LEAHY VETTING REQUEST AND QUESTION: DO BAD APPLES

UNCLAS FREETOWN 000118 DEPARTMENT FOR AF/W (JHUNTER/ESPRUILL) AND DRL (SCOOKE) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SL SUBJECT: LEAHY VETTING REQUEST AND QUESTION: DO BAD APPLES SPOIL THE BUNCH? REF: FREETOWN 99 ¶1. Embassy requests human rights Leahy vetting for the nominees listed below to attend the FBI National Academy. training: a) Sheku Tejan SESAY DOB 06/22/1976 POB Kadongha, Lungi, Sierra Leone ID number N24041976220015 Captain, Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces-Military Police b) Osman SESAY DOB 11/17/1976 POB Port Loko Town, Sierra Leone ID number N2407197611170018 Sergeant, Sierra Leone Police (Presidential Protection Detail) c) Aeisha Nanayaa BANGURA (alternate) DOB 01/29/1959 POB Port Loko, Sierra Leone Inspector, Sierra Leone Police d) Abubakar SUMA (alternate) DOB 4/25/1964 Rogberay, Kambia District, Sierra Leone Warrant Officer, Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces-Military Police ¶2. Post has no credible information that any of the above named individuals have engaged in any human rights violations, but is aware that individual members of the Presidential Guard may not qualify due to actions taken by individual members of the unit. ¶3. Embassy Freetown's Legatt, in the process of selecting candidates for the FBI's National Academy training program, identified Osman SESAY from the President's Guard Force as a viable candidate. To Post's knowledge, Sesay has not been involved in human rights violations during his tenure on the Guard Force, nor during the country's conflict years. However, the Guard Force itself contains 14 members (out of 48) who are former combatants with a record of human rights violations, and placed in the force as a political favor. A single source also alleged that members of the President's Guard Force were involved in human rights violations in August, 2008, when a group of journalists were allegedly attacked, injured, and robbed while covering a politically sensitive story at the State House. Further investigations by the LEGATT uncovered no corroboration, and other sources accuse elements of the Sierra Leone Police guarding the State House of committing the violations; the single source, an opposition member, concedes that he was not himself a witness to the violations. ¶4. On March 13 and 16, a violent altercation broke out between supporters of the ruling All People's Congress (APC), who attacked the headquarters of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) (reftel). Prominent among the attackers was Idriss Hamid Kamara, AKA "Leatherboot," and three other ex-combatants with a record of violence and intimidation against the SLPP and other opponents of the APC. Kamara is one of the Presidential appointees in the Presidential Guard. The international community overall is seeking to train potentially good officers while agreeing that the "Leatherboot" case has to be considered sui generis and dealt with separately. ¶5. Post's Law Enforcement Working Group (LEWG) met on February 20 to discuss the suitability of these candidates for the National Academy, with Legatt strongly suggesting that offenses undertaken by individuals of a unit should not blight the record of those who perform their duties with integrity and respect for human rights. He also stated that Sesay would benefit from the training opportunity his bureau can provide, and that the strong distinction between the career police officers and the ex-combatant Presidential appointees within the unit alleviates concerns that the USG was providing positive recognition to the unit as a whole. ¶6. One other member of the LEWG stated an opinion that, though Sesay himself is not known to be a human rights offender, providing him with coveted training opportunities could implicitly impart the message that the unit is viewed favorably by the USG. ¶7. Post requests clarification from the Department on the human rights vetting requested in paragraph one, particularly to the question: can individuals with no known human rights violations, but who are members of a unit with human rights violators in the ranks, be favorably vetted for USG-sponsored training? ¶8. It should be noted that the question listed above only applies to Osman Sesay; and reiterates that the embassy holds no credible information on human rights violations on him or the other three candidates. PERRY