VZCZCXRO9752
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHRY #0211/01 1421132
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 211132Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY CONAKRY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2546
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CONAKRY 000211 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM ASEC GV
SUBJECT: FORMER PM HOLDS MEETING ON ELECTIONS - DEMANDS 
DONOR SUPPORT 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  On May 13, former Prime Minister Lansana 
Kouyate held a three and a half hour meeting with political 
parties to discuss progress towards Guinea's legislative 
elections later this year.  The discussion focused on four 
central issues:  the need for donor community support to 
cover the remaining $10 million budget gap, voter 
registration, campaign financing, and elections timing. 
Ambassador Carter asked the PM what the Guinean Government is 
doing to cover the funding gap, but the PM sidestepped the 
question and later said there is no shame in asking for 
assistance.  The discussion illustrates that there is little 
progress on the same questions that have been circulating for 
nearly a year, and that if the elections fail, Guineans will 
likely blame the international community.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Joining the PM in the meeting were the president of 
the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), Ben 
Sekou Syllah, and the Secretary General of the Ministry of 
Interior and Security (MIS), Baillo Diallo.  Various 
diplomatic missions were represented including the United 
Nations, France, Japan, the European Union, Spain, and 
ECOWAS.  Ambassador Carter attended and was accompanied by 
the USAID Director and Poloff.  The press were allowed a 
brief photo opportunity in the beginning and then awkwardly 
escorted out before the meeting began, their muted protests 
suggesting that they were not aware that they would be asked 
to leave. 
 
------------------- 
LOOKING FOR SYNERGY 
------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The PM apologized for the absence of the Minister 
of Interior and Security who he said was away on a trip. 
Speaking informally, without prepared remarks, Kouyate told 
the group that he wanted to hold the meeting in order to 
encourage synergy, assess progress, and identify challenges. 
 
--------------- 
PROGRESS REPORT 
--------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) On behalf of the Minister, the MIS Secretary 
General read a lengthy status report regarding the ministry's 
activities with respect to elections.  Noting ongoing debates 
about voter identification requirements, MIS proposed that 
two witnesses could provide adequate proof of identity for 
purposes of registering to vote, and that the voter 
identification card should be the sole piece of 
identification required in order to vote on Election Day. 
Turning to the chronogram of preparatory activities, the 
Secretary General pointed out that there have already been 
some delays, which are mostly due to the delayed arrival of 
voter registration kits (supplied by the European Union), but 
that the elections will still be held between November 23 and 
December 14.  The MIS also discussed budgetary issues, and 
requested donor assistance in covering a $10.7 million 
funding gap. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On behalf of the CENI, Ben Syllah also provided a 
status report on recent activities, including the recent 
installation of local-level electoral commissions.  Syllah 
said that the CENI has had to increase its operating budget 
by 17% for unanticipated programmatic expenses as well as to 
cover inflationary costs for fuel and other organizational 
supplies.  (COMMENT. Subsequent discussion indicated that the 
CENI's additional budgetary request was not reflected in the 
MIS funding gap, which means that the total budget gap is 
more in the neighborhood of $14.7 million). 
 
¶6.  (SBU) During the ensuing discussion, political party 
representatives repeatedly raised shared concerns, which 
focused on the funding gap, voter registration and 
identification, campaign financing, and timing. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
DONOR COMMUNITY NEEDS TO PUT MORE INTO THE POT 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Political party after political party requested 
that the donor community come up with the funds to cover the 
$10 million funding gap.  Several representatives expressed 
concern over the timing and organization of the elections if 
the funding issues are not resolved soon.  Although most 
participants, including the PM, seemed to feel that the donor 
community is the only answer, at least two political parties 
said that they were ashamed and/or embarrassed that Guinea 
 
CONAKRY 00000211  002 OF 003 
 
 
could not fund its own elections. 
 
-------------------- 
VOTER IDENTIFICATION 
-------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Most political parties were concerned about voter 
registration issues, but for different reasons.  Some parties 
argued that voters should be required to present a national 
identification card, in addition to their voter card, because 
otherwise Sierra Leonians and Liberians could easily vote in 
Guinean elections.  Other parties said that the voter card 
should be the only piece of identification required in order 
to avoid opportunities for fraud.  Still other parties said 
that both cards should be required, but the international 
community could facilitate the process by issuing national 
i.d. cards when they issue the voter cards.  Several 
participants, including the PM and the MIS Secretary General, 
urged the assembled group to decide the issue that same day, 
but the meeting adjourned with no discussion of a vote, or 
consensus decision. 
 
