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