MALI: AU PSC TO RAMP UP PRESSURE ON MAURITANIAN

UNCLAS BAMAKO 000956 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL USAU MR ML SUBJECT: MALI: AU PSC TO RAMP UP PRESSURE ON MAURITANIAN JUNTA REF: STATE 132307 (SBU) The Embassy delivered reftel demarche to the Foreign Ministry's Director of Political Affairs, Sekouba Cisse, on December 18. isse affirmed that Mali is following the issue cosely, both because Mali is a member of the AU Peae and Security Council and because Mauritania isa neighbor. Cisse noted that Mali's role as a dfender of democracy and constitutionality is well known, and that Mali continues to advocate for the unconditional liberation of President Abdallahi and a constitutional solution. In other words, said Cisse, Mali's position on Mauritania remains unchanged. Cisse described the Mauritanian military junta's "National Dialogue on Democracy" as a "palliative" that failed to correspond to the demands of the African Union, European Union or U.S. He stressed that Mali and the U.S. were "on the same wave length" in regard to Mauritania, but said steps could be taken to improve the coherence of positions taken by the AU, ECOWAS, the EU, and the United States. MILOVANOVIC