise his 
case with the U.S., the UN and ECOWAS. (Note:  Nimely Yaya 
met with UNSRSG Alan Doss two days after his meeting with the 
Ambassador.  End Note). 
 
¶6. (C) On November 17, following the radio appearance, the 
BIN director dispatched another team to the village to 
conduct another survey, only to find the same eight 
non-Liberians.  Nimely Yaya said that the BIN officials at 
the village have since been recalled. 
 
¶7. (C) Nimely Yaya insisted several times that the past was 
finished and it was time for the country to move forward. He 
cautioned that the government should not "look for enemies 
where there are no enemies," suggesting that the government, 
by going on a "witch-hunt" will turn people against the 
government.  "I have no motive to unseat this government. 
 
MONROVIA 00001375  002 OF 002 
 
 
That would be defeating my own purposes," he said.  He said 
he should not be compared to other faction leaders in the 
civil war, as he took up arms for only three months, and only 
to counter any efforts by Charles Taylor to break out of 
Monrovia.  His rebel group MODEL was formed from young men in 
the southern region "to create a buffer zone," and he had 
promised the U.S. Ambassador at the time that he would not 
enter Monrovia, and would disarm as soon as UN peacekeepers 
arrived, both promises he said he kept. 
 
¶8. (C) Nimely Yaya said he suspected that Senator Nyenabo 
denounced him in order to curry favor with the President, but 
at this point had no reason to believe that the President 
herself had made any conclusions.  He also discounted the 
possibility of keeping 150 people out of sight in his 45 
hectare plantation that runs up both against a village and a 
major road. 
 
¶9. (C) Nimely Yaya also remarked that a large number of 
former refugees were returning to the area, especially from 
Ghana. 
 
¶10. (C) Comment:  However credible or baseless the 
accusations against him, Nimely Yaya has certainly found the 
threat to his livelihood strong enough to react.  It is true 
that he, as well as several other former warlords, have kept 
out of the limelight, either to put the past behind him, as 
he claims, or to avoid retaliation as others believe. 
However, government actions against perceived threats as well 
as the continued work of the TRC will not allow the past of 
key former political players to fade away entirely just yet. 
End comment. 
 
Booth