UFR OPPOSITION LEADER CALLING FOR NATIONAL

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 CONAKRY 000068 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2018 TAGS: PGOV KDEM ELAB ASEC GV SUBJECT: UFR OPPOSITION LEADER CALLING FOR NATIONAL RONDTABLE REF: A. CONAKRY 007 ¶B. CONAKRY 010 ¶C. CONAKRY 0013 ¶D. CONAKRY 0029 Classified By: POL/ECON CHIEF SHANNON CAZEAU FOR RASON 1.4 B AND D ¶1. (S) SUMMARY. The leader o Guinea,s opposition UFR party, Sidya Toure, tol Poloff that the Committee de Suivi (reftel) is seless. According to Toure, the country needs a national roundtable for dialogue in order to develo a clear strategy towards achieving an effectivepolitical transition. While Toure seems committd to finding a way to resolve Guinea,s politicaltroubles without resorting to violence, he sees iolence as a likely outcome if the presidency refses to relinquish power. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) oloff met with Sidiya Toure, president of the oposition Union Force Republican (UFR) party on Janury 23, along with three other members of the UFRs executive board. Toure was taking a break froma memorial program at the People,s Palace for th victims who died on Conakry,s Castro Bridge on anuary 22, 2007. Immediately following the meetng, Toure headed back to the People,s Palace wherehe planned to hold a meeting of all opposition paties in order to discuss Guinea,s current politial situation. President Conte appointed Sidya Ture as prime minister in 1996, but then fired hi in 1999 amid allegations of coup plotting. -------------- THE ACCORDS ARE IRRELEVANT -------------- ¶3. (C) When askedto share the UFR,s perspective on the events of he week of January 7 (reftels) during which Guina,s labor unions threatened to resume a nationwide strike, Toure said if you want to have a prime mnister, you must amend the constitution., Accoring to Toure, the January 27 Accords are fundametally flawed because the country,s legal authoriy is the constitution and the code of laws, bothof which support a strong presidential power struture. Toure was skeptical of the January 9 agreemnt that provided for the establishment of a Commttee de Suivi as a mechanism for dialogue (refte D). The new agreement is nothing,, he said, othing has been resolved., Toure said that the plitical situation in general is very tense with he president in one corner and the prime minister n the oher. Volatile is the best word to use o describe Guinea,s current political situation, Toure said. -------------- PEOPLE NOT READY FOR VIOLENCE -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Toure also criticized the labo unions who he said acted prematurely and did no consult with any other stakeholders. He said tat the strikes were a profoundly political, move on the part of the unions and that for the generl population in Guinea, strikes have become synnymous with violence., According to Toure, variou stakeholders were reluctant to support the unios, strike precisely because they were not ready for violence. And firing a minister is not a goodenough reason for a strike,, Toure added. ¶5. (C) When asked what the solution might be, Toure sid that a national roundtable is absolutely necesary, adding if we want to avoid violence, it is the only answer., According to Toure, the roundtble,s objective would be to define a national pltform for a real political transition, and thenpropose a plan of action to the president. Howeer, Toure said that the president is unlikely to accept any proposal for a political transition. Poloff asked him what would happen then, to which Toure responded ,well then, we would have to create an environment wherein the president feels pressured to accept., -------------- THE PRESIDENT IS THE PROBLEM -------------- ¶6. (S) Visibly animated as he pounded his hand into the couch several times for emphasis, Toure said: this is why we have to change the constitution. We are absolutely blocked. The Chief of State is no longer capable and we have to change the leadership, but we have no legal mechanism. We can,t just impeach him., Toure then turned to the republican institutions, which include the Supreme Court, the CONAKRY 00000068 002 OF 002 National Assembly, and the Economic and Social Council. According to Toure, these institutions have been completely ineffective in addressing the country,s fundamental political problems. Anyway, we cannot call them the republican institutions, we need to call them the institutions of the republic,, he joked. ¶7. (C) Poloff asked Toure if he thought the president himself is behind recent political developments or if it is key members of President Conte,s inner circle. Toure scoffed no one represents the president, but the president., According to Toure, the president is the key player and everybody else is just moving around him. The other actors are not important,, he said. -------------- WHERE DO ELECTIONS FIT IN? -------------- ¶8. (C) Poloff asked if progress towards elections might help alleviate some of the political tension. Toure said that elections are important, but that it is unlikely they will be scheduled before November or December 2008. He added that if elections planning moves forward, it could offer a partial solution, but that the president is not interested., He said the Guinean Government lacks political will and there are plenty of elements, such as the National Assembly and the ruling Party for Unity and Progress (PUP),who will continue to try to block progress on elections. He pointed out that while there is a new Minister of Interior and Security, the rest of the bureaucracy remains the same, meaning that they are the same people who have organized Guinea,s flawed elections over the last several years. However, Toure said that an effective and independent electoral commission with a clear program could serve as a counterpoint, to current political tensions. ¶9. (SBU) On elections in general, Toure said that the UFR is ready to go, but is not actively campaigning at this point. An elections campaign is expensive and we have limited resources,, he said. It doesn,t make sense for us to launch our campaign until we know for sure when the elections will actually be held,, Toure added. -------------- VIOLENCE MAY BE THE ONLY OPTION -------------- ¶10. (S) As the meeting ended and Toure was walking Poloff and others out of the office, he held Poloff back and closed the door after the other meeting participants had left. He said between you and me, I really do not see any other alternative but violence. I say this because I have worked with the man (the president) for three years. He is not reasonable. He will never accept to step down. No one wants violence, but we do not have many options., -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶11. (S) As usual, Sidya Toure was relaxed and freely shared his political views. Among the opposition parties, he is one of the few political leaders who comes off as a polished professional with concrete ideas and strategies, which may be one of the reasons he is often at the center of efforts to organize the opposition parties. Toure seems to be trying to come up with effective ways to manage Guinea,s political tensions in an effort to avoid potential violence. At the same time, he seemed almost resigned to the reality of violence further down the road. It seems that he is looking for an alternative without any real conviction that it could work, given his perceptions of the presidency. In some ways, the idea of a national roundtable as a mechanism for defining a clear political agenda may be a way to get everybody on the same page and make sure everyone agrees to what they are fighting for. These actors may also want to reach agreement on what course of action to pursue should Conte reject whatever proposal they may present. END COMMENT. CARTER