------------------ 
CAMPAIGN FINANCING 
------------------ 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Several parties raised the issue of campaign 
financing and asked that the government fulfill its legal 
obligation to provide funds to political parties, as per the 
legislation that was voted into law by the National Assembly 
in May 2007.  Ousmane Bah of the Union for Progress and 
Renewal (UPR) opposition party, and also the minority leader 
within the National Assembly, questioned the legality of the 
law, saying that it had not been officially promulgated and 
signed by the president.  The MIS Secretary General later 
said that the legislation became law after ten days even 
without the president's signature.  (COMMENT.  Although 
Guinean law provides that approved legislation becomes law 
after 10 days regardless of whether the president signs it or 
not, in practice, Guineans generally wait for the president's 
official blessing.  END COMMENT).  The PM told the political 
parties that he had already directed the Minister of Finance 
to release the promised funds, totaling $333,000.  "The 
procedure is in process," he said. 
 
---------------- 
ELECTIONS TIMING 
---------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Related to the elections chronogram and delays in 
getting the voter registration process under way, several 
political parties expressed concern over whether the 
elections could be held as currently scheduled.  Some were 
critical of the donor community because of its role in the 
voter registration process.  One party representative pointed 
out that the voter registration process would not start until 
late June, just when the rainy season starts to take off, 
making it difficult to complete the process according to 
schedule.  Another party representative said that the most 
important thing is to have a "good election," implying that 
the actual date is less important. 
 
---------------------- 
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE 
---------------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) The United Nations Resident Representative 
stressed the need for an effective civic education campaign, 
preferably before the voter registration kits are put into 
service.  The EU Ambassador echoed concerns about voter 
education, and announced that the EU plans to contribute an 
additional $2 million euros, which they had not yet discussed 
with the Guinean Government.  The PM called on Ambassador 
Carter and jokingly asked if he wanted to announce any plans 
for U.S. assistance.  Ambassador Carter said that the U.S. is 
planning to finance over $4 mllion in various elections 
activities, which wasnot reflected in the MIS budget.  He 
also pointed out that Guinea's contribution to the cost of 
naional elections represents only 27%of the total budget. 
He asked him point blank "Mr. PM, what you are going to do to 
cover this gap?" 
 
---------------- 
CENI PUSHES BACK 
---------------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) When the PM asked the CENI to address some of the 
 
CONAKRY 00000211  003 OF 003 
 
 
political parties' concerns, in good humor, Ben Syllah said 
"I think I mostly heard thanks and compliments for what the 
CENI is doing."  However, Syllah stressed that the parties 
have not been participating as actively as they should be in 
the preparatory activities.  He reminded the participants 
that the CENI is composed of political parties and said "I 
advise you to correct any imperfections in future elections." 
 Regarding the issue of campaign financing, Syllah encouraged 
each party to send five representatives to the table to 
negotiate the distribution of funds. 
 
------------------------ 
PM LECTURES ON DEMOCRACY 
------------------------ 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Before closing the meeting, the PM lectured for 
some 20 minutes about democracy as he essentially justified 
Guinea's poor showing with respect to elections financing. 
Although he said that his first priority is to find money to 
cover the funding gap, his subsequent comments indicated that 
he expects to get that money from the donor community.  He 
said that every country present in the room had benefited 
from foreign aid at one time or another, and Guinea should 
not be ashamed to request assistance in order to strengthen 
its democracy. 
 
------------------ 
NO PLACE FOR WOMEN 
------------------ 
 
¶14.  (SBU) In a room of more than sixty people, there were 
only three Guinean women present, and none of them were 
sitting at the negotiating table.  All of the political 
parties were represented by men.  At one point during the 
discussion, an elderly political party representative 
complained about the large number of "young girls" the CENI 
hired to staff the local electoral commissions and voter 
registration teams.  Ben Syllah told them that "we decided in 
this same room to do that."  He then encouraged the parties 
to increase the number of women on their candidate lists, 
which they had also discussed as a group.  That comment 
elicited loud grumblings from the group, with several parties 
shaking their heads vehemently. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Although lengthy and often times repetitive, the 
meeting was useful in the sense that it brought everyone 
together to focus on key issues.  However, the amount of 
discussion over recurring issues that have yet to be 
resolved, despite nearly a year of talking about them, 
suggests that there is much to be done before Election Day. 
The PM and the MIS called for the group to decide on several 
of these issues, but the group did not address them in an 
organized way. 
 
¶16.  (SBU) It is becoming increasingly clear that Guineans 
are looking to the international community to fund, organize, 
and guarantee their legislative elections.  If the elections 
fail or are delayed, the international community will likely 
be blamed.  The Guinean Government's abysmal demonstration of 
financial support, especially for the CENI, is disheartening. 
 The table below represents the GoG's election budget as 
presented on May 13.  END COMMENT. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
TABLE:  GOG ELECTIONS BUDGET AS OF MAY 13, 2008 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
  Government of Guinea 
  General Support                    $8.6 million 
  CENI                               $0.1 million 
    TOTAL                            $8.7 million 
 
International Partners 
  Voter Kits (EU and UN)             $6.0 million 
  CENI and MIS (EU and UN)           $1.1 million 
  France                             $0.1 million 
  ECOWAS                             $0.5 million 
  United Arab Emirates               $2.8 million 
    TOTAL                           $10.5 million 
 
Funding Gap                         $10.7 million 
CARTER