Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08DOHA807
2008-11-17 05:35:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Doha
Cable title:  

MFA, ARAB DEMOCRACY FOUNDATION DIFFER ON

Tags:  PGOV QA AL AU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2401
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHDU RUEHKUK RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHROV
RUEHTRO
DE RUEHDO #0807/01 3220535
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 170535Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8430
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1123
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT PRIORITY 0191
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0171
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1369
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 0030
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000807 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2018
TAGS: PGOV QA AL AU
SUBJECT: MFA, ARAB DEMOCRACY FOUNDATION DIFFER ON
MAURITANIA "INITIATIVE"

REF: A. STATE 119713

B. DOHA 799

Classified By: Ambassador Joseph E. LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

--------------
(C) KEY POINTS
---------------

-- When Ambassador discussed Mauritania with the MFA and the
Arab Democracy Foundation, he got rather different, competing
responses about Qatar's diplomacy in Mauritania.

-- Arab Democracy Foundation trustee Khalid Al-Attiyah, who
was recently named as a MFA Minister of State, indicated that
he would like the Foundation's effort to help fashion a
settlement in Mauritania to continue. He thought a political
settlement was possible in which deposed President Abdullahi
would return to office, but resign immediately, even after
half an hour, in favor of new elections.

-- When Ambassador delivered ref(a) points to Ahmed
al-Mahmoud, Qatar's other MFA Minister of State, and de facto
Foreign Minister, al-Mahmoud denied that any Qatar diplomatic
initiative on Mauritania was underway. He said he had had to
tell the French that, too, and he expressed his strong
irritation with the Arab Democracy Foundation.

-- With both officials, Ambassador urged Qatar to closely
coordinate any diplomatic effort with the AU, and, with
al-Mahmoud, Ambassador urged that Qatar deny moral and
financial support to Mauritania's military.

------------
(C) COMMENTS
------------

-- As stated in ref(b),Qatar's MFA is consumed with its
Darfur initiative. It is highly unlikely that the MFA will
take any but the most superficial diplomatic action on
Mauritania.

-- The Arab Democracy Foundation is another story, however.
It is possible that the ADF will continue its own brand of
diplomacy with Mauritania. If it does, we can expect that
"diplomacy" to be limited, since the ADF ultimately reports
to Shaykha Mouza, who already has indicated that the ADF's
reconciliation efforts in Mauritania will probably shift to
the MFA.

End Key Points and Comments.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000807

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2018
TAGS: PGOV QA AL AU
SUBJECT: MFA, ARAB DEMOCRACY FOUNDATION DIFFER ON
MAURITANIA "INITIATIVE"

REF: A. STATE 119713

B. DOHA 799

Classified By: Ambassador Joseph E. LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

--------------
(C) KEY POINTS
--------------

-- When Ambassador discussed Mauritania with the MFA and the
Arab Democracy Foundation, he got rather different, competing
responses about Qatar's diplomacy in Mauritania.

-- Arab Democracy Foundation trustee Khalid Al-Attiyah, who
was recently named as a MFA Minister of State, indicated that
he would like the Foundation's effort to help fashion a
settlement in Mauritania to continue. He thought a political
settlement was possible in which deposed President Abdullahi
would return to office, but resign immediately, even after
half an hour, in favor of new elections.

-- When Ambassador delivered ref(a) points to Ahmed
al-Mahmoud, Qatar's other MFA Minister of State, and de facto
Foreign Minister, al-Mahmoud denied that any Qatar diplomatic
initiative on Mauritania was underway. He said he had had to
tell the French that, too, and he expressed his strong
irritation with the Arab Democracy Foundation.

-- With both officials, Ambassador urged Qatar to closely
coordinate any diplomatic effort with the AU, and, with
al-Mahmoud, Ambassador urged that Qatar deny moral and
financial support to Mauritania's military.

--------------
(C) COMMENTS
--------------

-- As stated in ref(b),Qatar's MFA is consumed with its
Darfur initiative. It is highly unlikely that the MFA will
take any but the most superficial diplomatic action on
Mauritania.

-- The Arab Democracy Foundation is another story, however.
It is possible that the ADF will continue its own brand of
diplomacy with Mauritania. If it does, we can expect that
"diplomacy" to be limited, since the ADF ultimately reports
to Shaykha Mouza, who already has indicated that the ADF's
reconciliation efforts in Mauritania will probably shift to
the MFA.

End Key Points and Comments.


1. (C) At a November 10 meeting with Ambassador, Minister of
State for International Cooperation and Conferences Khalid
Al-Attiyah expressed his opposition to the current shift of
Qatar's efforts in Mauritania away from the Arab Democracy
Foundation, part of the Qatar Foundation headed by Shaykha
Mouza, in favor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (see
ref(b)).


2. (C) He said the resources of the MFA were being taxed due
to Qatar's efforts in Darfur, and that the Mauritania
portfolio would "be lost" if transferred there (Note:
Al-Attiyah's new role as a Minister of State actually makes
him a part of the MFA, though he is still also closely
associated with Shaykha Mouza's Qatar Foundation. End Note).


3. (C) Al-Attiyah praised the diplomatic efforts of the ADF,
of which he is a trustee. He noted that the group had
studied the crisis in depth, and that the former Mauritanian
leader Ould Muhammad Vall, who led a 2005 coup but shepharded
his country to democracy in 2007, was also an ADF trustee.


4. (C) Al-Attiyah stated that he was hopeful that the ADF
could help reach a settlement whereby deposed President Sidi
Muhammad Sheikh Abdallahi would return to office, "if only
for a half hour," so that he could resign in favor of
immediate elections.


5. (C) Shaykha Mouza bint Nasser Al-Missned, wife of the Amir
and President of the ADF, told Ambassador at a November 9
meeting that the efforts of the ADF had been "purely
humanitarian" and that she had suggested that the MFA add

DOHA 00000807 002 OF 002


diplomatic efforts to the process. Al-Attiyah believed that
the ADF had made diplomatic progress, and considered the
elevation of the MFA role a mistake. He said that he will
intervene directly with Shaykha Mouza to prevent it.

LeBaron