SPECIAL ENVOY MEETS WITH OIC CHAIR, PRESIDENT WADE

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 000496

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C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (INFO ADDRESSEE & PARA #S)

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DEPARTMENT FOR IO/UNP, EUR/SCE, NEA/IAP, AND AF/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2018
TAGS: OIC KISL PGOV PREL AORC KV SR SG
SUBJECT: SPECIAL ENVOY MEETS WITH OIC CHAIR, PRESIDENT WADE
OF SENEGAL

Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES JAY T. SMITH for reasons 1.5 B/D


1. (C) Summary: On April 22 Special Envoy to the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Sada Cumber,
accompanied by Charge and political counselor, met with
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade in his new capacity as
the chairman of the 57-nation OIC following Senegal,s
hosting of the OIC summit in March. Special Envoy Cumber
shared with Wade his plan for supporting the OIC,s
initiatives and the MOU he hopes to sign with the OIC
Secretary General. Wade complimented the Special Envoy on

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his proposals but emphasized the need for tangible
accomplishments. He urged the United States to call for an
Islamic-Christian dialogue and to support his efforts at
brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Wade also
agreed to encourage Saudi Arabia and African OIC member
states to recognize Kosovo. End summary.

U.S. Support for OIC Initiatives
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2. (SBU) Special Envoy Cumber congratulated President Wade
on the success of the summit and the successful conclusion of
the peace negotiations between Chad and the Sudan that
President Wade and the president of Gabon mediated. He told
President Wade that he hoped to work closely with him and OIC
Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu explaining that the

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his role as OIC Special Envoy was not only to act as the U.S.
representative to the OIC, its members, and Muslim
communities in non-OIC countries, but also to oversee U.S.
support for the OIC,s initiatives. Special Envoy Cumber
shared with Wade the draft MOU that he hoped to sign with SG
Ihsanoglu and outlined the three areas on which the United
States would focus -- science and technology, enhancing the
status of women and education ) emphasizing that these
themes were drawn from the OIC,s ten-year program.
Moreover, he informed Wade of his plan to establish a digital
library in the ten poorest OIC member countries. Special
Envoy Cumber asked for and received Wade,s support for these
proposals, although Wade commented that the program should
focus less on conferences and seminars and more on &concrete
things.8 He opined that most development aid, including
U.S. assistance, to Senegal had resulted in &zero8 and
argued that developing countries and donors needed to think
of new ways to spend aid money to produce more tangible
results.


3. (SBU) To illustrate his point, President Wade described
four projects that his government was initiating which he
said would have tangible results: the eco-village; &hut for
little ones;8 the University of the Future; and the
cyber-village. The eco-village, which is designed to be
self-sustaining and environmentally sound, is divided into
sections including one which provides solar and
wind-generated electricity as well as sections with fruit
trees and trees for lumber. The already established &huts
for little ones8 (i.e. cases de tout petits) are in essence
day-cares where children under six can get an education
through the use of educational games and traditional
storytelling. The University of the Future would bring
together students that already have masters degrees and train
them in practical disciplines such as agriculture and
information and communications technology. The University
would leverage digital conferencing so that students would
not have to leave Africa to go to developed countries to
receive this education. The cyber-village project would
provide a large flat-panel screen to villages for use in
receiving information and providing training.

Islamic-Christian Dialogue
--------------


4. (C) In addition, Special Envoy Cumber informed President
Wade of his plan to organize a summit at the White House with
heads of the 10-15 largest Muslim development NGOs and
expressed support for Wade,s proposal to organize a dialogue
between the West and the Muslim world. Wade expressed
appreciation for the support and emphasized that the dialogue
should be an Islamic-Christian dialogue not a
Islamo-Judeo-Christian dialogue as proposed by King Abdullah
of Saudi Arabia. Wade asked the Special Envoy to urge
President Bush to call for a summit of Christian and Muslim
leaders and strongly encourage him to say no to King
Abdullah,s proposals for a dialogue for the three
&revealed8 religions.


5. (C) Special Envoy Cumber asked about the possibility of


Wade, in his capacity as chair of the OIC and unofficial head
of the ummah, to bring together the various schools of
thought and traditions of Islam using the cooperative model
of American Muslims as an example. Wade replied that it
would be hard to do so because of deep philosophical
differences. Moreover, he said there are some Muslims that
think the West is the devil. As a result, he opined that
progress in resolving East-West divisions depends on
President Bush,s actions in the Muslim world.


6. (C) According to Wade three things must be done to
improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world: 1) Peace must
be obtained between Israel and the Palestinians; 2) The
United States must withdraw from Iraq; and 3) a peaceful
settlement must be obtained with Iran. Wade commented that
he had offered his services to mediate between Iran and the
United States and that while Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad had accepted, President Bush had not. He opined
that if the United States attacks Iran three-fifths of the
world,s Muslims would support Iran.

Promoting Peace Between Israel and the Palestinians
-------------- --------------


7. (C) President Wade informed the Special Envoy that he had
been in communication with President Mahmoud Abbas of the
Palestinian Authority, President Shimon Perez, and Hamas
leader Khaled Maashal in an effort to broker a cease-fire.
According to Wade, Hamas is ready to agree to a cease-fire if
Wade is the one to &launch8 it and if Israel is willing to
lift the embargo on the Gaza Strip and end the check-points
in the West Bank. President Wade said he,s on a mission to
make peace and said he wanted to know if President Bush was
willing to help.

Recognition of Kosovo
--------------


8. (C) Special Envoy Cumber urged President Wade to use his
influence to persuade OIC members to recognize Kosovo. Wade
responded that he had already discussed the matter with King
Abdullah but agreed to contact him again. He also undertook
to contact African OIC members to encourage them to recognize
Kosovo.

Comment
--------------


9. (C) While President Wade seemed to have difficulties in
separating his roles as chair of the OIC and President of
Senegal he expressed support for the work of the Special
Envoy. Although he acknowledges the importance of education,
Wade believes that Senegal does not need any assistance in
this area. He commented to us that Senegal devotes 40
percent of its budget to education. He is most enthusiastic
about assistance projects that deal with construction of some
kind and opined during the meeting that developing countries
such as Senegal can implement small projects and that donor
countries and international NGOs should focus on large
infrastructure projects. It is not clear what level of
active support we can expect from President Wade for the
program described in the MOU. Moreover, he seems almost
hostile to the idea of an inter-faith dialogue that is not
limited to Islam and Christianity, which might complicate
efforts to get the support of Saudi Arabia. During the
meeting President Wade also claimed that &everyone8 wants
him to act as a mediator. He clearly revels in the idea of
being an international statesman and actively pursues
opportunities to take the global stage. He took a call from
Hamas just as we were leaving.


10. (U) This cable was cleared by Special Envoy Sada Cumber.
SMITH
SMITH