VZCZCXYZ0002
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRY #0155/01 0701640
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY ADX03E185B MSI2154 611)
P 111640Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY CONAKRY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3523
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS CONAKRY 000155 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
C O R R E C T E D  COPY -- ADDING CLASS MARKING PARA 1 -- 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ASEC GV
SUBJECT: CNDD'S PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGY - A LESSON ON 
WHAT NOT TO DO 
 
REF: CONAKRY 0145 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  After receiving an invitation from the CNDD's 
new public relations firm to come to Conakry for an exclusive 
interview with CNDD President Moussa Dadis Camara, a 
Dakar-based member of the Associated Press spent nearly four 
days waiting for the interview to materialize.  It eventually 
did, but only after she had spent many frustrated hours 
waiting at the Camp.  The interview itself was reportedly 
disappointing and military officials confiscated a microchip 
of photographs taken by the journalist's photographer.  The 
CNDD's treatment of the Associated Press representative 
suggests that the military junta has much to learn about 
public relations.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) During an off the record background interview with 
Pol/Econ Chief on March 9, a Dakar-based representative of 
the Associated Press, Rukmini Callimachi, expressed bemused 
frustration over her continued lack of access to CNDD 
President Moussa Dadis Camara.  Rukmini had traveled to 
Conakry at the specific invitation of the President's office, 
which had recently hired a public relations firm based in New 
York to improve the military junta's international image 
(reftel). 
 
------------------------------------- 
HOURS AND HOURS...AND HOURS AND HOURS 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Rukmini spent the better part of the weekend at 
Camp Alpha Yaya waiting for an interview that had not 
happened by Monday morning.  She described how she and her 
photographer had arrived on Friday evening, but were 
immediately told by Camp officials that the interview would 
take place on Saturday instead of that evening as 
anticipated.  After waiting for several hours at Camp Alpha 
Yaya on Saturday, officials reportedly told her that Dadis 
was too "tired" and that she should return at noon on Sunday. 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Rukmini showed up at the Camp at the appointed time 
on Sunday -- and then waited more than nine hours before 
officials announced at 9:30 PM that Dadis was done receiving 
visitors for the day.  "I couldn't take it too personally," 
she said, "because Vice President Toto Camara and (former 
Prime Minister) Lansana Kouyate had also been waiting most of 
the day."  She added that "poor Toto looked totally 
dejected...he was carrying an envelope marked 'confidential - 
for his Excellence Moussa Dadis Camara, President of the 
Republic.' I mean, if the Vice President himself could not 
get in, then it is no surprise that I couldn't." 
 
------------------------------ 
PLENTY OF TIME FOR OBSERVATION 
------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Eager to talk about her experience at the camp, 
Rukmini described the President's quarters as a series of 
three rooms  consisting of the main receiving area and then 
two separate ante-chambers, which she perceived to be his 
bedroom and his office.  She also noted three life-size 
portraits of Dadis on the wall.  Rukmini said that even 
though she was told to come at noon, it was clear that Dadis 
was still sleeping when she arrived.  She noted that someone 
got yelled at after slamming a door, and that others were 
told that they could not turn up the volume on the 
television.  "Around 5:00, there was all of a sudden a flurry 
of activity and plates of food were carried into the 
bedroom...so I assume that is when Dadis actually woke up," 
Rukmini said. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Dadis reportedly began receiving visitors at 
approximately 7:30 PM.  After just two hours, someone 
announced that everyone should come back the next day as 
Dadis was no longer available.  Shortly thereafter, Rukmini 
described, with a great deal of amusement, how she saw Dadis 
peeking out into the waiting room from behind a curtain.  "He 
was clearly scoping out the room to see who was there," she 
said.  A few minutes later, Dadis reportedly stormed through 
the waiting area yelling about economic predation and then 
publicly berated an unknown government official.  "It was all 
clearly for show...he knew we were there," Rukmini said.  She 
added that her photographer, bored with a weekend of waiting, 
took a photograph of the display, but was then immediately 
ordered to destroy it by a military officer. 
 
----------------------- 
DISAPPOINTING INTERVIEW 
 
 
----------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Although Rukmini did eventually get her interview 
shortly before departing Conakry, she was not optimistic 
about how it would go.  She said that the CNDD was pressuring 
her to do a public interview with Dadis over national radio 
and television, which she was resisting because she would 
lose any "exclusivity."  When Rukmini told the CNDD that they 
may not want the interview broadcast because she planned to 
ask sensitive questions, they threatened to bring in someone 
else to do the interview.  She told them that she planned to 
ask some questions about Claude Pivi, the controversial 
Minister of Presidential Security.  According to Rukmini, the 
CNDD representative then strongly advised her to refrain from 
doing so, saying "you can ask whatever you want, but if you 
ask about Pivi, I guarantee your time in Guinea will be 
difficult...and I can't guarantee that you will get any of 
the other interviews we promised." 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Rukmini called PAO after she finally did the 
interview, reporting that the CNDD had confiscated the memory 
chip from the photographer's camera.  She said that much of 
the interview was the anticipated blustering, with little 
substance. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Dadis' handling of the Associated Press 
representative seems very much in character, at least in 
terms of how he has been conducting business in the Camp. 
However, the fact that the CNDD actually invited select 
members of the press to Conakry, reportedly as part of a 
public relations campaign, makes Rukmini's reception somewhat 
shocking.  The Dakar-based representative of the New York 
Times also flew into town over the weekend, although Embassy 
has not yet been able to meet with her so it is unclear 
whether or not she received similar treatment.  If her 
reception was at all akin to Rukmini's, it is unlikely that 
Dadis and the CNDD will get the positive write-up they were 
reportedly looking for.  END COMMENT. 
RASPOLIC