Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06FREETOWN776
2006-09-15 16:49:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Freetown
Cable title:  

SIERRA LEONE'S RULING PARTY THREATENS RIVALS

Tags:  PGOV KDEM PHUM SL 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 FREETOWN 000776 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM SL
SUBJECT: SIERRA LEONE'S RULING PARTY THREATENS RIVALS

REF: A. FREETOWN 681


B. 05 FREETOWN 960

Classified By: Ambassador Thomas N. Hull, reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

-------
Summary
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 FREETOWN 000776

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM SL
SUBJECT: SIERRA LEONE'S RULING PARTY THREATENS RIVALS

REF: A. FREETOWN 681


B. 05 FREETOWN 960

Classified By: Ambassador Thomas N. Hull, reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) During a recent trip to ruling Sierra Leone People's
Party (SLPP) strongholds in southern and eastern Sierra Leone
to gauge the popularity of Charles Margai's SLPP breakaway
party, the People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC),
PolOff found a disturbing pattern of manipulation,
intimidation, and repression by local SLPP officials and
followers against opposition parties, especially the PMDC.
Unless checked by the National Electoral Commission (NEC),
the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC),civil
society, and the international community, these abuses could
undermine election preparations and potentially destabilize
the country. The SLPP,s hardball tactics, which are
historically characteristic of local politics, reflect the
threat posed by the surprisingly well developed PMDC in the
SLPP,s heartland and the larger threat presented by the
reapportionment of parliamentary districts to other regions
of the country. End Summary.

--------------
Upcountry Trip Reveals Disturbing Trend
--------------


2. (C) On September 6-9, PolOff and PolAsst traveled to
traditional Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) strongholds in
Bo, Pujehun, and Kenema to gauge the popularity of Charles
Margai's new SLPP breakaway party, the People's Movement for
Democratic Change (PMDC). Margai, a lawyer and former
government minister whose uncle and father were Sierra
Leone,s first post-independence prime ministers, broke from
the SLPP after the September 2005 party convention where
President Kabbah railroaded the nomination of Vice President
Berewa to be the SLPP standard bearer. Unlike the more
established but ossified opposition All People's Congress
(APC) party, PMDC members in the south and the east displayed
energy and momentum. This has not gone unnoticed by the
ruling SLPP party elite, and we heard numerous reports of
PMDC supporters who had suffered for their new political
allegiance. (COMMENT: We heard reports from APC supporters

who have suffered as well, but the PMDC supporters appear to
be the primary targets of intimidation and retribution in
this region. END COMMENT.)


3. (C) We heard reports about civil servants who were removed
from government housing, teachers at government schools who
had been fired, and chiefdom authorities who were suspended
and replaced. In Bo District, one of the civil servants who
lost his government house was reportedly a senior mines
monitor with the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources.


4. (C) We also heard reports about PMDC supporters whose
homes were marked for demolition, received death threats and
had been assaulted, been denied meetings, were punished after
attending political meetings, and denied access to
microcredit, seed rice, and other benefits given to SLPP
members. We heard a report that in June, the Gallinasperi
chiefdom court (Pujehun District) jailed a PMDC supporter for
three days without food and fined him 120,000 leones
(approximately USD 40) for holding an "illegal" meeting. A
house built by a reverend in Bo was reportedly marked for
demolition in spite of a previous clearance to build on
government land. The reverend was described as a "PMDC
sympathizer."


5. (C) We also heard about retribution against PMDC
supporters' family members, particularly threats and job
suspension of elderly parents. In one case that reportedly
occurred in late August, the Barri paramount chief's brother
spotted a young man wearing a PMDC teeshirt. He summoned the
young man to the paramount chief's house, and when he got
there, the paramount chief ordered him to remove his PMDC
teeshirt. When the young man refused, the paramount chief
summoned the man's mother and told her that if she could not
convince her son to remove his teeshirt, she would be "dealt
with." The young man told PolOff that his mother had been
effectively banished from her own village, and that he now
needs to bring her to Freetown so that she will feel safe.


