Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08DAKAR1197
2008-10-17 13:38:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dakar
Cable title:  

BISSAU-GUINEAN ELECTION AT RISK DUE TO STRIKE

Tags:  PGOV PREL KDEM PU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8198
PP RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #1197 2911338
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 171338Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1285
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 0295
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON PRIORITY 0859
RUEHLU/AMEMBASSY LUANDA PRIORITY 0472
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 0036
C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 001197 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PU
SUBJECT: BISSAU-GUINEAN ELECTION AT RISK DUE TO STRIKE

Classified By: Charge d'affairs a.i. Jay T. Smith for reason 1.5 b/d.

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 001197

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PU
SUBJECT: BISSAU-GUINEAN ELECTION AT RISK DUE TO STRIKE

Classified By: Charge d'affairs a.i. Jay T. Smith for reason 1.5 b/d.


1. (U) On October 13, 2008, the labor union representing
employees of the National Electoral Commission of
Guinea-Bissau (CNE) announced that, effective October 14,
2008, election workers would strike until October 23, 2008.
If by the end of that time, the government of Guinea-Bissau
(GGB) fails to pay least 80 percent of the USD 842,000 in
back wages and debts owed to workers, vendors, and
contractors for previous elections stretching back to 1999,
then CNE employees will resume their strike through November
23, 2008, thus seriously threatening the planned November 16,
2008 legislative elections.


2. (U) The current and anticipated costs of the November 16
legislative elections are covered fully by donors including
the United Nations, the European Union, Portugal, Brazil,
Angola and Mexico. However, since the 1999 nationwide poll,
the GGB has accumulated debts to employees, contractors and
vendors during each nationwide election. Following a recent
contribution of USD 500,000 by the Economic Community of West
African States(ECOWAS),the election arrears stands at USD
842,000. This money is owed to poll workers, vendors who
provided supplies and contractors who performed a wide range
of services. The striking CNE employees are demanding not
just their back wages, but also the payments to vendors and
contractors, since it was the employees who in good faith
promised the vendors and contractors that they would receive
payment in full for the delivered goods and services.


3. (U) In an October 17 meeting in Bissau, Aladje Mane,
President of the CNE, warned PolOff of likely disruptions if
the arrears are not paid. According to Mane, following the
2004 election, poll workers stormed the CNE headquarters and
looted the offices because of failure to settle the
outstanding debts. Mane placated the subsquent looters at
the time by promising them that they would receive full
payment by 2005 at the latest. The promised payments were
never delivered, and Mane warned that in the run-up to the
November 16 legislative elections, strikes, theft and
violence were likely unless the arrears were settled. Mane
also anticipated a scenerio where poll workers might hold the
election results hostage in exchange for the money owned to
them.


4. (U) Mane, union officials and GGB officials reportedly are
working feverishly to find a compromise. However, on October
17, Mane told PolOff that the GGB simply does not have the
money to settle the arrears. The strike by the election
workers comes on the heals of a three-day nationwide strike
by all civil servants, from October 14-17, 2008, in protest
over the GGB's failure to pay government salaries for two of
the previous three months. Government officials repeatedly
said that the striking workers were justified, but that the
government coffers were empty.


5. (C) COMMENT: The strike by the election workers seriously
jeapordizes the upcoming elections at a critical juncture for
Guinea Bissau. In order to fight narco-trafficking and
establish a functioning, stable government, it is imperative
that legislative elections be held on November 16. By all
accounts, the goverment does not have the USD 842,000 to
settle the election arrears. It would be a tragic turn of
events if the lack of such a relatively modest amount of
money plunged the country into the chaos that is so conducive
to narco-trafficking operations. Modest investments by the
USG at this historic crossroads would produce huge dividends
in years to come. END COMMENT.
SMITH