SITREP NO. 29: GUINEA GENERAL STRIKE, FEB. 10,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CONAKRY 000162

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR AF/W, AF/EX, DS/IP/AF, CA/OCS
PLEASE PASS ALSO TO PEACE CORPS, ALSO FOR AID/AFR
TREASURY FOR OFFICE OF AFRICAN NATIONS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2017
TAGS: PGOV ELAB ASEC CASC PINS AEMR EAID GV
SUBJECT: SITREP NO. 29: GUINEA GENERAL STRIKE, FEB. 10,
1130 GMT

REF: CONAKRY 160 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: DCM Julie Winn. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

This marks a resumption of Guinea sitreps suspended on
January 29.

--------------
SITUATION ON THE GROUND
--------------


1. (C) The security climate in Guinea is highly volatile and
unpredictable following the appointment late February 9 of
Eugene Camara as Prime Minister. After a night marked by
sporadic rock-throwing and a brief early morning lull, the
city has been hit with widespread protests and disturbances.
These have taken place in the usual hotspots of Bambeto,
Hamdallaye, Taouyah, and Donka, as well as in the Conakry
suburbs. For the first time, the Autoroute, a primary
artery, has been blocked as well. In many cases, students
arriving at school for the usual Saturday classes were turned
away by their teachers, told that the schools were closed.
These young people, joined by non-students, are participating
in various activities, from peaceful marching to more violent
blockades, rock-throwing and tire-burning. The common chant
and demand is "Change." We have unconfirmed reports that
Lansana Conte's convoy was stoned as it passed through the
outer suburbs, and he was forced to return to town this
morning.


2. (C) The troubles, despite their severity, appear as
pockets surrounded by calmer areas, and they do not appear to
be centrally organized in any way. After a morning in which
security forces were slow to respond, we understand that they
are now beginning to engage and clear roads. Notably, there
is no reinforced security presence at the Castro Bridge,
which marks the beginning of the downtown area, and there are
no reports of any significant trouble in that area. There is
almost no vehicular traffic, and most stores are closed.


3. (C) There are also protests and, in some cases, violence,
in some interior towns, including Kankan, Siguiri, Kouroussa,
and Faranah. An LES employee has contacted mayors in those
town who say that the prefets (appointed representatives of
the central government) have left town. The mayors, who feel
relatively safe because they are locally elected, say that
protesters have sacked and/or burned the prefets' offices and
some gendarmeries. The security authorities in these town
are not intervening. A Siguiri contact told our FSN that
some soldiers were dropping their arms and marching with the
people. In the meantime, Labe, Mamou and N'Zerekore have
seen peaceful demonstrations this morning. These
developments follow significant disturbances Feb. 8-9 in the
interior town of Dingueraye, where a crowd of 3-4000 burned
local offices, and in Coyah, near Conakry, where students
angry over transport costs flashed over to violence when a
local official trying to calm them mentioned President Conte.


4. (C) The U.S. Mission has returned to full standfast, with
most personnel instructed to remain at their residences until
further notice. We have cleared a similar warden message
with the Department and have disseminating it.

--------------
POLITICAL UPDATE
--------------


5. (C) The political temperature has been rising over the
last ten days as the population anxiously awaited the
appointment of a new prime minister "of consensus." After
days of speculation over whether and when Conte would make
the appointment, the suspense ended evening of February 9
with a decree naming Eugene Camara. Camara an ethnic Guerze
from the Forest Region, has most recently (over the last
three weeks) been Minister of State for Presidential Affairs,
replacing former Conte confidant Fode Bangoura. Prior to
that, he was Minister of Plan for several years. He has also
served as Minister of Higher Education and as Governor of the
Forest Region. We have no information to suggest he is
corrupt. He is a low profile figure, whose primary weakness
appears to be his identification with the Conte regime, with
which he has been associated for more than ten years --
anathema to the unions and the general public at this point.


6. (C) While the unions have not yet formally rejected

CONAKRY 00000162 002 OF 002


Camara, early interviews suggest that they may, and his
appointment was met with an immediate declaration of outrage
on the part of the major civil society confederation here,
CNOSCG. Most importantly, the buzz on the "street" was
immediately negative. One union official told poloff this
morning that the union leadership would meet at noon local
time to review Camara's dossier, to see whether there was any
chance he could be acceptable. Head of the teachers union
M'Bembah Soumah, however, was categoric with us that his
organization had already decided against. (Note: M'Bembah
also said that he had not told teachers to shut down the
school; that was spontaneous on their part and something he
deplored since it made a bad situation worse.) What is clear
is that the unions' decision pro or con has, at this point,
little to do with what the street believes -- or does.


--------------
DIPLOMATIC UPDATE
--------------


7. (C) By coincidence, Ambassador McDonald and other Western
Ambassadors, including those of Germany, France, the UK and
the EU, had already set an appointment for morning of
February 10 with Eugene Camara in his capacity as Minister of
State for Presidential Affairs. The purpose of this rare
joint demarche was to deliver a strong message against the
use of lethal force by the security forces against civilians;
any such use of lethal force would call down international
opprobrium. Prime Minister Camara responded that he had a
track records as a man of dialogue and would do all within
his power to prevent further killing. Further details of
this meeting will be provided septel.


8. (C) Following his meeting with the Prime Minister, the
Ambassador returned to his resident because road conditions
between there and the Embassy do not permit safe passage. He
is in continuous phone contact with DCM, who is at the
Embassy.

--------------
SECURITY POSTURE
--------------


9. (C) Post remains on Authorized Departure status for
eligible family members. The six dependents (two spouses and
four children) who left the weekend of January 27 remain the
only dependents to have taken the opportunity to leave. We
anticipate that should the security situation remain this
volatile, requiring the closure again of the International
School, at least one additional family (one spouse and two
children) will request departure. We have no reports of
American citizens injured or in trouble at this time.


10. (C) The Mission has its fuel reserves topped off, and
our wells provide sufficient water. The airport was open
this morning for a flight. Our A/PAO returned early in the
morning from a TDY to Ouagadougou, and two USAID employees
departed. However, since the early morning, the streets
leading to the airport have been consistently blocked. We
are seeking to determine whether Air France will meet its
regularly scheduled Saturday evening flight today.


11. (C) We will continue to monitor the situation closely.
MCDONALD