CNDD'S PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGY - A LESSON ON

UNCLAS CONAKRY 000155

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

C O R R E C T E D COPY -- ADDING CLASS MARKING PARA 1 --

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ASEC GV
SUBJECT: CNDD'S PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGY - A LESSON ON
WHAT NOT TO DO

REF: CONAKRY 0145


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. After receiving an invitation from the CNDD's
new public relations firm to come to Conakry for an exclusive
interview with CNDD President Moussa Dadis Camara, a
Dakar-based member of the Associated Press spent nearly four
days waiting for the interview to materialize. It eventually
did, but only after she had spent many frustrated hours
waiting at the Camp. The interview itself was reportedly
disappointing and military officials confiscated a microchip
of photographs taken by the journalist's photographer. The
CNDD's treatment of the Associated Press representative
suggests that the military junta has much to learn about
public relations. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) During an off the record background interview with
Pol/Econ Chief on March 9, a Dakar-based representative of
the Associated Press, Rukmini Callimachi, expressed bemused
frustration over her continued lack of access to CNDD
President Moussa Dadis Camara. Rukmini had traveled to
Conakry at the specific invitation of the President's office,
which had recently hired a public relations firm based in New
York to improve the military junta's international image
(reftel).

--------------
HOURS AND HOURS...AND HOURS AND HOURS
--------------


3. (SBU) Rukmini spent the better part of the weekend at
Camp Alpha Yaya waiting for an interview that had not
happened by Monday morning. She described how she and her
photographer had arrived on Friday evening, but were
immediately told by Camp officials that the interview would
take place on Saturday instead of that evening as
anticipated. After waiting for several hours at Camp Alpha
Yaya on Saturday, officials reportedly told her that Dadis
was too "tired" and that she should return at noon on Sunday.



4. (SBU) Rukmini showed up at the Camp at the appointed time
on Sunday -- and then waited more than nine hours before
officials announced at 9:30 PM that Dadis was done receiving
visitors for the day. "I couldn't take it too personally,"
she said, "because Vice President Toto Camara and (former
Prime Minister) Lansana Kouyate had also been waiting most of
the day." She added that "poor Toto looked totally
dejected...he was carrying an envelope marked 'confidential -
for his Excellence Moussa Dadis Camara, President of the
Republic.' I mean, if the Vice President himself could not
get in, then it is no surprise that I couldn't."

--------------
PLENTY OF TIME FOR OBSERVATION
--------------


5. (SBU) Eager to talk about her experience at the camp,
Rukmini described the President's quarters as a series of
three rooms consisting of the main receiving area and then
two separate ante-chambers, which she perceived to be his
bedroom and his office. She also noted three life-size
portraits of Dadis on the wall. Rukmini said that even
though she was told to come at noon, it was clear that Dadis
was still sleeping when she arrived. She noted that someone
got yelled at after slamming a door, and that others were
told that they could not turn up the volume on the
television. "Around 5:00, there was all of a sudden a flurry
of activity and plates of food were carried into the
bedroom...so I assume that is when Dadis actually woke up,"
Rukmini said.


6. (SBU) Dadis reportedly began receiving visitors at
approximately 7:30 PM. After just two hours, someone
announced that everyone should come back the next day as
Dadis was no longer available. Shortly thereafter, Rukmini
described, with a great deal of amusement, how she saw Dadis
peeking out into the waiting room from behind a curtain. "He
was clearly scoping out the room to see who was there," she
said. A few minutes later, Dadis reportedly stormed through
the waiting area yelling about economic predation and then
publicly berated an unknown government official. "It was all
clearly for show...he knew we were there," Rukmini said. She
added that her photographer, bored with a weekend of waiting,
took a photograph of the display, but was then immediately
ordered to destroy it by a military officer.

--------------
DISAPPOINTING INTERVIEW


--------------


7. (SBU) Although Rukmini did eventually get her interview
shortly before departing Conakry, she was not optimistic
about how it would go. She said that the CNDD was pressuring
her to do a public interview with Dadis over national radio
and television, which she was resisting because she would
lose any "exclusivity." When Rukmini told the CNDD that they
may not want the interview broadcast because she planned to
ask sensitive questions, they threatened to bring in someone
else to do the interview. She told them that she planned to
ask some questions about Claude Pivi, the controversial
Minister of Presidential Security. According to Rukmini, the
CNDD representative then strongly advised her to refrain from
doing so, saying "you can ask whatever you want, but if you
ask about Pivi, I guarantee your time in Guinea will be
difficult...and I can't guarantee that you will get any of
the other interviews we promised."


8. (SBU) Rukmini called PAO after she finally did the
interview, reporting that the CNDD had confiscated the memory
chip from the photographer's camera. She said that much of
the interview was the anticipated blustering, with little
substance.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


9. (SBU) Dadis' handling of the Associated Press
representative seems very much in character, at least in
terms of how he has been conducting business in the Camp.
However, the fact that the CNDD actually invited select
members of the press to Conakry, reportedly as part of a
public relations campaign, makes Rukmini's reception somewhat
shocking. The Dakar-based representative of the New York
Times also flew into town over the weekend, although Embassy
has not yet been able to meet with her so it is unclear
whether or not she received similar treatment. If her
reception was at all akin to Rukmini's, it is unlikely that
Dadis and the CNDD will get the positive write-up they were
reportedly looking for. END COMMENT.
RASPOLIC