VZCZCXRO5900
OO RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #1362/01 3060751
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 020751Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3281
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1263
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON 0894
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0411
RHMFIUU/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DAKAR 001362 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W, DRL AND INR/AA 
PARIS, LISBON, LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS KDEM HDP SG
SUBJECT: GUINEA-BISSAU CABINET RESHUFFLE: PM CONSOLIDATES HIS POWER 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  On October 28, Prime Minister Carlos "Cadogo" 
Gomes, Jr. finally reshuffled his cabinet after announcing he would 
do so during the June-July presidential campaign.  As he pledged 
last week in a Lisbon press conference, he promised a smaller 
government, ostensibly to rein in government expenses.  Despite the 
presence of people associated with Gomes's rival President Malam 
Bacai Sahna in this new cabinet, this reshuffle represents a 
victory, at least in the short-run, for Gomes in his struggle with 
the Sanha faction of the African Party for the Independence of 
Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).   End summary. 
 
THE CHANGES 
----------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) This is the first cabinet reshuffle since Cadogo became PM 
for the second time in January 2009.  The struggle for leadership in 
the ruling PAIGC party continued in the reshuffle.  Maria Adiatu 
Nandigna, an experienced PAIGC party maneuverer and Sahna partisan 
during the presidential campaign, went from being Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, an area in which she had little experience, to 
Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, of Social 
Communication and of Parliamentary Affairs.  In the previous 
cabinet, Social Communications had its own ministry.  She replaces 
Manuel Saturnino da Costa, a very old anti-colonial war veteran. 
(Comment:  Nandigna is one of the few Sahna partisans who seems to 
have been a position of influence.  However, this could be 
interpreted as Gomes holding a political enemy close to him because 
the post directly answers to him. End comment.) 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The new Minister of Foreign Affairs is Adelino Mano Queta, 
a career diplomat and former ambassador to Portugal, Spain, Italy, 
Morocco and Taiwan, and the father of the son-in-law of Prime 
Minister Gomes.  While this appointment injects some much needed 
professionalism into the Foreign Ministry, by appointing Queta, 
Gomes reaffirms his reputation as someone who relies professionally 
on relatives. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Haja Satu Camara Pinto, the new Interior Minister, is a 
woman, a PAIGC member, and former National Assembly Vice-Speaker. 
She is a veteran of the anti-Portuguese bush wars of the Sixties and 
Seventies.  Camara Pinto has very little education, is very sick and 
is very loyal to Sahna.  (Comment: Gomes promised to be his own 
Interior Minister when he spoke publicly of a cabinet reshuffle, and 
this could be the next best thing to the PM's holding this.  End 
comment.)  Camara Pinto replaced Comandante Lucio Soares, a 
liberation era PAIGC dinosaur who is very old. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) New Defense Minister Aristides Ocante da Silva is a former 
Education Minister, a PAIGC stalwart, a French-trained sociologist, 
and former researcher at the country's sole think tank (INEP).  He 
has been praised for his role in reforming education.  (Comment: The 
departure of his predecessor, Artur da Silva, is a mixed blessing; 
the previous Defense Minister was well respected by the diplomatic 
corps and the Embassy had established good relations with him.  He 
also seemed to have established a good rapport with Chief of Defense 
Jose Zamora Induta.  However, he was close to former President 
Vieira and at times had seemed less than completely committed to 
implementing the National Assembly-approved National Defense 
Strategy and some questioned whether he had been co-opted by the 
CHOD.  End comment.) 
 
¶6.    (SBU) New National Education, Culture, Science, Youth, and 
Sports Minister Artur da Silva practically exchanged portfolios with 
Ocante da Silva.   He is a fisheries specialist also trained in 
France.  Speculation is that he was demoted to Education, etc. 
because he came out strongly against the March assassination of 
President Joco Fernando "Nino" Vieira.  In the previous government, 
Culture and Sports was a separate ministry. 
 
