Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BAMAKO1432
2006-12-20 09:04:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

POLICE OFFER TO PROVIDE SECURITY TO UNION LEADERS

Tags:  ELAB PGOV ECON ML 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9680
RR RUEHLMC
DE RUEHBP #1432 3540904
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 200904Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6622
INFO RUEHLMC/MCC WASHINGTON DC 0022
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 001432 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2016
TAGS: ELAB PGOV ECON ML
SUBJECT: POLICE OFFER TO PROVIDE SECURITY TO UNION LEADERS


Classified By: POLITICAL OFFICER GLENN FEDZER FOR REASON 1.4 (b)

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 001432

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2016
TAGS: ELAB PGOV ECON ML
SUBJECT: POLICE OFFER TO PROVIDE SECURITY TO UNION LEADERS


Classified By: POLITICAL OFFICER GLENN FEDZER FOR REASON 1.4 (b)


1. (C) Summary: Leaders of the National Union of Higher
Education (SNESUP),who have accused Minister of Education
Mamadou Lamine Traore of attempts at intimidation during
their month-long strike, were pleasantly surprised by a local
police offer of enhanced security for strike leaders. While
disturbing SNESUP allegations, including of a staged traffic
accident that nearly killed one member, remain wholly
un-corroborated, the attitude of security forces is no doubt
a refreshing change of pace for organized labor in West
Africa. End summary.


2. (C) Union leaders Doctor Amadou Malle and Professor
Djibonding Dembele have claimed Minister of Education Mamadou
Lamine Traore is behind several unspecified attempts at
intimidation since they went on strike on November 27.
Malle, SNESUP's Secretary General, also blamed Traore for a
December 2 incident in which he claims a man on a motorbike
(a pervasive menace in Bamako's turbulent local
transportation scene) followed him from his home and tried to
run him over the side of a bridge crossing the Niger river.



3. (U) SNESUP, an umbrella organization representing the
over 1000 professors and researchers working in the
University of Mali system, say three major points of dispute
have been under discussion since July: A housing allowance
or subsidy; the annulment of final exams given to 13,000 law
students in the summer of 2006 by interim administrators
after the regular faculty departed for annual leave; and the
organization of new exams that "respect professional norms."
After promises of innovative housing programs to supplement
staff salaries failed to materialize after five months of
negotiations, SNESUP moved to strike.


6. (U) Malle said his members are still angry over final
exams given to 13,000 students in June, after the end of the
regular academic year. The late exam schedule was a response
to student strikes that had pushed the student calendar ahead
of the professor's normal stopping point; the professors went
home, and an interim management team from the Ministry of
Education then decided to offer final exams. Malle claimed
that the test was given unprofessionally, that many students
cheated or paid the ad hoc proctors bribes, and that the
results, if allowed to stand, would undermine the credibility
of a Malian academic diploma.


7. (C) Dembele had assumed a summons to the local police
station December 8th was part of an intimidation campaign,
and was "shocked" that the police offered to help with the
security of union leaders. According the Dembele, the police
had heard rumors that Dembele and Malle might be at some
risk, and wanted to make sure they had enough protection.
Dembele believing the police were sincere in their offer.


8. (C) COMMENT: SNESUP's strike gives a picture of what
drives Malian labor activities--and in this case how these
activities disrupt higher education. Mali's academic sector
has been plagued by student and teacher strikes for years,
and it appears that the system will lose another half year if
the government fails to settle. The government is unlikely
to re-test 13,000 students to keep 1000 professors happy, but
may offer SNESUP some of the cash they demand, especially to
settle the strike in an election year. Malle's accusation
against the Minister of Education is unsubstantiated - and
indeed, Bamako's traffic has terrorizing ability in its own
spontaneous right. Nevertheless, we find the police offer
and the (albeit surprised) confidence SNESUP's leaders
expressed in the security forces to be a refreshing reminder
of the sense of fair play taking root in Mali's democratic
institutions.
McCulley