Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BUJUMBURA394
2009-08-12 16:00:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bujumbura
Cable title:  

MSD LEADER SINDUHIJE REQUESTS "TEMPORARY ASYLUM"

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KDEM BY 
pdf how-to read a cable
INFO LOG-00 EEB-00 AID-00 AMAD-00 CIAE-00 INL-00 DODE-00 
 DOEE-00 DS-00 DHSE-00 EUR-00 VCI-00 H-00 TEDE-00 
 INR-00 IO-00 LAB-01 L-00 CAC-00 MOFM-00 MOF-00 
 VCIE-00 NSAE-00 NSCE-00 OIC-00 NIMA-00 PA-00 MCC-00 
 GIWI-00 PRS-00 P-00 DOHS-00 FMPC-00 SP-00 SSO-00 
 SS-00 STR-00 TRSE-00 NCTC-00 SCRS-00 DSCC-00 PRM-00 
 DRL-00 G-00 CARC-00 NFAT-00 SAS-00 FA-00 SWCI-00 
 PESU-00 SANA-00 /001W
 
R 121600Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 1651
INFO AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 
AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 
AMEMBASSY KIGALI 
AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 
AMEMBASSY LONDON 
AMEMBASSY LUSAKA 
AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 
AMEMBASSY PARIS
C O N F I D E N T I A L BUJUMBURA 000394 


LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS, NAIROBI FOR SLUTZ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM BY
SUBJECT: MSD LEADER SINDUHIJE REQUESTS "TEMPORARY ASYLUM"

REF: BUJUMBURA 347 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Classified by CDA C. Twining for reasons 1.4(b)
and 1.4(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUJUMBURA 000394


LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS, NAIROBI FOR SLUTZ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM BY
SUBJECT: MSD LEADER SINDUHIJE REQUESTS "TEMPORARY ASYLUM"

REF: BUJUMBURA 347 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Classified by CDA C. Twining for reasons 1.4(b)
and 1.4(d)


1. (C) Summary: Aspiring Presidential candidate Alexis
Sinduhije called on DCM at her residence August 11 to request
that he be allowed to stay in US embassy housing for a few
days to avoid anticipated political harassment. As there was
no life threatening situation, DCM listened to him and
persuaded him to go home. End summary.


2. (C) Alexis Sinduhije, leader of the relatively minor
political party Movement for Solidarity and Democracy (MSD)
and a man clearly running for the Presidency next year, asked
to see DCM the night of August 11. He reported that he had
received a summons to go to the Prosecutor's Office the
following day to explain allegations that Burundian
intelligence was plotting to hire Tutsi youth to kill Hutu
civilians in an attempt to cast blame on Sinduhije and his
party. He claimed that he had information from "internal
discussions" in the Prosecutor's Office that when he appeared
in response to the summons, he would be arrested, tortured,
and detained throughout the crucial months of the
Presidential campaign. Sinduhije asserted that the GOB
planned to persecute him in order to "humiliate" Human Rights
Watch and various European countries that had supported him
during his previous detentions, to show these foreign
entities that they did not rule Burundi.


3. (C) Sinduhije said that he did not intend to respond
personally to the summons, but would send MSD party
representatives in his stead. He expected that the police
would seek to arrest him when he failed to appear and asked
for a few days of "temporary asylum" in a house belonging to
the US Embassy, since he said the Americans were seen as more
neutral than the Europeans. Sinduhije said that he would
only stay for a few days, until he could appear at an MSD
rally, where, surrounded by thousands of supporters, he would
presumably be less vulnerable to arrest.


4. (C) DCM declined Sinduhije's suggestion of temporary
asylum. She observed that it was a top US policy goal to
facilitate free and fair elections in 2010 and also to uphold
the rights of all candidates to campaign freely and without
harassment. This policy could be undermined, however, if we

were perceived to be giving preferential treatment to any one
candidate. She questioned as well if any diplomatic mission
could provide temporary asylum for a candidate who continued
to campaign actively, since the mission would inevitably be
seen as sponsoring that candidate and meddling in the
election. The DCM commented that the campaign was long, and
if this week's crisis with the Prosecutor were somehow
resolved satisfactorily, next week or month would likely
bring a new crisis affecting Sinduhije or another candidate.
She doubted that temporary asylum for political candidates
would provide a solution, and urged Sinduhije to contemplate
other means to bring about the common goal of building a free
and fair electoral process in Burundi. The DCM also asked
Sinduhije if he thought that his standing with Burundian
voters would be undermined if he were perceived to be relying
on foreign diplomats to sponsor his campaign or protect him
from due process of the law. Sinduhije replied that he did
not think it would be a problem with his supporters.


5. (C) During more than an hour of discussion, Sinduhije took
these observations on board. He did not appear to be unduly
nervous or upset, but he was clearly working his extensive
personal network via cellphone. At 11:00 p.m., he departed
the DCM's residence in a personal automobile, accompanied by
a driver and two plainclothes men who appeared to be acting
as bodyguards. Throughout the encounter, Sinduhije was
polite and personable.


6. (SBU) The next morning, Sinduhije responded personally to
the summons, surrounded by hundreds of his supporters who
waited for him outside of the Prosecutor's Office. (RSO
surveillance detection estimated crowd size.) Sinduhije was
neither arrested nor tortured; rather, he emerged a few hours
later to deliver a press conference to his cheering
supporters, after which he went home. We will report on
further developments as they occur.


7. (C) Comment: It is a rough sport to engage in Burundian
party politics, and we expect it to get rougher as the
political campaign progresses. It is not inconceivable that
at some time during the campaign, we might again be asked to
provide shelter to a political candidate who believes he
faces a credible threat of imminent danger, though we would
not consider any such request unless it was truly a matter of
life or death. At that point, the large UN operation here
would be more appropriate to deal with the matter.
Sinduhije's request of August 11 clearly fell far short of
that standard. Rather, it appeared that he sought to draw
the US Embassy into his personal political narrative of
heroic resistance to Burundian government persecution. We can
expect that he will try again.


8. (C) Comment continued: We are concerned that several of
our interlocutors have told us that Sinduhije is spreading
the word that he is "America's candidate." In all of our
public and private discussion, US Embassy personnel will
continue to say we support a fair electoral process in
Burundi, but that we do not have a preferred candidate. We
will continue to take scrupulous care to ensure that none of
our words or actions can be interpreted as political bias or
meddling in the elections.


Twining