6. (C) Some of the more disturbing reports were about the

FREETOWN 00000776 002 OF 004


role that many paramount chiefs have taken to suppress SLPP
opposition. We heard several reports of paramount chiefs
firing or suspending section chiefs for supporting the PMDC
and refusing requests from opposition parties to hold public
meetings. Paramount chiefs' loyalty is often rewarded with a
blind eye when it comes to spending public money for private
gain. One example we heard was the Ngowa Paramount Chief,
who was given seven million leones (approximately USD 2,300)
for HIV/AIDS sensitization in July (Note: Funding possibly
came from a project funded by the National AIDS Secretariat,
which receives money from the Global Fund and World Bank. End
Note). Soon after he received the money, he used it to
travel abroad. Local PMDC supporters raised alarm bells, so
the chief's family organized one HIV/AIDS meeting in one
village (Hanga),but no other action was taken by the GoSL.
The Paramount Chief in Bo is particularly notorious. We
heard reports that he has repeatedly threatened to shut down
the local independent radio station for discussing issues
that are critical of the SLPP government. We were told that
he ordered police to open fire on PMDC supporters last year
when Charles Margai and Vice President Berewa crossed paths
at a 2005 school event in Bo that caused embarrassment to
Berewa (ref B). (NOTE: Three police officers were reportedly
reassigned after the incident. All of them had - thankfully
- refused to follow the Paramount Chief's orders. END NOTE.)


7. (C) Another intimidation story involved an SLPP government
minister (Minister of Transport and Communication Prince
Harding) who convened an SLPP meeting on July 2 in Bo
District. After the meeting, approximately 50 SLPP
supporters went to a PMDC sub-office in Jembe Town and
threatened to burn down the local PMDC Chairman's house and
told PMDC supporters in the office, "We will have you killed
by 2007." The PMDC Chairman reported the incident to the
police and forwarded copies of an official complaint to the
Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC),the
National Electoral Commission (NEC),the All Parties
Political Association (APPA),and civil society. To date,
there has been no police (or other) action.

--------------
Political Opposition Has Nowhere To Turn
--------------


8. (C) Inaction and disengagement from NEC and PPRC toward
what appear to be clear and gross violations of political
rights was another common theme. We confirmed a story about
the NEC's inaction in the face of the reported politicization
of its youth training/employment program for voter
registration, in which SLPP stalwarts in Bo had control of
all the application forms and were allegedly giving them out
only to SLPP youth. Opposition members complained that the
NEC office should have handed out the forms to ensure
equitable distribution. When asked, a NEC official told us
that the application forms were being handed out at the
locations where the training would take place, which is why
(SLPP) officials at the Bo School had control of them. When
we contacted the PPRC to verify the PMDC's story about the
Minister of Transport and Communications' SLPP meeting that
led to threats against PMDC supporters, we were told that the
PPRC did not intend to take any action because they were only
an information addressee on the letter of complaint.


9. (C) COMMENT: The NEC can ill afford to be seen as
unconcerned in the face of political tampering, since they
are already gaining a reputation as ineffective even when
they do stand up to the ruling SLPP as the NEC's inability to
stop the Biriwa chiefdom elections (ref A) showed. The NEC
has been silent since its public Biriwa Chiefdom defeat and
failed to capitalize on what could have been a clear
opportunity to sanction the government and make a statement
for its independence. END COMMENT.


10. (C) On September 15, UNIOSIL Executive Representative to
the Secretary General Victor Angelo told the Ambassador, DCM
and PolOff that the NEC has spent past few weeks trying to
organize the move of its headquarters to a new building in
Freetown. The chaos that characterized the move does not
build confidence in the NEC's ability to organize a
nationwide election, Angelo said, especially given the amount
of time and energy the Commissioners spent bickering with one
another over whose office would get more square footage. The
PPRC is in even more dire straits, Angelo said, because they
are without a chief commissioner and lack the staff capacity
to even complete a registration verification exercise, much
less adjudicate allegations of electoral wrongdoing.


FREETOWN 00000776 003 OF 004



11. (C) Civil society has not stepped up to the plate,
either, we learned. In spite of reassuring meetings in
Freetown with the Africa Director of Search for Common Ground
(SFCG),Francess Fortune, we heard contrary reports from the
field. Fortune is the Chairman of National Elections Watch
(NEW),a coalition of local NGOs who come together to focus
on election observation issues. Civil society
representatives in Bo, however, claimed that NEW members are
mostly SLPP party loyalists who have been ineffective in
observing past elections. We heard reports from two separate
meetings that NEW leadership in Bo is already partisan
because of the way Fortune appointed local leadership.
(NOTE: Fortune is a Canadian national with extensive
experience of the country and a frequent Government critic
who stayed in Sierra Leone throughout the war years. Post
will look into these allegations since USAID funds SFCG
democracy and agricultural information programs, and is
considering support to NEW. END NOTE.)


