Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BAMAKO907
2008-11-25 08:29:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

MALI'S NEW AMBASSADOR TO MAURITANIA IN HOLDING

Tags:  PREL KDEM ML 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8957
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0907 3300829
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 250829Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9798
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0509
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 000907 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2018
TAGS: PREL KDEM ML
SUBJECT: MALI'S NEW AMBASSADOR TO MAURITANIA IN HOLDING
PATTERN

REF: NOUAKCHOTT 00688

Classified By: Political Officer Aaron Sampson, Embassy Bamako,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 000907

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2018
TAGS: PREL KDEM ML
SUBJECT: MALI'S NEW AMBASSADOR TO MAURITANIA IN HOLDING
PATTERN

REF: NOUAKCHOTT 00688

Classified By: Political Officer Aaron Sampson, Embassy Bamako,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1.(C) During a November 24 visit to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs to deliver UNGA demarches, the Embassy spoke briefly
with Souleymane Kone, Mali's Ambassador to Mauritania in
waiting. Kone has previously served as a technical advisor
within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His main job,
however, was and presumably still is Political and Elections
Director for President Amadou Toumani Toure's Citizens'
Movement. The Citizens' Movement is a quasi-political
party/fan club dedicated to supporting President Toure.
During the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections, President
Toure relied on support from the Citizens Movement to project
himself as a political independent untarnished by party
affiliation. During the 2007 presidential election Kone was
the Embassy's main contact within the Citizens' Movement.

2.(C) These days Kone is parked in a nearly empty office off
a narrow hallway at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, waiting
for forces much larger than the Citizens' Movement to give
him a ticket to Nouakchott. Kone said Mali informed the
Mauritanian government of his appointment as Ambassador just
three days before the August 6 coup. Mali's post-coup
position, according to Kone, is simple: direct support for
the African Union's line. Kone said the main issue was the
Mauritanian military junta's inability to formulate a
"horizon" for a democratic transition - a timeline that would
in turn provide Kone with a horizon for assuming his
Ambassadorial functions. Kone said his eventual departure
for Nouakchott hinged on three benchmarks: a timeline for
potential constitutional revisions, clarification regarding
whether members of the military junta can participate in new
elections, and information on President Abdallahi's
involvement in a potential solution. "The African Union,"
said Kone, "needs to force Mauritania to respond to these
questions. Otherwise sanctions will be imposed and we won't
recognize the regime in place."

3.(C) Kone said Mali was in no rush to dispatch him to
Nouakchott and was content to adhere to what Kone described
as the "status quo." He observed that if he were to travel
to Mauritania, the junta would use his arrival as an act of
recognition - something Kone said Mali would prefer to avoid.
Kone expressed hope that a solution could be found by the
end of 2008.

4.(C) Regarding problems along the Mali-Mauritania frontier,
Kone said Mali's border with Mauritania remained open but
that Mauritania had halted road transportation services to
Mali. Kone's description of the border dispute largely
echoed that offered by his eventual DCM, Claude Tounakra, in
Nouakchott (reftel). In short, Kone said Mauritanian
citizens with no intention of crossing into Mali were
purchasing tickets on Malian bus services because Malian
buses are in better shape than those operated internally by
Mauritanians. The problem is that Malian buses are only
authorized to transport international passengers, and many
Mauritanian clients are reportedly paying a little extra to
ride in comfort in the Malian buses, then getting off before
reaching the Malian border. Kone described the
transportation dispute as a "faux problem" and said
Mauritania's military junta was using it as a pretext to
express displeasure with Mali's adherence to the African
Union's post-coup position.

5.(C) Kone said he had spoken with the junta's Minister of
Communication, who was recently in Mali unofficially. Kone
said the Minister claimed his wife was Malian and that he was
visiting her family. During their brief meeting, the
Minister reportedly expressed his disappointment with Mali's
decision to align itself with the international community and
told Kone that Mali could not remain neutral because the two
nations shared too many security and cross-border concerns.
MILOVANOVIC