MANEUVERING CONTINUES AROUND FAMILY CODE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000694 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/22/2019 TAGS: PGOV PHUM ML SUBJECT: MANEUVERING CONTINUES AROUND FAMILY CODE REF: A. BAMAKO 551 ¶B. BAMAKO 580 Classified By: PolCouns Peter Newman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 1.(C) Summary: On October 5, the National Assembly opened its fall budgetary session with controversy surrounding the Family Code still brewing. The National Assembly President expressed confidence that a Family Code acceptable to all parties would be developed and enacted, while condemning "certain persons" who had crossed the line of decency during the heated exchanges of late August. Meanwhile, the High Council of Islam (HCI) released to the press proposed amendments to the Code which, if accepted, would gut the new Family Code of many of its modernizing provisions. This is an opening position for what is likely to be a lengthy, drawn-out debate. End Summary. -------------- "TOTALLY IN AGREEMENT" -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On October 5, the National Assembly held the ceremonial first meeting of its fall session. The ten-week session, usually devoted to adopting the government's budget for the next year, opens this year with the distinct possibility of being overshadowed by the continuing controversy surrounding the Family Code. The National Assembly passed the new Family Code overwhelmingly on August 3, just prior to the legislative recess. As reported ref B, in response to widespread religious and rural opposition, President Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT) on August 26 sent the code back to the National Assembly for revision. This decision was viewed as a victory for those Islamic groups opposed to the Code and a blow to the prestige of the National Assembly. ¶3. (SBU) On the subject of the Family Code, National Assembly President Diouncounda Traore declared the National Assembly "totally in agreement" with President Amadou Toumani Toure's (ATT's) "courageous" decision to return the Code to the National Assembly for a second reading. Traore insisted that sending the Code back to the National Assembly was consistent with Malian law and its traditions, and that it in no way reflected any institutional crisis in Mali. Traore invited all Malians to "serenely participate" in the upcoming debate, and predicted confidently, "I have no doubt we will arrive at a Code that respects human rights and with which all agree." -------------- "CALUMNIES" -------------- ¶4. (SBU) While respectful of opponents of the Family Code, Traore condemned "calumnies delivered by certain persons" during the more heated exchanges of late August. Embassy contacts note Traore was alluding specifically to an August 23 cassette tape by the preacher Bandiougou Doumbia, also Secretary for Religious Affairs of the Union of Young Muslims in Mali (UJMMA). The cassette targeted ATT, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, the President of the National Assembly, and two female deputies, Coulibaly Kadiatou Samake and Safiatou Traore. It suggested a coup d'etat would be in the best interest of Mali, that the Prime Minister was not a Muslim, that the Minister of Justice had shamed his family, that the two female National Assembly deputies were prostitutes, and that National Assembly President Traore had visited a brothel with 14 year-old girls. ¶5. (SBU) Condemnation of the tape was nearly universal. Leaders of the High Council of Islam critized Doumbia and distanced themselves from his statements. Influential Islamic leaders such as Madane Cherif Ousmane Haidara characterized the personal attacks as inexcusable and misplaced. The National Youth Council likewise condemned Doumbia for his intemperance. On September 7, ATT met with a delegation of religious leaders, oddly including Doumbia, shortly before sending the Family Code back to the National Assembly for a second reading. Although Doumbia offered apologies to ATT, some commentators felt ATT's inclusion of him in the delegation only legitimized the preacher's incendiary behavior. -------------- THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Following ATT's decision to return the Family Code to the National Assembly for a second reading, the High Council of Islam set up a commission to review HCI's twelve objections to the Family Code (see reftels) and draft a list BAMAKO 00000694 002 OF 002 of proposed amendments for the National Assembly to consider. On October 4, the commission presented its proposals at a meeting of over a thousand Islamic leaders gathered at the International Conference Center of Bamako. ¶7. (SBU) The proposed amendments, if accepted, would gut the Family Code of many of its modernizing provisions. The HCI commission recommended cutting provisions which would provide a modicum of protection to children born out of wedlock. Concerning a provision which would allow husband and wives to maintain separate domiciles, the HCI sought to add the restriction "with the husband's consent." Concerning the provision stating that husbands and wives owe each other mutual respect, the HCI sought to add, "the wife owes obedience to her husband." Other proposed amendments restrict a widow's right to inherit property from her husband's estate. ¶8. (C) Less controversial from a U.S. perspective, another HCI proposal sought to offer legal recognition to religious marriage ceremonies. Embassy contacts note the government opposes this modification, on grounds that it is inconsistent with the principle of separation of church and state as inherited from the French legal tradition. -------------- NEVER FORGET THE PROVINCES -------------- ¶9. (C) Irrespective of the controversies over specific aspects of the law, the Family Code episode demonstrates a lack of political savvy on the government's part and a failure of MPs to consult with key elements of their constituencies. To the extent that the government engaged in consultations during the more than ten year development of the Code, it apparently did not sufficiently engage political and religious leaders in rural areas and regions far removed from the capital. Oumou Sall, for example, the mayor of Goundam, in Timbuktu province, told the Embassy that nobody -- neither the governmental officials drafting the bill nor the National Assembly deputy representing Goundam -- consulted her or anyone in her municipality about the likely local reaction to the bill. Similarly, Moussa Ag Ali, an Imam and Kidal's representative on the HCI, told the Embassy on October 3 that pressure to change the Family Code did not originate with the Bamako-based leadership of the HCI, but rather its provincial membership. Both Sall and Ag Ali indicated that the lack of consultation with the population outside the capital would not have been so frustrating except that the Family Code was perceived to be one of the few pieces of legislation that intimately affects daily life of people across the nation. Conversations with Malians of all faiths, not just Muslims, indicate anecdotally that traditional as well as Islamic norms are perceived as having been disregarded by the revised Family Code. MILOVANOVIC