Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DAKAR268
2006-02-06 07:43:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dakar
Cable title:  

THE NEWEST ROUND OF CABINET "FINE-TUNING"

Tags:  PGOV PINR EAGR ETRD SG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6649
PP RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #0268/01 0370743
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 060743Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4128
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 000268 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA AND INR/B
STATE PLEASE PASS USDA
PARIS FOR POL - D'ELIA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2016
TAGS: PGOV PINR EAGR ETRD SG
SUBJECT: THE NEWEST ROUND OF CABINET "FINE-TUNING"

REF: 05 DAKAR 03189

Classified By: CDA ROBERT P. JACKSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).

SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST
--------------------------
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 000268

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA AND INR/B
STATE PLEASE PASS USDA
PARIS FOR POL - D'ELIA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2016
TAGS: PGOV PINR EAGR ETRD SG
SUBJECT: THE NEWEST ROUND OF CABINET "FINE-TUNING"

REF: 05 DAKAR 03189

Classified By: CDA ROBERT P. JACKSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).

SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST
--------------

1. (C) On February 1, President Wade made a "reamenagement
technique" ("technical fine tuning") of the cabinet for
political and economic reasons. Two ministers were ousted,
two were promoted, and, in a nod to loyalists in the
Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) think tank, one of their
own was brought into the Cabinet. A diehard Wade loyalist,
Farba Senghor, now controls the politically sensitive
agriculture portfolio. Embassy requests that the "Country
Background Notes" and "Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of
Foreign Governments" be updated accordingly. END SUMMARY AND
ACTION REQUEST.

WHAT'S BEHIND THE OUSTERS
--------------

2. (C) Mamadou Seck was removed from the Infrastructure and
Transport Ministry. A source close to the President,s
office told us he was fired because of his inability to take
full control of the voter-rich Department of Pikine. The
newspaper Walfadjiri also charged him with mismanaging one
billion CFA (USD two million) and bungling the President,s
main road construction projects.


3. (C) Maimouna Sourang NDir was generally recognized as
competent at the Small Business Ministry, but her rivalry
with four other Ministers in her hometown of Saint Louis
threatened to weaken the PDS there. A source close to Wade
hinted also that the President is not happy with the Sourang
family. The Minister's brother, who lives in the U.S.,
organized a noisy demonstration against Wade during Wade's
2005 trip to New York to receive a human rights award.

THE NEWCOMER
--------------

4. (U) Professor Marie Pierre Sarr, who will take over the
Small Business Ministry, is a long-time Wade supporter and a
leading figure in Strategy and Initiative Cell (CIS),the PDS
think tank. CIS members complained they were not allowed to
bring their expertise to bear on the government's management

of the country, and Sarr's rise appears designed to assuage
those complaints. Sarr is a law professor who specializes in
business/fiscal issues. She is also a potential leader of
the Dakar neighborhoods of Point E and Fann, where the
current mayor, NDeye Maguette Dieye, maintains close
connections to pro-Idrissa Seck dissidents within PDS.

THE PRESIDENTS, MEN GET PROMOTED
--------------

5. (U) Farba Senghor becomes Minister of Agriculture. An
apparatchik roundly criticized in the press, he successfully
navigated his job at National Solidarity, where he raised one
billion CFA to help victims of flooding and toured rural
areas. Following Wade's populist style of close contact with
local peoples, he also made donations of food and equipment.
Wade made his greatest political gains among farmers in 2000,
but his agricultural policy is widely seen as lackluster at
best. Farba Senghor will be expected to take his political
energy and his unwavering loyalty to the Wade family, to the
farming areas and reignite enthusiasm for Wade. It remains
to be seen, however, if this populist approach can solve the
problems of the peanut sector, employing 70 percent of the
population.


6. (C) Habib Sy becomes Minister of Infrastructure. A close
friend of President Wade, he leads the PDS in the central
region of Linguere, a traditional Socialist Party stronghold.
He was widely seen as a failure at Agriculture. In late
December, farmers organized a nationwide protest and blocked
major roads to press the GOS to buy the year's peanut
harvest. With the infrastructure portfolio, Sy inherits
major civil engineering projects underway. Wade is counting
on success in implementing infrastructure projects to play an
important role in the 2007 electoral campaigns, and Wade's
severest critics imply this is also a sector capable of
producing kickbacks and, hence, political funds.

ANOTHER ECONOMIC SECTOR IN CRISIS
--------------

7. (C) The GOS coupled the cabinet reshuffle with creation
of an inter-ministerial committee to restructure parastatals
in crisis. This is in response to widespread unease
generated by Chemical Industries of Senegal,s (ICS,s)
likely move for reorganization and protection from creditors.

DAKAR 00000268 002 OF 002


ICS is a phosphate exporter and mainstay of the economy.
Its failure could mean liquidation of 2,500 direct jobs and
25,000 indirect ones, as well as the collapse of Senegal's
leading export, phosphoric acid (reftel).

COMMENT
--------------

8. (C) The reshuffled cabinet is a minor correction in
Wade's electoral trajectory. In order to win in 2007, Wade
appears ready to sacrifice ministers with expertise and
competence and to promote those who can mobilize militants
and/or entice new votes with government resources. Though he
has made repeated offers to the opposition to form a wide
coalition government, Wade must operate on the assumption
that the main opposition parties such as the Socialist Party
(PS) and Alliance of forces of Progress (AFP) will continue
to decline his offer.


9. (C) Wade's current plan seems to be to reinforce his
cabinet with PDS members devoted to him who can mobilize
large numbers of voters at grassroots level. The result may
well be an atmosphere of permanent electoral campaign. Many
Senegalese deplore this situation and some may be losing
faith in the political class and its willingness to focus on
the country,s real problems. Embassy requests that the
"Country Background Notes" and "Chiefs of State and Cabinet
Members of Foreign Governments" be updated to reflect these
changes. END COMMENT.
JACKSON