Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BAMAKO576
2006-05-23 13:43:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

SARKOZY MAKES FEW FRIENDS IN BAMAKO

Tags:  PGOV PREL KDEM ECON ML 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4401
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0576/01 1431343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231343Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5438
INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0250
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0070
RUEHPO/AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO 0016
RUEHLC/AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE 0025
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
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

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