REASON FOR SENEGALESE VISIT STILL UNCLEAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L NOUAKCHOTT 000765 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/22/2013 TAGS: PREL PGOV SG MR SUBJECT: REASON FOR SENEGALESE VISIT STILL UNCLEAR REF: A. DAKAR 1442 (NOTAL) ¶B. NOUAKCHOTT 688 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Dennis Hankins for reasons 1.4 (b and d) ¶1. (C) Charge met December 22 with Senegalese Ambassador Mahmoudou Cheikh Kane to follow up on the December 15-16 visit to Mauritania of Senegalese Foreign Minister Gadio (REFTEL). Kane said President Wade had sent his Foreign Minister to assess the political situation on the eve of President Abdallahi's pending release, the commencement of the National Dialogue on Democracy on December 27, and the meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council meeting on December 22. Kane said this was a follow-on to a trip he had made to Lemden about a month ago, at President Wade's instruction, to determine President Abdallahi's health and welfare. ¶2. (C) Kane said President Abdallahi had spent most of his meeting with Foreign Minister Wade covering old ground -- primarily the events leading up to the coup d'etat. According to Kane, Abdallahi did accept some errors in his actions -- particularly the precipitous sacking of the entire military leadership -- that contributed to the coup. Nonetheless, Abdallahi held to his complete rejection of any talks with the military regime. Kane said his minister left seeing no room for negotiation between Abdallahi and General Aziz who, in their meeting the day before, had dismissed Abdallahi as irrelevant. ¶3. (C) Kane sought out the U.S. position on the nature of President Abdallahi's "release" and the upcoming National Dialogue on Democracy -- particularly in light of relatively welcoming remarks from the Spanish, French, EU and UN. Charge noted that being pulled from ones bed in the middle of the night and tossed without explanation into military vehicles was certainly not the best way the regime could have released the President. Charge noted that the pending National Dialogue on Democracy leading to new elections was exactly the same arrangement proposed to and soundly rejected by the African Union and European Union months ago. Kane accepted that the regime's gameplan remained relatively the same but noted "conditions have changed" -- citing nothing but Abdallahi's release. Charge added the U.S. had no confidence in a process orchestrated by the military as a means to re-establishing democracy. Kane agreed that the current plan would be a continuation of the overt and discrete military governments that "have run Mauritania since 1978" (when Moktar Ould Daddah was overthrown) but offered that the international community could better influence the process now since we better understood the behind-the-scenes influences in the process. ¶4. (C) Comment: The Senegalese Ambassador didn't seem to fess up entirely on why Gadio came. We would guess it had more to do with the meeting with General Aziz than the one with Abdallahi -- which became a protocol necessity if Senegal did not want to be seen openly breaking ranks with the African Union. Kane clearly would like to see things move forward on the track being pushed by General Aziz and notes that President Abdallahi "who considers himself to be legitimate" has put no practical alternative on the table. HANKINS