DISCORD BETWEEN PM AND PRESIDENT INCRASES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 0 OF 03 CONAKRY 000007 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DEC: 01/03/2018 TAGS: PGOV ELAB KHUM KDEM PREL SUBJECT: DISCORD BETWEEN PM AND PRESIDENT INCRASES POLITICAL TENSION REF: A. CONAKRY 0004 B. CONAKRY 0005 Classified By: POL/ECON CHEF SHANNON CAZEAU FOR REASON 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Political tension in GUINEA appears o have intensified over the last few days. Repots of strained relations between the president ad the prime minister, rumors of Conte possibly dsmissing Kouyate, and union leaders saying that hey are considering resuming nationwide labor strkes have contributed to increased political actiity on all fronts. Rumors abound and it has been difficult to substantiate reports. Although Guina,s political situation is fragile, the actual fcts and events may not be quite as dramatic as cotacts suggest. Embassy will continue to monitorand analyze the situation. END SUMMARY. ¶2. C) Over the last 72 hours, there have been a numbe of significant political developments in GUINEA the import of which are not yet clear. Based oninformation supplied by contacts, Embassy report the following sequence of events: -------------- TIMELINE OF RECENT EVENTS -------------- ¶3. (U) December 31: The PM nd his cabinet visited President Conte at his hom to wish him a happy new year. During a nationaly televised broadcast, President Conte made seveal comments about Kouyate,s administration, which ave been open to widely different interpretation. ¶4. (SBU) January 1: An internet news site (ainata.com) posted a speech allegedly written by resident Conte. The speech was highly critical f the Kouyate administration and suggested to soe contacts that Conte may be planning to dismissthe PM. ¶5. (U) January 2: The PM convened a Concil of Ministers meeting, which resulted in therelease of an official communique around 8:00 PM The communique publicly stated that the restruturing decree recently signed by President Conte(reftel A) had been altered. Furthermore, the Counil stated that it would consider the January 27 ccords and the March 14 Decree appointing the prme minister as its official guidance from the prsidency, thereby suggesting that the government lanned to ignore the restructuring decree. In th communique, the government also denounced the Janary 1 speech reportedly written by the president saying that it was not a legitimate document an that the president had not actually written it. ¶6. (U) January 2: At around 10:30 PM, Presiden Conte, reportedly angry over the PM,s communiqu, summoned the PM and his cabinet to his residene for a meeting. -------------- WHAT EOPLE ARE SAYING -------------- ¶7. () The above mentioned events have spawned numerous rumors throughout the capital, at all levels of sciety. One contact reported that the President ay have signed a decree late in the evening of Jnuary 2 stripping the PM of his powers as head of government. Other contacts suggest that the president will likely dismiss Kouyate in the coming weeks. Some contacts say that the president,s speech must have been written by one of his inner circle, possibly Secretary General Sam Soumah, without the president,s SIPDIS knowledge, as a mechanism for generating political unrest. Other contacts suggest that such a stirring of the pot, is very much in character for Conte and that he may very well be attempting to mix things up. ¶8. (SBU) Civil society and political party leaders planned to meet independently late on January 3 to discuss the political situation. Individual unions also met late on January 3, in preparation for a broader union meeting, under the leadership of Unions-Intersyndicale, planned for January ¶4. -------------- PM SAYS EVERYTHING IS FINE -------------- ¶9. (C) During a brief telephone conversation with the Ambassador, Prime Minister Kouyate said that everything is fine, but then asked to meet with the Ambassador privately on January 4. (COMMENT ) The PM did not sound as confident as he usually does. END COMMENT).