VZCZCXRO5535
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHRY #0451 2171648
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051648Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY CONAKRY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3895
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS CONAKRY 000451 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PGOV ETRD EINV GV
SUBJECT: CNDD BRIEFLY DETAINS NEWEST CUSTOMS DIRECTOR 
 
REF: CONAKRY 00328 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: The Guinean Customs Director was arrested and 
detained by order of CNDD President Moussa Dadis Camara and 
Minister of Defense Sekouba Konate for 24 hours. The arrest 
was apparently linked to the firing of Saran Kaba, a close 
friend of Konate,s, from a key position in Customs. This 
incident, as well as the firing of two other Customs 
Directors in the past six months, has helped create a chaotic 
environment at Customs, with employees only able to guess at 
what might come next. END SUMMARY. 
 
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A GAME OF MUSICAL CHAIRS 
------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (U) Alpha Yaya Diallo was appointed as Customs Director 
on June 8, 2009 after Dadis publicly berated and fired his 
predecessor, Mamady Toure, for contradicting his claims of 
economic stagnation (reftel). Diallo, chosen from the crowd 
during Dadis' theatrical firing of Toure, was one of the 
original 32 members of the CNDD and is also a 15-year customs 
agent. According to government communiques, Diallo took 
office promising reforms throughout the notoriously corrupt 
department. As a public part of this campaign, he fired his 
customs auditor, Saran Kaba, on July 29, claiming that she 
was involved in corrupt activities. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Kaba served as the Custom Auditor for more than 15 
years, and was reportedly enraged by the event. According to 
sources at Customs, she allegedly went directly to Camp Alpha 
Yaya and presented her complaints to her close friends: 
Konate and Dadis. Within a few hours, individuals from the 
military brought Diallo to the military base, where he 
remained in detention for 24 hours. 
 
¶4. (SBU) According to sources at Customs, Dadis and Konate 
apparently demanded that Diallo reinstate Kaba immediately. 
There were no reports of mistreatment during the 24 hour 
detention, and Diallo returned to work on Monday. Reportedly, 
Kaba has not yet been reinstated as the Customs Auditor. 
 
 
¶5.  (U) Though this is the first time that Diallo has been 
publicly reprimanded by the CNDD, Customs has been in a 
constant state of upheaval since the junta government took 
power in December. Mamady Toure, Diallo,s predecessor and a 
close friend of Dadis, was appointed as Customs Director at 
the end of January 2009. He assumed the position after Dadis 
fired Olga Siradine, a woman who held the position for nearly 
ten years. At the time, many believed that Toure's connection 
to Dadis' inner circle guaranteed him the highly lucrative 
position. When he challenged Dadis, power in June however, 
he was promptly sacked despite his personal connections. 
 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶6.  (SBU) Diallo, a supporter of the CNDD, has overseen a 
wave of firings and reforms at Customs in the past month. His 
"anti-corruption" campaign forced out several old officers, 
leaving many positions unfilled, including that of the Deputy 
Customs Director. The firing of Kaba, while an immediate 
catalyst for detaining Diallo, is not the first politically 
insensitive decision that Diallo initiated in his short 
tenure. However, the incident serves as yet another example 
of Dadis' seemingly fickle handling of government affairs. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  The incident also highlights the lack of 
functional hierarchy within the government. That Dadis should 
personally intercede instead of a minister or even Prime 
Minister suggests that he has effectively centralized power 
in his own hands and is prepared to deal at levels far 
beneath his authority to maintain his grip on decisions. This 
management style has already led to a bottleneck at the 
presidency and elsewhere within the government. 
 
BROKENSHIRE