CNDD PRESIDENT PUBLICLY INTERROGATES ACCUSED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CONAKRY 000078 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV ASEC GV SUBJECT: CNDD PRESIDENT PUBLICLY INTERROGATES ACCUSED OFFICIALS ¶1. (U) SUMMARY. The President of the CNDD presided over two public "hearings" on national television on January 25. He personally interrogated the participants in what was described as an aggressive and frightening manner. Embassy and other members of the international community continue to underscore human rights concerns. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) The President of the National Council for Democracy and Development, Moussa Dadis Camara, presided over two public "hearings" on January 25, which were broadcast over national television. The room was packed with many observers standing in the back. Members of the Audit Commission recently established by the CNDD, several members of the CNDD, and Dadis' two vice presidents, Toto Camara and Sekouba Konate, were present. ¶3. (U) During the first hearing, Dadis personally interrogated the Director of Aredor, a private diamond mining joint venture (Pakistani/Canadian) regarding past actions of the company's management. The Aredor Director explained how several expatriate owners of the company had fled Guinea last year, in complicity with some Guinean Government officials, thereby avoiding paying some 300 Guinean employees salary arrears and benefits owed to them. The Director stated that despite his personal efforts to alert Ministry of Mines officials to the situation, the Guinean Government did nothing. When Dadis ordered the Director to be precise, he named Ahmed Kante, the former Minister of Mines under then Prime Minister Kouyate. As the hearing ended, Dadis invited the Director to sit next to him. Throughout the hearing, the Director was visibly uncomfortable. ¶4. (SBU) The tone of the second hearing was markedly different as Dadis aggressively questioned the Secretary General of the Ministry of Public Works and his subordinate over what appeared to be accusations of misuse of public funds. LES staff who watched the proceedings, described the atmosphere as "tense" and much like a trial in a courtroom. They described Dadis' tone as threatening and intimidating. One LES commented that Dadis was wearing his sunglasses, smoking cigarettes in quick succession, and making enormous arm gestures, much in the fashion of the late President Conte when he was in good health. ¶5. (U) During the interrogation, the Secretary General's subordinate claimed that the Secretary General had harassed and intimidated him because he had refused to make payments to construction companies that had signed false contracts with the Ministry for road repairs. The Secretary General denied the accusations, saying that his subordinate's refusal to issue payments was unjustified since the companies had successfully fulfilled their contractual obligations. He then accused his subordinate of personally taking the 6 billion GnF intended for the contractors. The subordinate refuted this accusation, telling Dadis that the Secretary General actually owned one of the companies to which payment was due. The Secretary General denied this accusation in turn and challenged the CNDD to conduct a full investigation. ¶6. (SBU) In what was described by an LES as a "frightening" tone, Dadis said that the audits were not meant to humiliate anyone, but rather, to clear up questions regarding the management of the country's resources. At this point, Dadis reportedly shifted gears and started talking at length about his experience in the military. He claimed that Generals Diarra Camara and Kande Toure (whom the CNDD recently retired) had denied him training and promotion opportunities. Dadis said that the generals had also detained him on several occasions, and that before President Conte's death, Sekouba Konate (now vice president of the CNDD) had been instructed to "eliminate" him, but refused. Dadis then asked General Camara's son and General Toure's cousin, who were in the audience, to stand up. He told them that he had the power to fire them from the military, but would not do so. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Dadis' participation in these pseudo "trials" is cause for concern. He was the only member of the CNDD interrogating these individuals. The fact that the sessions were broadcast over national television suggest that Dadis is posturing while attempting to demonstrate the "state's" responsiveness to the people and their immediate concerns. Arrests continue with little information available as to formal charges and no evidence of a judicial process. The Minister of Justice is himself a military officer. Embassy CONAKRY 00000078 002 OF 002 and other members of the international community continue to underscore human rights concerns. END COMMENT. RASPOLIC