SENEGALESE PRESIDENT WADE RESTRUCTURES HIS PARTY

UNCLAS DAKAR 002287 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL AND INR/AA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS KDEM SG SUBJECT: SENEGALESE PRESIDENT WADE RESTRUCTURES HIS PARTY ¶1. (SBU) Summary: On November 16, Senegalese President Adoulaye Wade chaired a meeting of the Directorate of the ruling Democratic Party of Senegal (PDS) where Macky Sall, president of the National Assembly, was removed as number two of the PDS (Wade is the party leader). The meeting also resolved to introduce a constitutional amendment to reduce the term of office of a National Assembly president from five years to one. End summary You Made a Mistake and Now You Pay! -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Prior to convening the meeting, which Sall did not attend, President Wade told him that "he had made the mistake" of asking Wade's son Karim to testify before the National Assembly. Karim Wade heads National Agency for the Organization of the Islamic Conference (ANOCI) a quasi-governmental body attached to the presidency that is responsible for implementing major infrastructure projects in Dakar in the lead up to the March 2007 Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Summit. ANOCI has been plagued by accusations of mismanagement and corruption and many political observers speculated that Sall wanted to embarrass Karim Wade by compelling him to testify before the National Assembly. Reportedly, President Wade told Sall that "in politics you pay for your mistakes in cash" just before he stripped him of party title. Sall was demoted from number two in the PDS to one of seventeen PDS national secretaries. He was given a totally irrelevant portfolio that not SIPDIS only puts him "in charge" of relations with the elders of the party but which publicly implies that he, as are the elders he is to liaise with, is politically finished in the PDS. Sall's demotion, after that of former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck, clearly underlines Wade's determination to organize his succession without any competition from within his party. NO MECHANISM FOR SUCCESSION -------------- ¶3. (SBU) As the number two in the PDS and the architect of both Wade's presidential election victory and the PDS's legislative victory, Sall became a legitimate pretender to the presidency. The PDS's problem, however, is that it is not a traditional party based on a political ideology. Instead, it is a quasi-cult movement centered around one man without any real functioning democratic mechanisms. Sall was chosen by Wade under the assumption that he did not have presidential ambitions and would not be an obstacle to Wade's desire to determine his successor, for which many speculate he is grooming his son Karim. Mamadou Oumar Ndiaye, director of the daily newspaper Temoin who acted as an intermediary between the ades and Sall, told Poloff that Wade was prepared t "forgive" Macky but Karim opposed such a move bcause he sees the latter as a serious obstacle t Karim's eventual political control of a renovatd PDS. I CANNO STOP THEM -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Prior the meeting of the PDS Directorat, President Wade also is said to have told Sall, "I am not the instigator of your political demotion but I cannot stop them." In fact, it is well known that Wade orchestrated the move by spurring regional PDS branches to unanimously request the elimination of the position of number two of the PDS. Regional PDS leaders also fiercely attacked Sall for his lack of loyalty in undermining the work of the president's son. ¶5. (SBU) However, removing Sall from his position at the National Assembly is more complicated. According to the current constitution, the position of National Assembly president has a five-year term of office. However President Wade, wily as ever, instructed his nephew Doudou Wade, who heads the PDS's parliamentary group, to initiate a petition calling for the resignation of Sall as president of the National Assembly. Meanwhile, the PDS Directorate has set into motion a plan to remove Sall if he refuses to resign. The PDS will initiate a constitutional amendment to reduce the term of the president of the National Assembly to one year, which would allow the PDS to get rid of Sall in 2008. Such a tactic was first used by the Socialists in the 90s. Thus, while Sall is still resisting, his support within PDS is not strong enough to save him. COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The PDS Directorate chose seventeen national secretaries who will be Wade's deputies in running the party and there is no hierarchy among them. Clearly, Wade is seeking to prevent potential successors from using a proximity to him to build bases for their own presidential ambitions. ¶7. (SBU) Wade is also promoting the hawks within the PDS. In the same November 16 meeting, Babacar Gaye was appointed spokesperson of the party, in addition to his current job as Wade's chief of staff. Abdoulaye Faye, a loyal companion and a strong supporter of party discipline, remains in charge of conflict resolution within the party with the rank of minister of state. Finally, the hard-line Minister of Justice Cheikh Tidiane Sy has been appointed as the PDS national secretary in charge of unions. In the current context of growing social tensions between the GOS and unions, this is a signal that Wade may be adopting a tougher line. With a weak opposition, Wade's tinkering with institutions has, so far, been risk-free. What is certain is that more internal fights at the summit of the state and a lack of democratic mechanisms within the PDS will not be conducive to the peace and stability that the country has enjoyed in the past seven years. SMITH