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DE RUEHMV #0095/01 0262017
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R 262017Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY MONROVIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0007
INFO AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MONROVIA 000095 
 
SIPDIS 
AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE PASS TO AMEMBASSY MALABO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/26 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM LI
SUBJECT: LIBERIA - PRESIDENT SIRLEAF WILL SEEK SECOND TERM 
 
REF: 09 MONROVIA 487; 09 MONROVIA 549 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Ambassador, State, AF; 
REASON: 1.4(B), (D) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY.  President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced her 
intention to run for re-election at the conclusion of her annual 
message to the National Legislature.  Sirleaf was widely criticized 
for making a campaign announcement at a governmental event and her 
high-profile announcement is a direct challenge to the 
recommendations of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission 
that she be banned from politics for thirty years and proof that 
she sees herself as the people's candidate.  In her speech, Sirleaf 
recommended a way forward for dealing with the controversial TRC 
proposals by ensuring that they are in line with Liberia's laws and 
constitutions, and moving forward on less controversial 
recommendations.  Former warlord Prince Johnson, listed in the TRC 
report for prosecution, announced his presidential candidacy on the 
same day, but was overshadowed by Sirleaf.  These announcements, 
well in advance of the October 2011 election, leave presidential 
contenders plenty of time to reconcile their candidacy with the 
TRC's proposals.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
SIRLEAF ANNOUNCES INTENT TO SEEK RE-ELECTION IN LEGISLATIVE ADDRESS 
 
 
 
¶2. (C) Referring to herself as a "formidable candidate," Liberian 
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced her intention to run for 
re-election in 2011 at the conclusion of her January 25 annual 
message to the National Legislature.  The announcement comes 
despite Sirleaf's promise during the 2005 electoral campaign not to 
seek a second term. The timing of the president's announcement was 
unexpected and Sirleaf confidants told Ambassador after the speech 
that the re-election plan was not part of her speech's final text 
and they were unaware of the president's intention to make the 
announcement now.  Regardless, the announcement was the high point 
of the president's speech and she received a standing ovation from 
the majority of legislators present. 
 
 
 
WHAT PROMPTED THE ANNOUNCEMENT AT SUCH A HIGH-PROFILE EVENT? 
 
 
 
¶3. (C) After the June 2009 publication of the Liberian Truth and 
Reconciliation Commission's draft report listing Sirleaf among 
those to be excluded from holding public office for 30 years (Ref 
A), the president has backpedaled from her 2005 one-term pledge and 
engaged in campaign-like stumping at public events.  She also 
refuted the TRC's alleged version of her relationship with former 
President Charles Taylor during the 1990s in her July 26 
Independence Day speech (Ref B).  Sirleaf has privately intimated 
to her advisors and Ambassador that the TRC's decision to list her 
was a politicized decision meant to hold her to her one-term 
pledge.  This challenge from the TRC steeled her decision to run 
for re-election. 
 
 
 
¶4. (U) There is no constitutional restraint to Sirleaf seeking 
re-election and Sirleaf stressed to legislators that Liberians must 
"make a conscious national determination to move ahead cautiously 
and strategically in the implementation of the [TRC's] 
recommendations."  In her speech, the president suggested that 
parts of the TRC's recommendations be put forward to the still 
unconfirmed members of the Independent National Human Rights 
Commission (INHRC), who are tasked with ensuring implementation of 
the report's proposals.  She also recommended that the act creating 
the INHRC be amended to allow the Ministry of Justice to work with 
the INHRC in determining which TRC recommendations are enforceable 
under Liberia's laws and constitution. 
 
 
 
CRITICISM OF ANNOUNCEMENT VENUE 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) Sirleaf was later publicly criticized by opposition party 
leaders for using the occasion of an annual governmental address to 
announce her re-election run rather than at an event coordinated 
with her Unity Party.  Press reports quoted Liberty Party leader 
Charles Brumskine as troubled by Sirleaf's inability to discern a 
constitutionally required address from a "campaign affair." 
 
MONROVIA 00000095  002 OF 002 
 
 
FORMER WARLORD ENTERS THE FRAY 
 
 
 
¶6. (C) Also on January 25, former Independent National Patriotic 
Front of Liberia faction leader Prince Johnson, who now serves as 
an independent senator from Nimba County, announced his candidacy 
for the presidency with Grand Cape Mount County Senator Abel 
Massallay as his running mate. Johnson is one of eight major 
combatant leaders recommended for prosecution for gross human 
rights violations in the TRC report; he has consistently professed 
his innocence.  Massallay is a former confidant of Charles Taylor 
and a member of Taylor's National Patriotic Party.  The duo has 
little chance of success given their questionable activities during 
Liberia's civil war, but their decision to run is likely aimed at 
gaining early support among Taylor's remaining supporters. 
 
 
 
COMMENT: 
 
 
 
¶7. (C) Sirleaf's announcement fully overshadowed the contents of 
her annual address and preempted any criticisms of her recited list 
of accomplishments and governmental plan of action in the near 
term.  Advanced warning of her candidacy, well in advance of the 
presidential election scheduled for October 2011, plus the call for 
the involvement of the Ministry of Justice (led by many Sirleaf 
devotees) in the INHRC's affairs gives Sirleaf's supporters plenty 
of time to ensure that her candidacy is legal and constitutional no 
matter what the TRC recommends.  Further Embassy reporting will 
follow on public reaction to Sirleaf's announcement and other 
details of her annual message. 
THOMAS-GREENFIELD