CONTE BACK AT THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CONAKRY 000036 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM ASEC GV SUBJECT: CONTE BACK AT THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE REF: A. CONAKRY 0023 ¶B. CONAKRY 0024 Classified By: POL/ECON CHIEF SHANNON CAZEAU FOR REASON 1.4 B AND D ¶1. (SBU) Following widespread press speculation about his physical health (reftel A),President Lansana Conte returned to Conakry on March 21 after having spent some weeks at his country home, located about an hour outside the capital. Conte toured the city in his presidential motorcade on March 22, probably to help dispel persistent rumors. ¶2. (C) According to an LES staff member who spent some hours at the presidential palace the evening of March 21, there was a flurry of activity around the president late into the evening. A red beret presidential guard told LES that Conte was not aware of Chantal Colle,s deportation (reftel A) until he returned to Conakry, and that he was very upset about it. According to the guard, Conte spat expletives as he vowed to respond by firing both the prime minister and the minister of interior and security. LES staff said that a steady stream of visitors came to see the president that evening, including the president of the national assembly, and the head of the national police. Local press reported that key presidential insiders met for some hours at the palace, specifically naming Chief of Protocol Idrissa Thiam, Secretary General Sam Soumah, and a number of former SIPDIS government officials, including former ministers. The LES staff member who was there commented that it was a very tense environment, and observers expected the president to fire the PM and/or the minister of interior and security that same evening. ¶3. (SBU) Instead, Chantal Colle,s lawyers organized a press conference, which was held on the afternoon of March 22. An LES staff member who was present said that Colle was represented by a team of five lawyers, including Boubacar Sow, the former head of the Guinean Bar Association who was dismissed after he misrepresented his organization during the heightened tensions in early January 2008 (reftel B). Another of her lawyers, Abas Bangorah, is one of the three civil society representatives on Guinea,s National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI). Colle,s lawyers reportedly claimed that her deportation was illegal and that she will be suing the Ministry of Interior and Security. Her legal team pointed out that the Ministry confiscated Colle,s Guinean passport even though Colle was born in Guinea and did not obtain French citizenship until the age of 16. (Note. Colle held dual citizenship. End Note). According to LES, the lawyers argued that even if Colle were considered a foreigner, the law requires a period of four months for evaluation before someone can be legally deported. ¶4. (C) LES staff report that there are a number of rumors informally circulating as to why the president has not yet responded more harshly to Colle,s deportation. According to some LES contacts, Conte,s first wife, Henriette Conte, was actually behind the deportation and working closely with the minister of interior to make it happen. Contacts said that Henriette may have supported the deportation, not only because of Colle,s alleged intimate relationship with the president, but also because Colle was actively pushing to reinstate the former Secretary General, Fode Bangorah, into an official government position. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶5. (C) Rumors as to the state of Conte,s health have died down, and while he appears to be recovering, he was likely sick for some time as noted by several different contacts in recent weeks. The furor over Chantal Colle,s case also appears to be diminishing, but LES and contacts generally believe that the story is not yet finished. The consensus government,s move to deport Colle is likely another calculated power play in Guinea,s ongoing political drama, but Conte has yet to make a definitive countermove, and when he does, Kouyate usually loses. END COMMENT. BROKENSHIRE