NEW PM NAMES CABINET - A FIRST LOOK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CONAKRY 000307

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2018
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ASEC GV
SUBJECT: NEW PM NAMES CABINET - A FIRST LOOK

Classified By: A/DCM SHANNON CAZEAU FOR REASON 1.4 B AND D


1. (U) Nearly one month after he was sworn in, Prime
Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare finally announced his cabinet
on June 19. These appointments follow on the June 13
announcement restructuring the government, which created a
total of 33 ministries, and three secretary general positions
(reftel). Information on key ministers is provided in this
cable. Bio notes on other cabinet members will be sent in
separately, as well as more detailed analysis of the cabinet
as a whole, and the public reaction.


2. (U) Eight of the positions are filled by members of
former Prime Minister Kouyate's government, although some of
these have been reshuffled:
-- Dr. Ousmane Dore has been retained as the Minister of
Finance.
-- Amadou Diallo has been appointed as the Minister of
Youth Employment (previously was the Minister of
Labor)
-- Ahmed Kante has been retained as the Minister of Mines
-- Dr. Ousmane Souare has been appointed as the Minister
of Pre-University and Civic Education (previously was
the Minister of Education)
-- Dr. Mahmoud Camara has been retained as the Minister
of Agriculture.
-- Amadou Oury Bah has been retained as the Secretary
General of the Government
-- Nabanyou Cherif has been retained as the Secretary
General of Religious Affairs
-- Sam Mamady Soumah has been retained as the Secretary
General of the Presidency, but the position has been
promoted to the ministerial level.


3. (U) There is one additional appointment that comes from
Kouyate's administration, but it was imposed on Kouyate by
President Conte:
-- Issa Conde is now the Minister of Youth and Sports
(previously was the Minister of Information, appointed
by Conte in January 2007).

--------------
PRELIMINARY BIO NOTES ON KEY MINISTERS
--------------


4. (SBU) Minister of Foreign Affairs ) Amadou Lamarana Bah.
Bah is a career diplomat and served for some time in the
Guinean Embassy in Paris. He is not affiliated with any
political party. In the past, he has sometimes been helpful
to the American mission in Guinea in addressing routine
requests such as diplomatic visas. He is known to be direct
and to speak his mind. Bah is a Peuhl from Pita.


5. (SBU) Minister of Defense ) Almaly Kabele Camara. Camara
is Guinea's second civilian to head the Defense Ministry. He
was the director of the former Port Authority until he was
sacked in 2006 by Fode Bangoura. He was appointed as the
Minister of the Interior under former Prime Minister Cellou
Dallein Diallo,s 24-hour government, and is considered to be
very close to Cellou. (COMMENT. After dissolving his cabinet,
Cellou worked with Conte for three months to name a new
cabinet. The day after the new cabinet was announced, Cellou
and his entire goverment were dismissed. END COMMENT).
Camara is an active member of the PUP. His brother, the
former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was a member of
Kouyate,s government. Camara is a Soussou from Coyah.


6. (C) Minister of Territorial Administration and Political
Affairs - Sekou Bangoura. Considered to be a close ally to
President Conte, Bangoura previously served as the "Director
of Cooperation," but it is unclear when or exactly what this
position represented. He is viewed as some to be corrupt,
allegedly using his previous position to siphon off economic
assistance from international donors. Bangoura is an ethnic
Soussou.


7. (C) Minister of Security and Civil Protection ) Mohamed
Damba. Damba is a former Commissioner of Police and is a
career police officer, although immediately before his
appointment, he was not actually serving in the police force.
He received U.S. anti-terrorist training in 1986. He is
seen as collaborative, though likely corrupt. Damba is from
Fria (Maritime Guinea).


8. (SBU) Minister of Justice ) Bachir Toure. Until his
appointment, Toure was serving as a Deputy to the National
Assembly. He is an active member of the PUP. Because of his
role in the National Assembly, he likely has some political
relationship to the National Assembly President, Boubacar

CONAKRY 00000307 002 OF 002


Sompare. Toure studied in Paris and is considered an
intellectual. He is a Soussou from Forecariah.


9. (SBU) Minister of Industrial Development ) Youssouf
Diallo. A private businessman, Diallo became head of the
Patronat when Mamadou Syllah was arrested and put in prison
in late 2006. When Syllah reemerged around May 2007, after
the civil unrest of early 2007, he claimed that he was the
legitimately elected president of the Patronat, which
essentially split the Patronat into two groups. Yousouff
Diallo headed one of those groups until his ministerial
appointment. Diallo owns a shipping company, Transmar. He
was educated in France and has a degree in logistics. Diallo
is a Peuhl from Mamou. His wife, Aissatou Bella Diallo, is a
former Minister of Information under Cellou Diallo who is
considered very close to President Conte. His step-son runs
Liberty FM, a Guinean radio station.


10. (C) Minister of Communication and New Informational
Technologies - Tibou Kamara. Camara, at 34 years old, is
Souare's youngest appointment. He is a journalist and
founder of the newspaper, "L'Observateur", a platform he used
to criticize several previous governments, including
Kouyate's. In a move that undermined former Prime Minister
Kouyate's authority, President Conte appointed Kamara
president of the National Communications Commission (CNC),
the Guinean media regulatory board, earlier this year.
Kamara authored the first book on Conte's public policy,
"General Conte: My Politics," which was widely regarded as a
propaganda piece. Kamara was previously appointed as the
Minister of Information in Cellou Diallo,s brief-lived
24-hour government. Kamara has been arrested and released
from prison several times. He is from an ethnic Peuhl
minority from Dinguraye, and his wife's sister is the wife of
the President of The Gambia.


11. (SBU) Minister of Decentralization and Local Development
) Ibrahima Diakite. Diakite is an outspoken and active
member of civil society. He is seen as close to the prime
minister's inner circle. Widely viewed as a dynamic
reformer, Diakite worked in the decentralization sector
before working with the USAID-funded project Faison Ensemble,
a position he held until his appointment. Diakite is an
ethnic Soussou from Forecariah, and speaks Peuhl and Soussou.


12. (SBU) Minister of Fisheries ) Youssouf Sylla. Sylla
holds a PhD in economics from a U.S. university and worked at
the World Bank in Washington until the early 1990s.
Thereafter, he served at the Ministry of Planning and the
Ministry of Finance. He served in his last government
position as director of the national budget seven years ago.
He is considered to be a technocrat. He is a Peuhl from
Mamou.
CARTER