ISRAELIS DISTRESSED BY SENEGALESE PRESIDENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 000501

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/IAP AND AF/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2010
TAGS: PREL PGOV IS SY SG
SUBJECT: ISRAELIS DISTRESSED BY SENEGALESE PRESIDENT
EFFORTS TO INSINUATE HIMSELF INTO PEACE PROCESS

REF: DAKAR 496

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Jay T. Smith for reasons 1.5 B/D


1. (C) Summary: On April 29, the Israeli Ambassador to
Senegal (please protect) called on Charge to express his
country,s concerns about President Abdoulaye Wade,s efforts
to inject himself and his country into the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process. He said President Wade is
misrepresenting the character of conversations and
correspondence he has had with Israeli President Shimon
Peres. Moreover, the Government of Israel does not want Wade
to play a role in the peace process, but is concerned about
the damage rejecting Wade,s overtures would cause to their
bilateral relationship. End summary.


2. (C) Israeli Ambassador Gideon Behar called on Charge to
discuss President Wade,s recent efforts to act as a mediator
between Israel, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority
(reftel). Behar was visibly agitated as he described Wade,s
persistent importuning of President Peres to arrange a
conversation or meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert. According to Behar, President Wade is distorting the
nature of his communications with President Peres, much to
Israel,s distress. In a recent communique from the
Senegalese presidency, Wade implied that Peres, along with
the leadership of the Palestinian Authority and that of
Hamas, had agreed to Wade taking on the role of mediator.


3. (C) President Wade dispatched a special presidential
representative to Damascus to meet with Hamas leader Khaled
Maashal and to Amman, Jordan to meet with Palesitan Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas in an attempt to jump start the peace
negotiations. Behar reported that Israel believes that
Maashal will soon be given an invitation to come to Dakar.
President Wade has asked to be allowed to go to Israel to
begin mediating. The Government of Israel has informed him
that he would be a welcome "honored bilateral" guest.


4. (C) The Israeli ambassador made clear that his government
does not want any Senegalese involvement in the peace
process. However, he expressed concern about the potentially
negative impact that abruptly rejecting Wade,s overtures
could have on bilateral relations. Behar opined that
President Wade, who is scheduled to represent Africa at an
upcoming meeting of Noble Peace Laureates in Petra, Jordan,
is driven by a strong desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize
himself.


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


5. (C) President Wade sees himself as a peace mediator par
excellence and is serial offender in regard to injecting
himself uninvited into the mediation of international
conflicts. He has offered to mediate between Iran and the
United States and Syria and the United States. In October
2007, he announced that he would mediate between Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe and British Prime Minster Gordon
Brown, ultimately flying to Harare and announcing that the
solution to the conflict was for the United Kingdom and other
Western countries to simply stop unfairly criticizing
Mugabe,s regime and to pay for land reform. More recently,
he injected himself into conflict between Chad and the Sudan.
While Wade,s efforts ultimately bore some fruit in the form
of a watered-down peace accord, that was only after he almost
washed his hands of the entire affair after a dressing down
by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, claiming
(falsely) that he had never wanted the responsibility in the
first place. The UN SG had to push him to finish what he had
started.


6. (C) Wade craves being the center of attention on the
international stage and sees himself as being in the same
class as great African statesmen such as Julius Nyrere or
Nelson Mandela and hopes to cement his legacy as a peacemaker
and leader of the ummah by being the one to bring peace to
the Middle-East during his country,s tenure as chair of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference. However, it is clear
that he does not realize that in all likelihood Hamas is
simply trying to exploit him. Given that Senegal has
historically sided with the Palestinians on UN General
Assembly and Human Rights Commission/Council votes it is
clear the Israelis would never accept an active role for
Wade. Moreover, during the OIC Special Envoy,s recent
meeting with him (reftel),President Wade betrayed his utter

lack of appreciation for the complexity of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict blithely saying that a
cease-fire would be possible if the Israelis merely agreed to
eliminate all security checkpoints in the West Bank. Wade,s
efforts are unlikely to contribute constructively to the
Annapolis peace process and could very well undermine it.
SMITH