DADIS CAMARA APPOINTS CABINET MINISTERS

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 CONAKRY 000050

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL BIOS GV
SUBJECT: DADIS CAMARA APPOINTS CABINET MINISTERS

REF: A. 08 CONAKRY 811

B. 08 CONAKRY 302

C. CONAKRY 41

Classified By: ECONOFF T. SCOTT BROWN FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (U) On January 14, a military spokesperson announced a
presidential decree appointing 29 cabinet ministers. Under
the order, some ministers will serve directly under the prime
minister, while others will bypass the PM and answer only to
the president. Preliminary information on the cabinet
members is provided in this cable. Additional information
will be sent in as it becomes available.

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GENERAL INFORMATION
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2. (U) The 29 members named to the new cabinet include:

- 10 military officers, fewer than some observers expected
- 3 women
- 6 Soussou, 6 Puehl, 6 Malinke, and 6 Forestier and 4 of
other ethnicities
- 2 holdovers from the Soaure government

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MINISTERS UNDER THE PRESIDENT
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3. (U) Minister of Security - General Mamadouba Toto Camara.
Camara was previously appointed to this position (reftel A).
He remains a member of the CNDD.


4. (U) Minister of Defence - General Sekouba Konate. Konate
was previously appointed to this position (reftel A). He
remains a member of the CNDD.


5. (C) Minister Secretary General of the Presidency - Major
Keletigui Faro. Faro is a Malinke from Kissidougou in Upper
Guinea and a CNDD member. Faro was in the same promotion as
Dadis Camara (90th) and the two are reportedly close. Faro
is a signal officer by training and was in charge of
communications at the Ministry of Defense. He served as part
of a U.N. peacekeeping mission to Sierra Leone. He is
reputed to be influential with Dadis Camara.


6. (C) Minister of Finance and Economics of the Presidency -
Captain Mamadou Sande. Previously in the military pay,
logistics, and personnel division of the army, Sande was a
military economist in charge of budgetary preparation for the
Guinean army. Young with a background in finance but no
other previous experience, he will report directly to the
president, bypassing the prime minister.


7. (C) Secretary of State at the Presidency for Special
Services, Anti-Narcotics, and Organized Banditry - Captain
Moussa Diokoro Camara. A Forestier, Camara served as a
secretary in the operations office at the Ministry of Defense
prior to his appointment. He reportedly grew up with Dadis
Camara and the two are said to be close. Camara is a
Gendarme who has participated on two French military
exchanges, and is a graduate of the University of Conakry.


8. (U) Minister of State for Construction and Public Land
Management - Boubacar Barry. Barry was previously appointed
to this position.

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MINISTERS UNDER THE PRIME MINISTER
--------------


9. (U) Minister of Foreign Affairs - Alexandre Cece Loua. A
career diplomat, Loua is a Forestier and is approximately 55
years old. He has held a variety of positions at the MFA,
including Director of Legal and Consular Affairs in the late
1990s, and has served as Ambassador to Germany, South Africa,
and several Eastern European nations.


10. (C) Minister of Justice - Lieutentat Colonel Siba
Nolamou. Nolamou is a Forestier and a career soldier. He
has participated in numerous military exchanges and is a
graduate of the French Saint Cyr military academy. A contact
believes that Nolamou is the kind of person who "will not
like letting go of power once he has it." In private,
Nolamou is reportedly a proponent of holding elections at the
end of 2010. Nolamou is said to be very close to Dadis
Camara.


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11. (SBU) Minister of Information and Culture - Justin Morel
Junior. Morel is a Soussou from Maritime Guinea. A
journalist by profession, he joined the national radio
station RTG after university studies in Guinea, eventually
rising to the position of Director General in the early
1990s. Morel is very highly regarded by Guinean society and
popular among youths across ethnicities for his popular
cultural programs that he produced for Guinean television.
He earned the respect of many by calling for equal television
time for all political parties, a stance for which he was
later fired. After working for UNICEF in the Democratic
Republic of Congo for several years, he joined the Kouyate
government as Minister of Telecommunications in 2007, and was
dismissed by President Conte in 2008 a few months before
Kouyate himself was sacked. Morel is also an alumnus of the
International Visitor's (IV) from 1983, and is a long-time
contact of the Embassy PAS.


12. (U) Minister of Telecommunications - Colonel Mathurin
Bangoura. Bangoura was previously named a member of the CNDD
(reftel A).


13. (C) Minister of Health - Colonel Abdoulaye Cherif Diaby.
Diaby is a Djankaanke, an Islamic tribe that settled in
Maritime Guinea. He was formerly the chief medical doctor
for the Guinean Army and is a graduate of the Royal Academy
of Morocco and the University of Conakry's medical school.
His reputation is one of hard work and dedication to his job.
Sensitive sources report that Diaby is apolitical and may
have a drug abuse problem; however, sources did not report
that he traffics in narcotics.


14. (SBU) Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development
- Papa Koly Kourouma. Kourouma is a Forestier from
N'Zerekore, and one of two ministers held over from the
Souare government. Koly was the former manager of bankrupt
airline Air Afrique before it went out of business.
According to news reports, Kourouma is the "nephew" of CNDD
President Dadis Camara. He has a reputation for being fair,
and is reportedly a member of Jean Marie Dore's UPG
opposition party.


15. (U) Minister of Decentralization and Development - Naby
Diakite. Diakite, an ethnic Soussou, is former USAID
employee and one of two ministers held over from the Souare
government (reftel B).


