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R 271318Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY FREETOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2552

UNCLAS FREETOWN 000118 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/W (JHUNTER/ESPRUILL) AND DRL (SCOOKE) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SL
SUBJECT: LEAHY VETTING REQUEST AND QUESTION: DO BAD APPLES 
SPOIL THE BUNCH? 
 
REF: FREETOWN 99 
 
¶1.  Embassy requests human rights Leahy vetting for the 
nominees listed below to attend the FBI National Academy. 
training: 
 
a)  Sheku Tejan SESAY 
DOB 06/22/1976 
POB Kadongha, Lungi, Sierra Leone 
ID number N24041976220015 
Captain, Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces-Military Police 
 
b)  Osman SESAY 
DOB 11/17/1976 
POB Port Loko Town, Sierra Leone 
ID number N2407197611170018 
Sergeant, Sierra Leone Police (Presidential Protection Detail) 
 
c)  Aeisha Nanayaa BANGURA (alternate) 
DOB 01/29/1959 
POB Port Loko, Sierra Leone 
Inspector, Sierra Leone Police 
 
d)  Abubakar SUMA (alternate) 
DOB 4/25/1964 
Rogberay, Kambia District, Sierra Leone 
Warrant Officer, Republic of Sierra Leone Armed 
Forces-Military Police 
 
¶2. Post has no credible information that any of the above 
named individuals have engaged in any human rights 
violations, but is aware that individual members of the 
Presidential Guard may not qualify due to actions taken by 
individual members of the unit. 
 
¶3. Embassy Freetown's Legatt, in the process of selecting 
candidates for the FBI's National Academy training program, 
identified Osman SESAY from the President's Guard Force as a 
viable candidate. To Post's knowledge, Sesay has not been 
involved in human rights violations during his tenure on the 
Guard Force, nor during the country's conflict years. 
However, the Guard Force itself contains 14 members (out of 
48) who are former combatants with a record of human rights 
violations, and placed in the force as a political favor. A 
single source also alleged that members of the President's 
Guard Force were involved in human rights violations in 
August, 2008, when a group of journalists were allegedly 
attacked, injured, and robbed while covering a politically 
sensitive story at the State House.  Further investigations 
by the LEGATT uncovered no corroboration, and other sources 
accuse elements of the Sierra Leone Police guarding the State 
House of committing the violations; the single source, an 
opposition member, concedes that he was not himself a witness 
to the violations. 
 
¶4. On March 13 and 16, a violent altercation broke out 
between supporters of the ruling All People's Congress (APC), 
who attacked the headquarters of the Sierra Leone People's 
Party (SLPP) (reftel). Prominent among the attackers was 
Idriss Hamid Kamara, AKA "Leatherboot," and three other 
ex-combatants with a record of violence and intimidation 
against the SLPP and other opponents of the APC. Kamara is 
one of the Presidential appointees in the Presidential Guard. 
The international community overall is seeking to train 
potentially good officers while agreeing that the 
"Leatherboot" case has to be considered sui generis and dealt 
with separately. 
 
¶5. Post's Law Enforcement Working Group (LEWG) met on 
February 20 to discuss the suitability of these candidates 
for the National Academy, with Legatt strongly suggesting 
that offenses undertaken by individuals of a unit should not 
blight the record of those who perform their duties with 
integrity and respect for human rights. He also stated that 
Sesay would benefit from the training opportunity his bureau 
can provide, and that the strong distinction between the 
career police officers and the ex-combatant Presidential 
appointees within the unit alleviates concerns that the USG 
was providing positive recognition to the unit as a whole. 
 
¶6. One other member of the LEWG stated an opinion that, 
though Sesay himself is not known to be a human rights 
offender, providing him with coveted training opportunities 
could implicitly impart the message that the unit is viewed 
favorably by the USG. 
 
¶7. Post requests clarification from the Department on the 
human rights vetting requested in paragraph one, particularly 
to the question: can individuals with no known human rights 
violations, but who are members of a unit with human rights 
violators in the ranks, be favorably vetted for USG-sponsored 
training? 
 
¶8. It should be noted that the question listed above only 
applies to Osman Sesay; and reiterates that the embassy holds 
no credible information on human rights violations on him or 
the other three candidates. 
 
 
PERRY