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