SARKOZY MAKES FEW FRIENDS IN BAMAKO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAMAKO 000576 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS PARIS AND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS PARAMARIBO FOR DCM MARY BETH LEONARD LIBREVILLE FOR GLENN FEDZER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM ECON ML SUBJECT: SARKOZY MAKES FEW FRIENDS IN BAMAKO REF: 05 BAMAKO 01484 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. On May 18 French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy completed a candid and at times confrontational two-day visit to Mali. Hyped as a chance for Sarkozy to articulate his vision of future France-Africa relations and hone his image as a French presidential candidate, the visit was mired in controversy from the start. Angered by Sarkozy's policy of "selective immigration", 21 National Assembly Deputies from Mali's western region of Kayes issued a statement one week before his arrival declaring Sarkozy persona non grata and calling on Malians to "mobilize" in protest. After receiving pressure from President Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT) and the French Ambassador, however, the Deputies failed to attend their own protest march. Once in Bamako, Sarkozy gave a speech on the future of France-Africa relations but lost much of the goodwill his speech had earned when the subsequent question and answer session deteriorated into a heated exchange between Sarkozy and his Malian audience. End Summary. -------------- Deputies from Kayes Declare Sarkozy PNG -------------- ¶2. (U) French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy's May 17-18 visit to Bamako coincided with the passage of his controversial "selective immigration" bill by the French National Assembly. The bill has received extensive coverage in the press in Mali, most of it negative, since it is interpreted here as a limit on immigration from Africa. One week prior to his arrival, a group of 21 National Assembly Deputies from Mali's western region of Kayes issued a strongly-worded statement describing Sarkozy's visit as an undesirable "provocation" and urging Malians to join the Deputies in protest before the French Embassy. The Deputies delivered their declaration along with representatives of the Malian diaspora, Malians recently deported from France, and several Deputies from other regions who appeared beside the Kayes Deputies for support. ¶3. (U) The majority of Malians living abroad are estimated to hail from the Kayes region and remittances from Malians working in Europe constitute an enormous amount of annual income. The vehemence with which the Kayes Deputies denounced Sarkozy and his immigration stance, however, appeared to catch many by surprise, particularly since President Jacques Chirac had previously unveiled what is now known as "selective immigration" during the Africa-France Summit held in Bamako in December 2005 (see reftel). -------------- French Damage Control -------------- ¶4. (U) In response to the growing furor over Sarkozy's arrival, the French Ambassador issued a brief communiqu to "clarify" the reasons behind the impending visit. According to the French Ambassador, Sarkozy hoped to share his vision of future French-African relations, both as the second- ranking figure in the French government, and as a likely presidential candidate. Immigration, stated the Ambassador, would be only one of many subjects discussed during Sarkozy's visit to Mali. The Ambassador described the timing of Sarkozy's visit and the ratification of France's new immigration bill as coincidental but noted that Sarkozy "was naturally willing to listen attentively to the Malian point of view on this matter." The French Ambassador's communiqu ended by reminding his Malian readers of their tradition of hospitality. ¶5. (U) Malian President ATT did his part to head off any potential demonstrations by stating that while France may y practice selective immigration, there was no "selective hospitality" in Mali. ATT also sent two senior members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to the National Assembly to meet with the angered Deputies from Kayes. ¶6. (SBU) On May 17, after the MFA's apparent failure to placate the Kayes Deputies, the French Ambassador called on the parliamentarians at the National Assembly. Curiously BAMAKO 00000576 002 OF 003 timed to coincide with the scheduled protest march on the French Embassy, the Kayes Deputies elected to receive the French Ambassador rather than attend the opposition march they had instigated. As a result, the poorly attended march included no more than 200 protestors at a location far removed from the French Embassy compound. By the end of the march, many protestors appeared to be as angry with the no- show Kayes Deputies as with Nicholas Sarkozy. ¶7. (U) Also on May 17, Sarkozy authorized the return of a Malian women and her two school aged children who had been "wrongly deported" from France the week before. Embarrassing details regarding the family's apparently illegal and slipshod deportation received a significant amount of attention from the Malian press prior to the French government's reversal. -------------- -------------- Selective Immigration Better Than Zero Immigration -------------- -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Following a brief meeting with ATT and a select number of cabinet Ministers in Bamako, Sarkozy addressed a larger assembly of political leaders, civil society representatives and members of the diplomatic corps. Billed as a forum for Sarkozy to elucidate his vision of the future of France's relations with Africa, the speech quickly became a defense of the selective immigration policy. Armed with an impressive array of figures, Sarkozy's direct and combative style initially earned a certain amount of goodwill from the largely skeptical audience. After stating, for instance, that France issued visas to 70% of the 45,000 Malians who applied for French visas last year, Sarkozy asked the audience: where is the xenophobia or racism in that? ¶9. (U) "The real danger for France and Africa," argued Sarkozy, "is not the concept of selective immigration, but the absence of debate regarding the factors behind immigration such as inadequate development, unemployment and corruption." A policy of selective immigration, warned Sarkozy, is better than a policy of zero immigration. He then encouraged Mali to join with France in an "adult" discussion, without "paternalism" or "clientism", of each nation's needs in terms of immigration, youth employment, skills training and development. -------------- Sarkozy Makes Few Friends in Bamako -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Following his speech, Sarkozy opened the floor for questions. Noting Sarkozy's call for a balanced debate between Mali and France on immigration policy, a Malian National Assembly Deputy aggressively questioned Sarkozy's sincerity since the immigration bill had already been approved by the French National Assembly. "Wouldn't it have been better," the Deputy asked, "to have invited Mali to debate before sending the bill to the parliament?" ¶11. (SBU) As the Deputy tried to articulate another question, Sarkozy - losing his patience after the Deputy had failed to follow the rules regarding one question per person - interrupte with shouts of "Non! Non! Non!" A heated exchage followed wherein the Deputy stated that he was nt Sarkozy's student, that he too held a Parisianlaw degree, and that Mali didn't select to be coonized by France. ¶12. (SBU) Similar exchanges ocurred with other questioners, with Sarkozy stating at one point that "Economically, France does not need Africa," and later accusing the head of the Malian Human Rights League of spreading misinformation regarding rumored charter flights of Malian deportees from France to Bamako. -------------- Comment: The Sarkozy File -------------- ¶13. (SBU) Although the anti-Sarkozy demonstrations in Bamako fizzled, the French Interior Minister's Malian tour did little to persuade the Malian political class or civil society of the benefits of "selective immigration," which BAMAKO 00000576 003 OF 003 most Malians see as an anti-African measure. Similarly, few here accepted French claims that the timing of his visit and the approval of the selective immigration bill by the French National Assembly were purely coincidental. Sarkozy's direct style, particularly his cutting responses to questions from representatives of Malian political and civil society, seemed at odds with his earlier statements regarding the need for open debate on the issues linking Mali and France. Perhaps the biggest loser of the "Sarkozy file", as the Malian press calls it, was Mali's own National Assembly and the 21 Deputies from Kayes. By skipping their own protest march and appearing to bend to pressure from ATT and the French Ambassador, the credibility of the Kayes Deputies and a good portion of the National Assembly reached a new low. McCulley