12. (C) Opposition political parties voiced frustration that
no one is taking action on their grievances. Frustration was
directed most clearly at police who failed to investigate
reports of violence and intimidation (including a report that
the Chairman of the Pujehun District Council paid a group of
Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) soldiers to
kill a PMDC supporter in Pujehun). It was also clear,
though, that their expectations of the NEC, PPRC, and civil
society are low. For the most part, reports of intimidation
and abuse are circulated within the party and to the police
only. Some of the reports are making it up through the party
structure to the All Political Parties Association (APPA),an
independent organization of the parties that the SLPP
organized but now boycotts. APPA has very recently made
presentations of their complaints to UNIOSIL and the
Diplomatic Corps that have filtered into the local press.
UNIOSIL staff are investigating some of the allegations.

--------------
Unchecked Brinksmanship Will Lead to Violence
--------------


13. (C) Some of the opposition political party groups,
particularly the APC which has long been harassed in the
south and east, portrayed a sense of resignation in the face
of the current political environment. Others, particularly
the PMDC supporters in Bo and Kenema, made it clear that they
intend to resist the government's attempts to deny their
political rights. This has already led to isolated incidents
of violence. For example, we heard that in Largo (Kenema
District),PMDC supporters received police clearance to hold
meetings but were attacked twice and therefore prevented from
doing so.


14. (C) The threat of more serious violence is clear.
Regarding a Kenema District paramount chief's refusal to
allow a PMDC party meeting, we heard, "We are ready to go in
by force." In Banderu (Kenema District),the chiefdom
section speaker fined a PMDC supporter 200,000 leones
(approximately USD 67),one goat, and five gallons of palm
oil for holding a meeting. The 100 or so people who attended
the meeting were punished as well, we were told, and banned
indefinitely from farming and mining on chiefdom lands. When
we asked what the attendees planned to do about it, we were
told that the PMDC will inform the police and the UNIOSIL
security advisor, but that the attendees would be instructed
to continue farming and mining in defiance of the chieftaincy
order. While this kind of behavior could expose the section
speaker's bluff, it could also lead to violence should the
SLPP loyalists decide to make a statement.


15. (C) In Bo, at least for now, opposition to the paramount
chief's intimidation tactics are taking the form of people
refusing to attend meetings when the paramount chief calls
them. PMDC supporters told us, however, that people will
only be pushed so far and will eventually stand up for their
rights, which means that there is a potential for violence.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


16. (C) Sustainable peace and democratic development in
Sierra Leone will depend on credible elections in July 2007.
Heightened tensions, hardball politics, and sporadic violence
had characterized previous elections, but we did not expect
to hear such extensive reports of SLPP intimidation and
retribution to keep voters in line as the election is being

FREETOWN 00000776 004 OF 004


organized and well ahead of the official campaign period. We
were also surprised by PMDC strong organization that gives
credibility to Margai,s candidacy, and this undoubtedly
accounts for some of the SLPP,s abusive behavior. While we
expect the SLPP to use its incumbency to try to manipulate
the election and will use paramount chiefs to do its dirty
work, there is nevertheless a real possibility that with the
rise of the PMDC and with the reapportionment of many
parliamentary districts to APC strongholds, the SLPP might
not get a majority in the balloting. That threat could lead
to violent confrontations that conceivably could destabilize
the country.


17. (C) COMMENT CONTINUED: APPA is emerging as an outlet for
opposition grievances and has opened channels of
communication with the international community. The NEC and
PPRC need to become receptive APPA complaints. The SLPP has
denied them as fabrications, the evidence we found indicates
otherwise. To be credible, reports must be investigated, but
no single organization has the capacity. We have been told
the UK intends to formally request from the UNSC a modest
increase in UNIOSIL,s police and defense liaison staff next
month. We support that request as the best possibility for
monitoring destailizing political abuses in Sierra Leone,s
provinces.


18. (C) COMMENT CONTINUED: In the end, it will come down to
the NEC, PPRC, and civil society to check the abuses of the
SLPP incumbents, educate voters on their rights, and ensure
that the elections are not manipulated to favor the ruling
party. If the political process is to retain the confidence
of the opposition parties, NEC and the PPRC must become more
effective, which will require more capacity building
assistance from international donors. Sierra Leone,s
network of civil society organizations and the media must
step up their vigilance, and the international community,
which can speak without fear or retribution, needs to raise
its voice to ensure that the proverbial playing field will be
as level as possible for the elections. The impediments are
high, but so too will be the cost of failure. END COMMENT.

HULL