Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BAMAKO317
2009-05-27 14:44:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

MALIAN POLICE PREVENT MEETING OF HOMOSEXUALS IN

Tags:  PHUM PGOV KISL ML 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO3966
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0317/01 1471444
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271444Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0347
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000317 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KISL ML
SUBJECT: MALIAN POLICE PREVENT MEETING OF HOMOSEXUALS IN
BAMAKO

REF: 05 BAMAKO 00960

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000317

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KISL ML
SUBJECT: MALIAN POLICE PREVENT MEETING OF HOMOSEXUALS IN
BAMAKO

REF: 05 BAMAKO 00960


1. Summary: On April 13 Malian police prevented a gay and
lesbian group from holding a meeting on the margins of an
HIV/AIDS conference supported by a local NGO in Bamako.
Although police dissuaded the group from meeting, erroneous
local newspaper reports to the contrary prompted a group of
senior Malian Imams to petition the Malian government to
officially annul a conference which in fact never took place.
This is the first time Malian officials have interceded to
prevent a homosexual group from meeting since 2005 when Natie
Plea, then Governor of Bamako and now Minister of Defense,
refused to recognize a homosexual association based on an
August 2004 law banning the creation of any association
deemed contrary to morality (reftel). Police efforts to
prevent the meeting, the Malian media's misleading
characterization of the April 13 event, and the strange
demand of Malian Muslim leaders highlight homosexuals'
precarious status in an otherwise tolerant nation. End
Summary.

--------------
Misleading Malian Media Accounts
--------------


2. At least two Malian newspapers reported on the
involvement of a gay and lesbian group in an April 13
HIV/AIDS conference at the Olympe Hotel in Bamako. On April
16 the newspaper Le Malien falsely reported, under the
headline "Satan at the Olympe Hotel," that police had
arrested 30 homosexuals, including individuals from Mali,
Senegal, Congo, Cameroon and elsewhere, who were attending
the April 13 conference. The newspaper claimed Malian
authorities were particularly concerned by the potential
involvement of several Senegalese gay and lesbian activists
who, according to Le Malien, had previously attempted but
failed to organize a similar conference in Dakar. Le Malien
praised the "excellent" performance of the Malian police
force in preventing the gay and lesbian group from meeting in
Mali.


3. On April 20 the opposition newspaper Info Matin presented
a dramatically different account of the April 13 incident
which criticized local police for allowing a "Conference of
Homosexuals" to occur. According to Info Matin, Malian
police were on site at the Olympe not to break up the event
but to provide security for the conference. Info Matin
lamented the failure of the police to break up the gathering,
noting that Malian authorities must have known about the
existence of the gathering as Muslim leaders had complained
to authorities in advance.

--------------
The Police Version
--------------


4. According to Malian police, the HIV/AIDS workshop at the
Olympe was organized by a local NGO, Arcade SIDA, which
conducts outreach campaigns to at risk individuals regardless
of sexual orientation. Police admitted that a group of
Malian homosexuals had tried to organize a meeting on the
margins of the Arcade SIDA event and that police pressure
effectively prevented this meeting from taking place. Police
did not provide information on tactics used to prevent this
group from meeting. Police did note, however, that no
arrests were made.

--------------
Imams Try to Turn Back Time
--------------


5. The official police version of the incident at the Olympe
has apparently not yet reached leaders of a local group known
as the Malian League of Imams and Erudites for Islamic
Solidarity. On May 16 this group, led by High Council of
Islam president Mahmoud Dicko, issued a declaration calling
on the Malian government to formally condemn "such
dishonorable horror happening on Malian soil." Imam Dicko
added that there is no room for debate on homosexuality in
Mali and asked the government to retroactively "annul" the
conference to remove any trace of the conference's existence
from Malian history. According to the Malian newspaper
Nouvel Horizon, Imam Dicko subsequently raised this subject
with President Amadou Toumani Toure.

--------------
Comment: The Limits of Malian Tolerance
--------------


6. Malian culture is known for its tolerance of others. This
tradition informs Malian Islamic practices as well, and
leaders of Mali's majority Sufi and minority al-Sunna (or

BAMAKO 00000317 002 OF 002


Wahhabi) communities frequently speak up in favor of
tolerance, moderation, and acceptance. This tolerance,
however, does not extend to homosexuality, as official and
societal discrimination continues to prevent Malian
homosexuals from organizing or meeting openly.
MILOVANOVIC