UNCLAS CONAKRY 000297

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ASEC PMIL ELAB GV
SUBJECT: POLICE AND CUSTOMS OFFICIALS STRIKE FOR PROMOTIONS
AND HIGHER WAGES


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Police and Customs officials in Conakry
began an unofficial labor strike on June 15. Negotiations
with the government were started yesterday afternoon and
continue today. There were reports of gunfire yesterday into
the night from several parts of the city. Flights into
Conakry yesterday evening were diverted or canceled,
reportedly according to internal decisions made by the
affected airlines. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Beginning June 15, police officials in Conakry
refused to go to work, seized several senior police officials
as hostage, established a roadblock in the Camayenne area of
the city (about a kilometer before the Castro Bridge), and
fired guns into the air. Most of the so called "strike"
activity appears to be organized by a special police division
called the Mobile Company for Security Intervention (CMIS).
Late in the afternoon on Monday, Claude Pivi "Coplan", the
self-identified leader of the recent military mutiny,
reportedly went to the roadblock maintained by the CMIS and
demanded that the police stop firing their guns. He then
offered to help them negotiate their demands with the GoG.


3. (SBU) Officials at the main office of the Bureau of
Customs, which is located near the port of Conakry, organized
a sit-down strike that also began on June 15. Customs
officers showed up to work, but refused to sign any documents
or process paperwork until the GoG addressed their demands.
The port remains open, but business activity is reduced. An
internet news source reported that Customs officials were
holding the Director of Customs and her deputy hostage, but a
source within Customs told Econ LES that no one was being
held.


4. (SBU) Yesterday afternoon, two representatives from the
police and one from Customs reportedly went to Camp Samory
Toure to meet with President Conte and Army Chief of Staff
General Camara. Negotiations are expected to continue today.
Sources report that the police hostages, which included the
Director General and the Deputy Director General, were
released late last night. Both Customs and the police are
essentially demanding the same things: promotions and rice
subsidies.


5. (SBU) A reliable source at Conakry's central prison
reported that a group of police went to the prison yesterday,
fired guns into the air, and liberated 12 of their colleagues
who had been imprisoned on drug charges.


6. (SBU) There was intermittent gunfire Monday night, in the
Camayenne area as well as near Camp Alpha Yaya, which is home
to Coplan and the mutineers. Embassy received several
reports indicating that the mutineers were attacking police
officers and demanding that they desist from strike
activities. A source within Camp Alpha Yaya told Pol LES
that Coplan and his mutineers had beaten up several police
officers and stolen their motorbikes.


7. (SBU) According to a police contact, two trucks of
military personnel attacked the central police station in the
capital district of Nongo at 02:00 this morning. The
soldiers reportedly vandalized the police headquarters and
freed all prisoners who were being detained there. (NOTE.
Prisoners are generally held at local police stations for up
to 48 hours before being transferred to a larger prison
facility. END NOTE) The same contact told RSO LES that an
anti-crime brigade stationed at Cosa Junction, near Camp
Alpha Yaya, was arrested and disarmed by a truck of Red
Berets. He noted that he had received a similar report from
the central police station in the district of Matoto.


8. (SBU) Several international flights due in on Monday
night were either canceled or diverted. The regularly
scheduled Air France flight landed in Dakar. Although there
were rumors that the police and customs had closed down the
airport, contacts with the airlines report that they made
unilateral decisions with respect to their flights, in
consideration of an uncertain security situation on the
ground.
CARTER