RAWLINGS AT NRC: BIG BUILD-UP, BIGGER LET-DOWN

UNCLAS ACCRA 000301

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KDEM GH
SUBJECT: RAWLINGS AT NRC: BIG BUILD-UP, BIGGER LET-DOWN

REF: 2003 ACCRA 0598


1. (SBU) Summary. Former President Jerry Rawlings
appeared before the National Reconciliation Commission on
February 12. Intense media speculation preceded his
appearance, which had been the occasion of considerable
jockeying between the Commission and Rawlings' legal team. He
answered a short series of questions on video and audio tapes
of interrogations and executions in the 1980s, and was then
abruptly, if politely, dismissed. While the Commission
successfully secured his attendance, and conducted its
proceedings in an orderly and fair manner, it largely
disappointed the Ghanaian public, which had expected a
thorough-going exchange with Rawlings on human rights abuses
during his early years in power. End summary.


2. (U) In answer to a subpoena served upon him earlier in
the week, Rawlings appeared at the Commission chambers in
downtown Accra accompanied by his attorneys and senior
officials of his National Democratic Congress. Large crowds
of boisterous supporters made entry difficult as policemen
sought to keep order. Once in the hall, Rawlings took an
oath and then calmly answered questions put to him by a
Commission staff attorney, his responses carried live on
Ghanaian television. Embassy employees circulating in the
city noticed that entire sections of Accra seemingly came to
a halt as office workers, pedestrians and market ladies
clustered around radios and TVs.


3. (U) The questioning began on his knowledge or possession
of video and audio tapes allegedly made of interrogations and
executions in two separate incidents in the 1980s. Rawlings
acknowledged making an audio tape of the execution ground
confession of a condemned officer who participated in the
1983 murder of three judges. He also acknowledged having
briefly viewed portions of a video tape of a suspect in an
attempted coup d'etat in 1984. He denied any knowledge of
the tapes present whereabouts.


4. (U) To the astonishment of Rawlings, the crowded
galleries, and the assembled Ghanaian media, the Chairman of
the Commission then dismissed Rawlings, subject to his recall
for further questioning. Rawlings made his way back through
the large crowds of supporters outside the chambers, many of
whom then marched peacefully to his central Accra residence.
Said one incredulous journalist, "It took longer for him to
come and go than to answer their questions." Upon leaving
the chamber, Rawlings pronounced the just-completed
proceedings "polite and decent."


5. (U) Commission officials expressed satisfaction with the
proceedings, saying the session had gone as they had "hoped
and expected." Commission Executive Director Ken Attafuah
said that Rawlings appearance had been a "victory for the
rule of law." The former president had been called, he said,
to answer two specific evidentiary questions, and was not
expected to testify generally on his knowledge of the
incidents concerned.


6. (U) Rawlings' appearance before the Commission was the
subject of mounting speculation in recent weeks, as he and
his legal team received repeated requests for information,
and, finally, subpoenas commanding his presence. The
Commission has been wrestling with exactly how and when to
take Rawlings' testimony since March of last year (reftel).
His former National Security Advisor, Kojo Tsikata, had been
called on February 10, and had testified at length on the
subject of the murdered judges. Tsikata had offered a
spirited defense of his actions, denying any involvement.
Observers had expected Rawlings testimony two days later, on
the identical petition, to be equally vigorous and assertive.


7. (SBU) Comment. Ghanaians expected dramatic exchanges on
one of the most notorious incidents from the early years of
Rawlings' PNDC government. Instead, they received a brief,
rather dry discussion on the whereabouts of audio and video
tapes. Rawlings is subject to recall, but he travels
regularly outside the country, and further testimony may be
weeks away. The Commission appears content to have secured
Rawlings' attendance, and to have conducted his examination,
however briefly, in a dignified and orderly manner. However,
the Commission's focus on carefully structured proceedings
may, this day, have missed the mark. Rawlings has been
accused by Commission witnesses of participation in these and
other murders. He has yet to account for or defend his
actions, an opportunity he, and the Ghanaian public, must
still await. End comment.
Lanier