EMBASSY PLAN TO MONITOR SIERRA LEONE NATIONAL

UNCLAS FREETOWN 000471 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR AF/W, INR/AA (BGRAVES) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM ASEC SL SUBJECT: EMBASSY PLAN TO MONITOR SIERRA LEONE NATIONAL ELECTIONS ¶1. (SBU) Sierra Leone will hold its Presidential and Parliamentary elections on Saturday, August 11. Post has devised the following plan to monitor voting centers in nine of the 14 districts on election day. Seven monitoring teams, comprised of one to three Direct Hire American Embassy staff accompanied by Locally Engaged Staff (LES),will travel upcountry to observe polling centers. Four teams will observe voting centers locally in Freetown. The teams will record and communicate their observations to Embassy personnel staffing the operations center in the Embassy. ¶2. (SBU) Monitoring teams will visit voting centers in the following areas: Northern Province: -- Bombali District: Makeni -- Port Loko District: Port Loko, Masiaka, Lunsar, Songo -- Tonkolili District: Mile 91 Southern Province: -- Bo District: Bo -- Moyamba District: Moyamba, Taiama -- Pujehun District: Pujehun Eastern Province: -- Kailahun District: Kailahun -- Kenema District: Kenema -- Kono District: Koidu Western Province: -- Western Area District: Freetown, Waterloo, Hastings ¶3. (SBU) Contact Information for Embassy POCs: Embassy Operations Center: Cellular Numbers 1) 011 232 76 673 175 2) 011 232 76 663 307 Embassy Operations Center: Landlines 1) 011 232 76 515 330 2) 011 232 76 515 331 RSO (Bryan Scruggs): 011 232 76 616 619 Duty Officer (FM Dirk Rettberg): 011 232 76 616 614 Pol/Econ Officer (Martin Dale): 011 232 76 616 609 HULL