16. (SBU) Minister of Primary and Secondary Education - Hadja
Aisha Bah. Bah is a Puehl from Labe in Middle Guinea and
served as a minister with the same portfolio for seven years
in the 1990s. She is widely regarded as one of the more
successful ministers of education, evidenced by the fact that
many groups of educators rallied to her support during her
first tenure when they thought she might be sacked. In that
position, she gained a reputation rigor and honesty managing
education projects, and built many new schools. Prior to her
appointment, she served as a director at UNESCO in charge of
women's education. Bah's daughter is an alumna of the IV
program.


17. (U) Minister of Agriculture - Abdourahmane Sano. Sano is
a Malinke and managing director of a firm that specializes in
organizing trade shows and exhibitions. He is also the
president of an association of industry and business owners
in Guinea, the Movement d'Entreprise de Guinee. In the past,
he has been a reliable contact for the Embassy.


18. (U) Minister of Cooperation and African Integration -
Abdoul Aziz Bah. Brother of UPR opposition leader Ousmane
Bah, Abdoul Aziz Bah is a career diplomat and Puehl from
Middle Guinea. He served at the Guinean Embassy in
Washington, D.C. in the late 1990s. Thereafter, he was
Director of Protocol for the Ministry, and cabinet chief for
the Ministry of Cooperation.


19. (U) Minister of Labor - Dr. Alpha Diallo. Diallo is a
Puehl from Middle Guinea and a career civil servant from
Guinea's Central Bank, where he was Advisor to the Central
Bank Governor. Previously, he served as Director of Economic
and Monetary Affairs. He also worked at the West African
Monetary Institute in Accra, Ghana.


20. (U) Minister of Transport - Mamadi Kaba. Kaba is a
Malinke career civil servant from Dabola in Upper Guinea who
has occupied several positions at the Ministry of Transport
in the past, including Director of Civil Aviation and the Air
Navigation Agency. In the past, he has been a reliable
contact for the Embassy.


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21. (U) Minister of Fisheries - Raymond Ounouted. Ounouted
is a Forestier from Koundara in Guinea's Forest Region. He
graduated from the University of Conakry with a degree in
electrical engineering and was a member of the 90th
Promotion, the same as Dadis Camara. After additional
training in Belgium and Russia, Ounouted returned to Guinea
and worked for French oil company Total.


22. (C) Minister of Youth - Colonel Fodeba Toure. A Malinke
from Upper Guinea, Toure was previously commander of the Red
Beret presidential guard force. His father was a minister
during the Sekou Toure regime who was executed in the 1980s.
Toure studied in Germany and is a graduate of the German
Airborne course. He has is reputedly shy and competent.
Reportedly, he earned commend of the Red Berets due to his
physical strength and as compensation of the loss of his
father.


23. (C) Minister of Commerce - Lieutenant Colonel Mamadou
Korka Diallo. Diallo is a Puehl career military officer and
CNDD member. Previously, Diallo was the head of military
pay, logistics, and personnel division in the Guinean
military, and assigned Dadis Camara as head of fuel
provisioning for the army. During the military mutiny of
2008, mutineers saw him as responsible for fraud and
mismanagement at the ministry and shot him in the arm as he
was driving past the airport. In the past, he participated
in many civilian and military exchanges in France.


24. (SBU) State Secretary for Public Works - Mamadi Kallo.
Kallo is a Puehl from Middle Guinea, and previously served in
the Ministry for Urban Development and Housing. Before that,
he was a public official charged with overseeing the sale of
public lands near Labe, where he gained a reputation for fair
pricing.


25. (U) Mininster of Planning and Promotion of the Private
Sector - Mamadouba Max Bangoura. Bangoura was previously
secretary general at the Ministry of African Integration.


26. (U) Minister of Mines and Energy - Mahmoud Thiam. Thiam
was previously a vice president at l'Union des Banques
Suisses (UBS) in New York.


27. (U) Minister of Territorial Administration and Political
Affairs (MATAP) - Dr. Frederic Kolie. Kolie was previously a
lawyer in Germany.


28. (U) Minister of University Education and Research - Dr.
Alpha Kabine Camara. Camara was previously a university
professor and medical chief at Donka National Hospital.


29. (U) Minister of Tourism - Mamadi Kaba. Kaba was
previously Director General of the Air Navigation Agency.


30. (U) Minister of Audits, Transparency, and Good Governance
- Joseph Kandouno. Kandouno was previously National Deputy
Director of Public Debts.


31. (U) Minister for the Promotion of Women and Children -
Hadja Makoura Sylla. Sylla was previously cabinet chief at
the Ministry of Social Affairs.


32. (S) COMMENT. Sensitive sources report that, in the days
before the announcement of this cabinet, Dadis Camara had
rejected PM Komara's initial list of appointees, saying that
it contained too many Malinkes. These appointees are clearly
the choice of Dadis Camara. Many spent time in Germany--as
did Dadis--or are close friends or colleagues of the CNDD
President. While outside observers regard the cabinet as a
whole as largely competent, many owe their jobs to their
connections with the president, and might be left with little
room to maneuver should a conflict between professional duty
and personal loyalty arise.


33. (S) COMMENT CONTINUED. By organizing the Finance Ministry
under the presidency, Dadis Camara seems to be further
consolidating fiscal power in military hands, especially
considering that he also recently appointed a CNDD member as
number two at Customs (reftel C). Appointing such an
inexperienced officer to lead Finance may also cast doubt on
Guinea's hopes for rapid completion of the HIPC debt relief
process. END COMMENT.
RASPOLIC