¶7.   (SBU) Minister Carlos Mussa Balde was removed from the post of 
Fisheries Minister.  In that capacity, he was criticized for 
allegedly having embezzled funds.  He has now been appointed 
Education and Rural Development Minister.  He is a close friend to 
the PM and has been in all his governments, particularly in 
ministries through which pass large quantities of money.  The 
Fisheries Ministry was ostensibly downgraded into a secretariat 
reporting directly to the Prime Minister.  (Comment: Illegal fishing 
has become a more high-profile issue in Guinea-Bissau.  The GOGB 
announced that it is cracking down on illegal fishing and recently 
seized two South Korean and several Senegalese vessels illegally 
fishing in Bissau-Guinean waters.  It could be that Gomes wants to 
have direct control over the revenue resulting from these seizures. 
End comment.) 
 
¶8. (SBU) Luis de Oliveira Sanca, the new Minister of Territorial 
 
DAKAR 00001362  002 OF 003 
 
 
Administration, is an old guard PAIGC member, has had other 
ministerial appointments in the past, including Interior Minister in 
the early Nineties, and is viewed by some observers as a Sanha 
partisan. 
 
GOMES POWER CONSOLIDATION, OR SET-UP FOR SELF DESTRUCTION? 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Comment: This appears to be a mainly Gomes cabinet, with 
some Sahna partisans and no Party for Social Renovation (PRS) 
figures, despite speculation that an entente between former 
President Kumba Yala and Sanha would result in greater PRS 
influence.   Gomes seems to have successfully put in place a cabinet 
loyal to him.  However, Sanha could simply be biding his time.  At 
the first sign of crisis, Sahna could invoke his constitutional 
powers to remove the PM, as Vieira did the last time Gomes was PM. 
Given the magnitude of the challenges facing the country - among 
them, endemic poverty, military impunity, security sector reform, 
corruption, poor governance, and weak institutions - it is only a 
matter time before there is a crisis. 
 
THE NEW GOVERNMENT 
------------------ 
¶10. (SBU) Following is the new 29-person Government (PM not listed), 
according to the decree of October 28: 
 
Ministers: 
 
Maria Adiato Djalo Nandigna, Minister of the Presidency of the 
Council of Ministers, Minister of Media and Parliamentary Affairs 
 
Antonio Oscar Barbosa, Minister for Energy and Natural Resources 
 
Hadja Satu Camara Pinto, Minister of the Interior 
 
Luis de Oliveira Sanca, Minister of Territorial Administration 
 
Aristides Ocante da Silva, Minister of Defense and War Veterans 
 
Artur Silva, Minister of Education, Culture, Science, Youth and 
Sports 
 
Botche Cande, Minister of Commerce, Industry, Tourism and Artisan 
Minister 
 
Carlos Mussa Balde, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development 
Minister 
 
Adelino Mano Queta, Minister of Foreign Affairs 
 
Mamadu Djalo Pires, Minister of Justice 
 
Maria Helena Embalo, Minister of Economics, Planning and Regional 
Integration 
 
Jose Mario Vaz, Minister of Finance 
 
Jose Antonio Almeida, Minister of Infrastructure 
 
Lurdes Vaz - Minister of Women's Affairs, Family, Social Harmony and 
the Struggle Against Poverty Minister 
 
Camilo Simoes Pereira - Minister of Health 
 
Fernando Gomes, Minister of Public Affairs, Labor and State 
Modernization 
 
 
Secretaries of State: 
 
Mario Dia Sami, Secretary of State for Fisheries 
 
Fernando Augusto Gomes Dias, Secretary of State for Communities 
 
Lassana Ture, Secretary of State for International Cooperation 
 
Besna Na Fonta, Secretary of State for Educational Instruction 
 
Barros Bacar Bandjai, Secretary of State for the Environment and 
Sustainable Development 
 
Octavio Alves, Secretary of State for National Security and Public 
Order 
 
Jose Carlos Varela Casimiro, Secretary of State for Tourism 
 
DAKAR 00001362  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
Gabriela Fernandes, Secretary of State for Budget and Fiscal 
Affairs 
 
Fernando Saldanha, Secretary of State for Youth, Culture and Sports 
 
Jose Carols Esteves, Secretary of State for Transport and 
Communications 
 
Augusto Paulo Jose de Silva, Secretary of State for Health 
 
Wasna Papae Danfa, Secretary of State for Energy. 
 
BERNICAT