UN AGREES THAT SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS EXIST IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NOUAKCHOTT 000435

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR EAID KPAO MR
SUBJECT: UN AGREES THAT SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS EXIST IN
CENSUS UNDERWAY THROUGHOUT COUNTRY

REF: NOUAKCHOTT 409

Classified By: Amb. Joseph LeBaron, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

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(C) Key Points
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-- The UN and its western partners, including US Embassy
reps, spent much of a recent UN meeting on electoral
assistance issues discussing current census problems,
particularly the difficulties Black African Mauritanians are
having registering in southern Mauritania.

-- The UN System Coordinator commented that Afro-Mauritanians
clearly are facing barriers to their participation in the
census. She added that reaching the international standard
for such a census (at least 80% of all eligible voters
counted) is not the whole point, especially if the 20 percent
not counted are all Afro-Mauritanians. That would be
unacceptable to the UN, the System Coordinator, Cecile
Molinier, said.

-- The transitional government, with AU assistance, will hold
a roundtable April 25 to discuss donor support of the
electoral process. Japan is expected to announce a
contribution to the Basket Fund, and Egypt will likely
announce a contribution to the Electoral Commission.

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(C) Comments
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-- The upcoming roundtable could be an excellent venue for
raising concerns about the census, especially if the results
of the UN mid-point evaluation are available by then.

-- Embassy will continue closely coordinating with the UN,
the EU, and European embassies on efforts to get the
transitional government and the independent electoral
commission to improve the census and voter registration
program in the south.

-- At this point, we are not optimistic that the transitional
government will take action, despite the rising concern in
the international community, since there appears to be little
domestic pressure on the government or the electoral
commission to do something.

-- Many Moors appear to believe that the reportedly extensive
illegal immigration from West Africa requires their
government to be doubly cautious and skeptical about claims
of Mauritanian nationality by Black Africans in the south.
We disagree.

End Key Points and Comments.


1. (C) Representatives of partners for the UN Basket Fund
Steering Committee met April 7 to discuss preparations for
the first official Steering Committee meeting scheduled for
April 20. The group, which included UN, EU, French, Spanish,
German, and US representatives, discussed the addition of
Mauritanian representatives to the committee, proposed Basket
Fund allocations, and procedures for interaction with the
media, political parties, and civil society. (Though invited
to participate in the meeting, because the U.S. and the
Germans have not yet contributed to the basket fund, we are
not official members of the Steering Committee.) While not
on the agenda, more than half the meeting was dedicated to
the current census problems, particularly the difficulties of
Afro-Mauritanian registration in the south (reftel).

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CONSENSUS ON CENSUS PROBLEMS
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2. (C) After PolOff Morris briefed the group about his recent
reftel visit to southern Mauritania, the DCM at the French
Embassy, Marc Flattot, said that a team from his embassy had
recently visited a separate region in the south and had
"found exactly the same thing." "We heard numerous

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complaints from Afro-Mauritanians unable to get their ID
card...and of villages the electoral commission had never
visited," Flattot said, adding that "political parties were
also completely absent from these areas." The deputy EU
ambassador added that his team was also aware of "widespread
problems" in the south.


3. (C) Discussion then turned to the recent census
registration figures provided to the UN by the National
Independent Electoral Commission (reftel). "We are highly
suspicious of the accuracy of these figures," Flattot said,
clarifying that "while the numbers of those registered to
date may be correct, the estimate of total eligible voters
and the figures of the number of people without ID cards are
both suspect." The German Embassy DCM, Christian Sedat,
asked "where did the figures of total eligible voters come
from?" "If they were based on the last census, then they
likely don,t account for all Mauritanians," he said. (Note:
Through other statements it was clear that by "all
Mauritanians," Sedat was insinuating that Afro-Mauritanians
were likely undercounted in the past census and were thus not
accurately represented in these estimates. End note.)


4. (C) UN Principal Technical Advisor Mathieu Bile Bouah
acknowledged that he was aware of some registration problems
in "certain areas of the south." He added that he "did not
know how widespread the problems were," but said "there
appeared to be barriers to Afro-Mauritanians participating in
the census in certain southern regions." In responding to
the concerns about the electoral commission,s census
registration figures, Bile agreed that the figures were
"suspect," but added that "the upcoming mid-term assessment
will provide us with more credible figures."


5. (C) UN System Coordinator Cecile Molinier summarized the
group,s position by saying that "we all agree that
Afro-Mauritanians are facing barriers to their
participation," adding that "we need to join together in
telling the government that these problems exist and that
they must be addressed."


6. (C) Molinier then raised the issue of the UN,s upcoming
audit of the census and voter lists, saying that "reaching
the 80 percent international standard is not the whole point,
but also what that 80 percent looks like." "If the 20
percent not included are all Afro-Mauritanian, that is
unacceptable, and we will tell the ministers and electoral
commission that when we meet with them."


7. (C) Molinier said she believes that general public support
for the census process was beginning to wane. "In the press
coverage I've been reading and my conversations with
political parties and members of civil society, I feel like
public perception is turning against the census," she said,
adding that "this could risk damaging the public,s
perception of the credibility of elections." Molinier
concluded the point by stating that "we are convinced that
the electoral commission must ensure the credibility of the
(census and electoral) process...and we must help them in
this effort."

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STEERING COMMITTEES IRONS-OUT DETAILS
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8. (C) The Steering Committee decided it would seek
"participation" form political parties and civil society on
the committee, as well as ask the government to propose
Steering Committee member representatives from the Ministries
of Interior and Finance.


9. (C) The committee presented a proposal for distributing
the 2,295,000 Euros currently slated for the Basket Fund,
with 170,000 for the public media, 340,000 for the private
media, 850,000 for political parties, and 935,000 for civil
society organizations. The committee also presented several
conditions groups must fulfill before being eligible for
Basket Funds, but the committee agreed that it would work
with "any actor that satisfied these requirements." "We
understand why groups like NDI have selected a smaller group
of political parties to work with, but as the UN, we must be

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seen as working openly and fairly with all actors...this
includes political parties, civil society and the press,"
Barranca said, with Molinier adding that "we must be
objective."

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DONOR ROUNTABLE TO BE HELD APRIL 25
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10. (C) The AU has announced its support for an April 25
roundtable in Nouakchott hosted by the transitional
government, designed to mobilize donors to fund the electoral
process. Akihiro Takazawa, head of the Economic Cooperation
at the Japanese Embassy in Japan told DCM Koutsis April 12
the Japan will likely announce a contribution of up to USD 1
million to the Basket Fund during the roundtable. He said
this was a change of policy for Japan, which had originally
considered a bilateral donation. On the same day the
Egyptian DCM said that Egypt plans to announce a bilateral
contribution of 100,000 EP (approx. USD 18,000) to the
electoral commission.
LeBaron