A "FURIOUS" SARKOZY DECIDES TO PROCEED WITH HIS

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 004619

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV FR AG
SUBJECT: A "FURIOUS" SARKOZY DECIDES TO PROCEED WITH HIS
ALGERIA STATE VISIT AFTER BOUTEFLIKA CALLS

REF: PARIS POINTS FOR NOVEMBER 28 AND 29

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt
for reasons 1.4. (b),(d).


1. (U) Just as the French government was on the verge of
cancelling President Sarkozy,s state visit to Algeria next
week (see refs),Algerian President Bouteflika phoned Sarkozy
November 29 to calm things down. He reportedly assured
Sarkozy that the minister who was publicly quoted making
anti-semitic remarks about Sarkozy did not speak for the
Algerian government and that what he said "did not at all
reflect the position of Algeria." French media, which zeroed
in on the story November 27, reported Bouteflika,s phone
call and statement in Algiers dissociating his government
from the personal opinions that might be expressed by
officials not "mandated8 by the Algerian constitution to
speak on foreign affairs, i.e., himself, the foreign
minister, and others designated to do so. Sarkozy cleared up
any doubt as to whether the trip would go ahead when, in a
nationally televised interview November 29, he said that,
following his conversation with Bouteflika, he would go to
Algeria &as a friend.8


2. (C) Word of Bouteflika,s statement and the apparent
easing of this latest and mostly symbolic crisis in the often
difficult Franco-Algerian relationship almost immediately
followed the phone call between the two presidents.
PolMinCouns and POLOFF met November 29 with French Presidency
adviser on NEA affairs Boris Boillon, who was fully engaged
in trying to head off the cancellation of a state visit he
had been meticulously planning for the past several weeks.
He described Sarkozy as &furious8 over the & racist and
anti-semitic remarks that Algerian Minister of Veterans
Affairs Abbes had made and inclined to pull the plug on the
visit only days before it was to start. According to
Boillon, Sarkozy instructed his staff to summon the Algerian
ambassador November 28 to protest Abbes, remarks and demand,
at a minimum, some sort of official Algerian statement
dissociating itself from them if not actually condemning
them. Sarkozy also indicated that he expected Bouteflika to
telephone him to discuss the matter personally before
deciding whether to proceed with the visit.


3. (C) Boillon did not describe the meeting with the
Algerian ambassador in detail but said that he had asked the
ambassador to consider how the Algerians would have reacted
had a French minister said &even one tenth8 of what Abbes
reportedly said. The ambassador clearly got the message, and
Boillon received a phone call during our meeting setting the
time just after lunch for Bouteflika to call.


4. (C) Boillon indicated that Sarkozy would have liked
Bouteflika to fire the offending minister but would not
explicitly demand such an action out of concern that the
Algerians would over-react and a new crisis would ensue over
French &interference8 in Algerian internal affairs.
Nevertheless, it was critical that Algeria somehow publicly
account for these offensive remarks. Having worked hard on
the visit, Boillon argued Algeria had much more to lose than
France by a sudden cancellation on grounds like these. In
addition to a number of bilateral accords that would be
signed, the French had &quite a few8 contracts to sign.


5. (C) Comment: The decision to proceed with the visit
even after Bouteflika,s phone call has not pleased everyone.
Some media pointed out that Bouteflika did not condemn Abbes
or what he said per se. The Socialist opposition, moreover,
has played up both Abbes, remarks and the even harsher
statements of other Algerian veterans of the war of
independence -- declaring Sarkozy unwelcome as long as France
refuses to repent for its colonial rule -- to criticize
Sarkozy,s decision to go ahead with the visit. Boillon, who
served in Algeria on his maiden overseas posting as a French
diplomat, evinced a keen understanding of the internal
political dynamics that made it difficult for Bouteflika,
himself a veteran of the war of independence, to entirely
disavow Abbes statements or sack him. &They are of the same
mentality and generation, stuck in the 1960s or maybe the
1970s.8 Still, he added, Bouteflika and others in the
Algerian government needed to understand that remarks like
thiese resonate and have a negative impact in France that
makes it hard for Sarkozy to ignore. Boillon noted the irony
of many of the leaders of Algeria,s veterans organizations
having children living and working in France, not to mention
French bank accounts and real estate holdings.

Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm


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