OUSMANE BAH - IN OR OUT OF UPR?

UNCLAS CONAKRY 000131

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12598: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL ASEC GV
SUBJECT: OUSMANE BAH - IN OR OUT OF UPR?



1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Local press reports that Ousmane Bah ws relieved
of his position as President of the UPR. The UPR thinks otherwise.
Meanwhile, a rival politician reportedly is pulling the strings.
END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) On April 21, several press reports stated that Ousamne Bah
had been relieved of his post as president of the political party,
Union pour le Progres et le Renouveau (UPR),and replaced by the
wife of the late founder of the UPR. According to a subsequent
interview with Amadou Oury Lemmy Diallo, the brother of the founder
of the UPR, the 'coup' was put on by a small number of UPR
dissidents, rumored to be financed by Cellou Diallo, head of the
competing Union pour les Forces Dmocratiques de Guine (UFDG).
(NOTE: Both the UPR and the UFDG are reportedly Fulani political
parties competing for the same voters. END NOTE.)


3. (SBU) Later, on the evening of April 21, the UPR held a press
conference at its office in Conakry. M. Moro Balde, the UPR
Information and Communication officer, confirmed that the action
taken against Bah was by twenty-two dissidents within the party led
by Commandant Barou Diallo, and that they had no authority to
dismiss Bah as president. He intimated that the dissidents would be
disciplined by the party. (NOTE: Mr. Barou Diallo was a minister in
President Conte's first government before joining the opposition.
END NOTE.)


4. (SBU) The spokesperson said that Ousmane Bah is still the
president of the UPR, and that he is continuing on this tour of the
interior of the country, trying to install cadres in all regions of
Guinea.


5. (SBU) COMMENT: At the same time as the UPR press conference was
being conducted, the dissidents were swearing in Hadja Aissatou Bah
Diallo, as the interim president of the UPR. She is the widow of
Siradio Diallo, the founder of the UPR. The reason for the intrigue
may be that Bah is supposedly trying to turn the UPR into a
national, multi-ethnic political party. This is rumored to be the
reason that Cellou Diallo is financing dissent within the UPR, as he
reportedly wants to merge his party with UPR, with him as the
presidential candidate of the merged Fulani party. This is a tricky
situation as the government will not legalize a tribal or ethnic
based political party. END COMMENT.

CARTER