(C) MFA EXPRESSES PRIVATE CONCERN ON EMBASSY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 003716 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2016 TAGS: PREL KISL PGOV PINR FR SUBJECT: (C) MFA EXPRESSES PRIVATE CONCERN ON EMBASSY MUSLIM OUTREACH EFFORTS Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Karl Hofmann, reasons 1.4 (b) an d (d). ¶1. (C) MFA Advisor for Religious Affairs Laurent Stefanini summoned Acting Pol M/C and poloff to his office June 1 to express concern about embassy Muslim outreach efforts, in generally polite but largely elliptical terms. Stefanini, who was accompanied by Deputy MFA Religious Affairs Advisor Denis Fromaget and Didier Leschi, Head of the Ministry of Interior (MOI) Office of Religious Affairs, told Pol M/C that he wanted to ask the embassy to "be careful" in its contacts with the French Muslim community. Stefanini affirmed that such contacts were, of course, "totally legitimate," and that he was not seeking to limit with whom we interact. At the same time, he asserted, some unnamed French Muslim "personalities" were trying to exploit contact with the embassy as a means of boosting their own credibility within France. Stefanini cautioned that embassy outreach efforts could be manipulated by some French Muslim leaders to pursue their own respective agendas, and he expressed hope that the MFA and MOI could increase dialogue with the embassy to avoid such misunderstandings. Leschi noted that his office had established a regular dialogue on such issues with UK counterparts, for example. ¶2. (C) Pressed for specifics, Leschi asserted that a certain, unnamed French Muslim leader in Lyon had sought U.S. embassy help in funding his project to found a training center for French imams. Leschi insinuated that the individual was now talking up his contacts with the embassy to give the impression that he had USG backing, to compensate for his declining influence in the French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM),from which he had withdrawn. Leschi added that the individual in question was closely allied with the fundamentalist-leaning World Muslim League, and had in the past sought visas for Saudi imams which were turned down by the GoF. Leschi did not directly accuse the unnamed individual of wrongdoing but noted that his affiliated mosque -- the Grand Mosque of Lyon, the largest in Lyon -- had links with Abdelkader Bouziane, an Algerian-born, fundamentalist imam deported from France in 2005 for press remarks advocating wife-beating. ¶3. (C) Acting Pol M/C and poloff responded to Stefanini's message by reiterating that embassy contacts with French Muslims remained an important part of our ongoing public diplomacy outreach to French civil society and our efforts to better understand the current French domestic scene. Such dialogue did not signify USG backing for particular movements or individuals, or USG intent to fund religious projects in France, which would run contrary to the U.S. constitutional separation of church and state. Pol M/C welcomed Stefanini's call for more regular dialogue with the MFA and MOI on Muslim community issues, but made clear that the embassy had no intention of vetting its contacts with French Muslims through the MFA. Stefanini accepted the point and expressed readiness to meet with visiting Washington officials as well; he appeared somewhat surprised to learn that there was no USG counterpart office which managed relations with religious institutions in the U.S. ¶4. (C) Comment: Although Leschi declined to name the individual cited in para 2, we are certain he was referring to Grand Mosque of Lyon rector Kamal Kabtane, who is a regular contact of APP Lyon, a public advocate of interfaith dialogue, and a frequent critic of the CFCM, from which he withdrew in 2004. Kabtane approached APP Lyon and the DCM a few months ago to seek help in making contact with U.S. foundations which could fund his proposal to establish a major imam training school in Lyon, to help reduce French dependence on foreign born imams and provide a venue for inter-faith dialogue. We told Kabtane that the USG cannot fund his project, although we might be able to participate in exchanges aimed at increasing dialogue between French and American Muslims. We have encouraged Kabtane to explore local and private sector options for moving forward with his project. ¶5. (C) As for GoF motivations behind this unusual demarche, we viewed Stefanini's message as indicative of the GoF's attempts to stage-manage its relations with French Muslims, which have produced a CFCM wracked by internal divisions and dysfunction since its 2003 launch. Although Stefanini was careful not to question the legitimacy of U.S. outreach efforts, he complained mildly that U.S. interest in the fate of France's Muslims was not matched by equal concern for the situation of Christian minorities in the Middle East. End comment. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm PARIS 00003716 002 OF 002 STAPLETON