ONE WEEK LATER - NO COMMITTEE FOR DIALOGUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CONAKRY 000046

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2018
TAGS: PGOV ELAB KDEM ASEC GV
SUBJECT: ONE WEEK LATER - NO COMMITTEE FOR DIALOGUE

REF: CONAKRY 0029

Classified By: POL/ECON CHIEF SHANNON CAZEAU FOR REASON 1.4 B AND D


1. (C) SUMMARY. One full week after the January 9
negotiated agreement between Guinea,s labor unions and other
political actors (reftel),the Committee de Suivi has not yet
gelled. Although the general committee composition has been
decided, only the unions have actually nominated members.
The proposed composition of the committee itself raises
several concerns about the long-term effectiveness of the
committee as a mechanism for achieving results and avoiding
violence. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) As part of the January 9 negotiated agreement with
Guinea,s labor unions, the Guinean Government agreed to
establish a Committee de Suivi, in order to review the
implementation of the January 27 Accords which resulted in
the creation of a consensus government led by Prime Minister
Lansana Kouyate. On January 17, Pol LES met with Josephine
Leno Guilao, the Vice President of the Economic and Social
Council, in order to discuss progress towards establishing
the committee. (COMMENT. In principle, the Economic and
Social Council is an independent body although in practice,
it has been closely associated with the two other republican
institutions representing the government, the National
Assembly and the Supreme Court. END COMMENT).


3. (SBU) According to Ms. Guilao, the Economic and Social
Council is spearheading the organization of the Committee de
Suivi. Guilao said that the Council sent out letters on
January 15 requesting nominations for participants from each
of the organizations to be represented within the committee,
as follows:
- Labor Unions (10 representatives)
- Patronat (4 representatives)
- Prime Minister,s Cabinet (8 representatives)
- Association of Elders (4 representatives)
- Civil Society (2 representatives)
- Supreme Court (3 representatives)
- National Assembly (3 representatives)
- Economic and Social Council (3 representatives)


4. (SBU) Ms. Guilao said that as of January 17, only the
unions had responded with nominations. Guilao noted that the
president of the National Assembly, Aboubacar Sompare, and
the president of the Supreme Court, Lamine Sidibe, will
participate as one of the three representatives from their
respective organizations. However, Guilao told LES that they
would not participate in the technical discussions.,
Guilao emphasized to LES that it is important to get the
committee established as soon as possible and that she is
hoping to get the rest of the nominations within the next few
days.


5. (SBU) As LES was coming into the room to meet with Ms.
Guilao, she was just finishing up an interview with a
journalist from Kouroussa, the PM,s hometown. Guilao
reportedly told the journalist that Kouyate has failed,
and that he is pretending to be a government of wide
consensus, but that he has not actually consulted with
anyone, including the Economic and Social Council. Ms.
Guilao reportedly detailed other criticisms of Kouyate,
including his involvement in the sale of rice to the
population, making unrealistic promises, and frequent travel.


6. (C) Later in the discussion, after the reporter left, Ms.
Guilao told LES that the republican institutions went to see
President Conte last week after the January 9 agreement was
signed. She said that Conte looked at the agreement and then
told them (Sompare, Sidibe and Michel Camara, President of
the Economic and Social Council) to tell Kouyate to be
respectful to the president. According to Ms. Guilao, Conte
said I am the president and he needs to respect that.,
Ms. Guilao told LES that she was confident that President
Conte would accept whatever recommendations are eventually
made by the Committee de Suivi.

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COMMENT
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7. (C) There is one glaring omission among the groups
invited to participate in the Committee de Suivi and that is
the political parties. While the ruling Party for Unity and
Progress (PUP) is likely to be at least tacitly represented
by some members of the republican institutions, the
opposition political parties do not appear to have a voice.
Since the political parties have generally felt marginalized

CONAKRY 00000046 002 OF 002


by both recent events and the events of early 2007, this may
be a problem especially since they have one of the biggest
interests at stake ) the elections. The fact that there are
nine representatives from the republican institutions, which
include Sompare and Sidibe, suggests that there may be at
least a few members with a solid interest in derailing the
process. With the Economic and Social Council doing the
initial organization, another question is who will actually
chair the committee? Participants may not be keen to accept
one of the republican institutions as the chairperson since
the momentum driving the dialogue process is a popular demand
to change the system. END COMMENT.
CARTER