UPDATE FROM LEMDEN -- PRESIDENT'S PASSPORT TO BE

C O N F I D E N T I A L NOUAKCHOTT 000762 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/22/2013 TAGS: PREL PGOV MR SUBJECT: UPDATE FROM LEMDEN -- PRESIDENT'S PASSPORT TO BE DOWNGRADED REF: NOUAKCHOTT 758 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Dennis Hankins for reasons 1.4 (b and d) ¶1. (C) President Abdallahi's Chief of Staff Mohamed Kaber Ould Hammoudi called Charge December 22 to advise that a delegation from the Mauritanian passport office and internal intelligence service has arrived in Lemden yesterday afternoon demanding the diplomatic passports of the President and his family members. They indicated the passports of the family members would be canceled and replaced with ordinary ones while the President's diplomatic passport would be modified to say "former president." Abdallahi told the delegation that all their diplomatic passports had been in the custody of State Protocol on the day of the coup and presumably are still there. The frustrated delegation stayed in Lemden for several hours and eventually left empty-handed. ¶2. (C) Ould Hammoudi noted there had been a substantially increased security presence in Lemden last night with six military vehicles spotted. The security forces pulled back with daybreak. ¶3. (C) Ould Hammoudi advised Charge no decision had be reached on when the President would return to Nouakchott but thought it would happen "in a few days." Ould Hammoudi said the President had noted the weak statements coming from the U.N. and European Union "welcoming" his release. The Abdallahi camp is waiting to see what comes out of today's meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council. The President had "an encouraging" conversation with the AU's Jean Ping the evening of the 21st and was hopeful something concrete will come out of the PSC meeting. ¶4. (C) Mission PAO and MIST personnel will be meeting with the FNDD's communications team in the next few days to better understand how the FNDD will use the President's increased mobility and what strategic messages they will be using. HANKINS