U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ELECTION -- GUINEA

C O N F I D E N T I A L CONAKRY 000531

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

P, IO/RHS, DRL/MLGA/EUR/PGI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/14/2017
TAGS: PHUM PREL UNHRC GV
SUBJECT: U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ELECTION -- GUINEA

REF: A. STATE 58056


B. STATE 63345

C. CONAKRY 515

Classified By: Ambassador Jackson McDonald. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) On May 14, the Ambassador met briefly with Prime
Minister Lansana Kouyate (in the absence of the Foreign
Minister who is abroad) to urge Guinea not to support
Belarus's candidacy for the U.N. Human Rights Council. The
Ambassador expressed dismay that the Foreign Ministry had
informed us on May 10 that Guinea would support Belarus. He
said that this decision must have been taken by "old
thinkers" still buried in the bureaucracy and that it did not
appear to reflect the democratic values espoused by the
recently appointed Kouyate government. Moreover, Guinea's
unhelpful position on the Belarus candidacy would be noted by
Washington just three weeks before the Prime Minister's
planned visit.


2. (C) Prime Minister Kouyate was not aware of the Belarus
issue, and he was not at all pleased with the Foreign
Ministry's position. In the Ambassador's presence, he
ordered the Secretary General of Foreign Ministry to come see
him at once. The Prime Minister assured the Ambassador that
he would "take care of it."


3. (C) French Ambassador Jean-Michel Berrit confirmed to us
that he has received similar instructions concerning Belarus
from Paris and that he will deliver the demarche to the Prime
Minister on May 15.


4. (C) Comment: Recently appointed Prime Minister Kouyate
has a lot on his plate, especially given ongoing unrest
within the Guinean military. Normally, we would have dealt
with the Foreign Minister on this matter, but he is out of
the country. This episode revealed, however, the limits of
Prime Minister Kouyate's command over old-thinkers within the
government bureaucracy. In the Ambassador's presence, the
Prime Minister asked his chief of staff and his chief of
protocol which minister has interim responsibility for the
Foreign Ministry during the Foreign Minister's absence.
Neither knew. He asked who represents Guinea in Geneva.
Neither knew. In short, the Prime Minister still has a long
way to go before achieving effective authority over the
ministerial bureaucracies.



MCDONALD