Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07MONROVIA1375
2007-11-30 16:08:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Monrovia
Cable title:  

FORMER REBEL LEADER DENIES HARBORING FIGHTERS

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM LI 
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VZCZCXRO6857
PP RUEHPA
DE RUEHMV #1375/01 3341608
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 301608Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY MONROVIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9546
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MONROVIA 001375 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

AF/W FOR PDAVIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM LI
SUBJECT: FORMER REBEL LEADER DENIES HARBORING FIGHTERS

Classified By: Ambassador Donald E. Booth for resasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MONROVIA 001375

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

AF/W FOR PDAVIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM LI
SUBJECT: FORMER REBEL LEADER DENIES HARBORING FIGHTERS

Classified By: Ambassador Donald E. Booth for resasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: Former MODEL rebel group leader and NTGL
foreign minister Thomas Nimely Yaya rejected accusations that
he was training 150 Burkinabes at his family plantation in
Grand Gedeh County. He told Ambassador that he has no
political designs whatsoever, and supports the Sirleaf
government as well as U.S. and UN efforts, but cautions that
government "witch-hunts" could create enemies where there are
none. End summary.


2. (C) Former MODEL leader and NTGL Foreign Minister Thomas
Nimely Yaya made a point during a meeting with the Ambassador
on November 21 to deny accusations from some levels of the
government that he was training 150 Burkinabes at his family
rubber plantation in Grand Gedeh County in order to overthrow
the Sirleaf government. According to Nimely Yaya, the
accusations date from 2005, when he left Monrovia to begin
work on his farm. "Because they could not see me, they
concluded I was training" and plotting an overthrow, he said.
He believed that the accusations came from Senate President
Pro Tempore Isaac Nyenabo, and former LURD leader and Speaker
of the House George Dweh, both from Grand Gedeh County, who
went to President Sirleaf with the accusation. He said that
the elders of Grand Gedeh were embarrassed by the accusation
and offered to hold a feast for him to apologize and
reconcile the situation.


3. (C) Nimely Yaya met with the President and the Vice
President in January 2007 to discuss the accusation.
However, the President raised only her concern that Nimely
Yaya may be using foreign labor at his plantation, and wanted
to encourage him to hire Liberian workers. He assured the
President he had no foreign workers on his payroll, but
explained the difficulties of finding decent Liberian labors,
as they were not used to performing the repetitive farming
tasks. On the other hand, Ivorian or Burkinabe workers were
used to farm work and accepted $150 per year as a salary. He
asked if he could bring in a few Burkinabe workers to expand
his operations. The President suggested that he contact the

(former) Minister of Justice as his "thick file" was turned
over to the ministry. He declined, saying that the minister
had not contacted him, suggesting to him that there was "no
case" against him.


4. (C) He returned to the farm following that meeting, and
there were no developments until about six weeks ago, when
the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) took a
census of non-Liberians in the area, to find only eight
non-Liberians, three of whom were recognized refugees from
Cote d'Ivoire. The BIN officials charged each one a LD 100
(USD 1.65) registration fee and left. The next day, a
detachment of the Ethiopian UNMIL Battalion brought five
Liberian National Police officers (LNP) to the village. One
of the LNP pointed an "instrument" at Nimely Yaya's house
"for about five minutes". When he asked what the police were
doing, he was told to ask the Paramount Chief, who advised
him the BIN had sent a letter to the chiefs saying the agency
was investigating a claim of 150 Burkinabes living on the
plantation and requested the cooperation of the local
leaders.


5. (C) Nimely Yaya at that point decided to go public, and
two weeks later, went on Smile Radio in Zwedru to publicly
deny the accusation, saying he was interested in economics
and not politics, and for that reason has not sought any
political position. He then traveled to Monrovia to meet
with BIN director Chris Massaquoi, who told him that "he
didn't know anything" about the accusations. Nimely Yaya
then went on radio Veritas November 17 once again to claim
his innocence, this time saying that the government "appears
to have a negative motive" and that it was not in the
interests of reconciliation to arrest anyone for something he
did not do. He praised President Sirleaf, but cautioned her
about receiving poor advice. He added he would raise his
case with the U.S., the UN and ECOWAS. (Note: Nimely Yaya
met with UNSRSG Alan Doss two days after his meeting with the
Ambassador. End Note).


6. (C) On November 17, following the radio appearance, the
BIN director dispatched another team to the village to
conduct another survey, only to find the same eight
non-Liberians. Nimely Yaya said that the BIN officials at
the village have since been recalled.


7. (C) Nimely Yaya insisted several times that the past was
finished and it was time for the country to move forward. He
cautioned that the government should not "look for enemies
where there are no enemies," suggesting that the government,
by going on a "witch-hunt" will turn people against the
government. "I have no motive to unseat this government.

MONROVIA 00001375 002 OF 002


That would be defeating my own purposes," he said. He said
he should not be compared to other faction leaders in the
civil war, as he took up arms for only three months, and only
to counter any efforts by Charles Taylor to break out of
Monrovia. His rebel group MODEL was formed from young men in
the southern region "to create a buffer zone," and he had
promised the U.S. Ambassador at the time that he would not
enter Monrovia, and would disarm as soon as UN peacekeepers
arrived, both promises he said he kept.


8. (C) Nimely Yaya said he suspected that Senator Nyenabo
denounced him in order to curry favor with the President, but
at this point had no reason to believe that the President
herself had made any conclusions. He also discounted the
possibility of keeping 150 people out of sight in his 45
hectare plantation that runs up both against a village and a
major road.


9. (C) Nimely Yaya also remarked that a large number of
former refugees were returning to the area, especially from
Ghana.


10. (C) Comment: However credible or baseless the
accusations against him, Nimely Yaya has certainly found the
threat to his livelihood strong enough to react. It is true
that he, as well as several other former warlords, have kept
out of the limelight, either to put the past behind him, as
he claims, or to avoid retaliation as others believe.
However, government actions against perceived threats as well
as the continued work of the TRC will not allow the past of
key former political players to fade away entirely just yet.
End comment.

Booth