Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BAMAKO169
2007-02-15 16:54:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:
ATT ELEVATOR INCIDENT TRIGGERS SECURITY
how-toVZCZCXRO9214 RR RUEHPA DE RUEHBP #0169 0461654 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 151654Z FEB 07 FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6893 INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 000169
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2017
TAGS: PGOV ASEC ML
SUBJECT: ATT ELEVATOR INCIDENT TRIGGERS SECURITY
INVESTIGATION
Classified By: Political Officer Glenn Fedzer for reason 1.4 (B).
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 000169
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2017
TAGS: PGOV ASEC ML
SUBJECT: ATT ELEVATOR INCIDENT TRIGGERS SECURITY
INVESTIGATION
Classified By: Political Officer Glenn Fedzer for reason 1.4 (B).
1. (U) On February 10 President Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT),
Prime Minister Ousmane Issoufi Maiga, and Health Minister
Maiga Zeinab Mint Youba spent 30 uncomfortable minutes
trapped in the elevator of Bamako's newly renovated Gabriel
Toure hospital. The Malian government spent approximately
USD 3.5 million to add a building equipped with
"ultra-modern" examination rooms and operating facilities.
ATT visited the hospital to inspect the new facilities and
was trapped with his two Ministers by a power failure. The
hospital's supposedly automatic electrical generator also
failed. It took fire-fighters, ATT's security detail and
hospital electricians half an hour to free the elevator's
high-profile occupants.
2. (U) State security services have reportedly launched an
investigation to determine what might be behind the incident.
There are, however, no indications that the power cut was
due to anything other than Bamako's relatively routine
electrical outages. Several of Bamako's independent
newspapers seized on the incident to question the GOM's
oversight of those charged with renovating the hospital and
procuring its equipment. Said one newspaper of the incident:
"Mali's Head of State stuck in the supposedly new,
good-quality elevator of a brand new building; in certain
countries this would cost a dozen officials their jobs and
have consequences for the responsible contruction firm."
3. (C) Comment: No one has yet suggested that anyone
intentionally cut the power to trap the President, and the
local press focused its attacks on the contractors, alleging
substandard work and theft. Malfunctioning elevators are not
unknown in new construction in Mali, as the Embassy can
attest. Notably absent in the press, however, is any
criticism of the President's security detail, and how they
left their charge "hanging in thin air" in such an
embarrassing fashion.
McCulley
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2017
TAGS: PGOV ASEC ML
SUBJECT: ATT ELEVATOR INCIDENT TRIGGERS SECURITY
INVESTIGATION
Classified By: Political Officer Glenn Fedzer for reason 1.4 (B).
1. (U) On February 10 President Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT),
Prime Minister Ousmane Issoufi Maiga, and Health Minister
Maiga Zeinab Mint Youba spent 30 uncomfortable minutes
trapped in the elevator of Bamako's newly renovated Gabriel
Toure hospital. The Malian government spent approximately
USD 3.5 million to add a building equipped with
"ultra-modern" examination rooms and operating facilities.
ATT visited the hospital to inspect the new facilities and
was trapped with his two Ministers by a power failure. The
hospital's supposedly automatic electrical generator also
failed. It took fire-fighters, ATT's security detail and
hospital electricians half an hour to free the elevator's
high-profile occupants.
2. (U) State security services have reportedly launched an
investigation to determine what might be behind the incident.
There are, however, no indications that the power cut was
due to anything other than Bamako's relatively routine
electrical outages. Several of Bamako's independent
newspapers seized on the incident to question the GOM's
oversight of those charged with renovating the hospital and
procuring its equipment. Said one newspaper of the incident:
"Mali's Head of State stuck in the supposedly new,
good-quality elevator of a brand new building; in certain
countries this would cost a dozen officials their jobs and
have consequences for the responsible contruction firm."
3. (C) Comment: No one has yet suggested that anyone
intentionally cut the power to trap the President, and the
local press focused its attacks on the contractors, alleging
substandard work and theft. Malfunctioning elevators are not
unknown in new construction in Mali, as the Embassy can
attest. Notably absent in the press, however, is any
criticism of the President's security detail, and how they
left their charge "hanging in thin air" in such an
embarrassing fashion.
McCulley