PRESIDENT OF SENEGAL URGES GUINEA ELECTIONS IN 2009

C O N F I D E N T I A L CONAKRY 000442

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/29/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV GV
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT OF SENEGAL URGES GUINEA ELECTIONS IN 2009

REF: CONAKRY 432

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Kent C. Brokenshire for Reason
1.4 B/D


1. (C) Visiting Senegalese President Adoulaye Wade reportedly
urged Guinea's military junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara to
stick to the original 2009 election schedule. Mohamed Salifou
Keita who was involved in the July 26 visit as an assistant
to the Prime Minister, told Charge July 29 that during a two
and a half hour meeting with Dadis, Wade also urged Dadis to
announce a firm election date. According to Keita, Wade
promised that once Dadis announced an election date, he would
launch an international campaign to lift sanctions on Guinea.


2. (C) When initially announced, Wade's visit to Conakry
sparked some concern in diplomatic circles. UNDP Country
Coordinator Mbaranga Gasarabwe told Charge July 24 that Wade
might use the visit to usurp the power of the International
Contact Group for Guinea (ICG-G) by proposing his own
election schedule. On several occasions Dadis has referred to
Wade as his 'father," and recently told the ICG-G that he
revered and respected Wade as much as he revered and
respected Libya's Muammar Qadhafi.


3. (C) Wade's firm endorsement of elections in 2009 was
unexpected. According to Keita, Wade has had to reevaluate
his ties with Dadis in light of the July 11 communique in
which Dadis announced on national television that narco
forces were arming along Guinea's borders with Liberia,
Senegal and Guinea-Bissau (Reftel). "The border issue showed
everyone that Dadis is irrational," said Keita. Dadis'
announcement resulted in the cancellation of the Mano River
Union Summit. According to Keita, Wade took considerable heat
in the Senegalese press for his open friendship with Dadis.
"With the July 21 communique he discovered what Dadis is
really like," surmised Keita.


4. (U) During Wade's brief visit to Conakry, he also met with
members of the ruling CNDD, the government and the Forces
Vives, which comprises civil society, union and political
party leaders, and makes up a potent political force in
Guinea. Wade urged political players to move toward elections
in 2009, and made a special appeal for the CNDD and Forces
Vives to work at building and effective and continuing
dialogue.


5. (U) In final remarks at the airport, Wade stated that
reports of potential narco-military attacks on Guinea from
Senegal are false, and that the concept of Senegal serving as
a base for such attacks is absurd. Guinea's government-owned
television station broadcast Wade's remarks on his
willingness to appeal to the international community to lift
sanctions on Guinea, but edited out his initial statement
that Dadis needed to set a firm date for elections first. The
station also erased Wade's comment that Guineans have agreed
to go to the polls in 2009.


BROKENSHIRE