Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BAMAKO73
2009-02-05 10:58:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

FREE TO BE: OPPOSITION LAMBASTS GOVERNMENT AND

Tags:  PGOV KDEM ML 
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VZCZCXRO3617
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0073/01 0361058
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 051058Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9984
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0560
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BAMAKO 000073 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ML
SUBJECT: FREE TO BE: OPPOSITION LAMBASTS GOVERNMENT AND
MOURNS DEMOCRACY IN MALI

REF: 07 BAMAKO 00275

Classified By: Political Officer Fred Noyes, Embassy Bamako,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BAMAKO 000073

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ML
SUBJECT: FREE TO BE: OPPOSITION LAMBASTS GOVERNMENT AND
MOURNS DEMOCRACY IN MALI

REF: 07 BAMAKO 00275

Classified By: Political Officer Fred Noyes, Embassy Bamako,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1.(C) Summary: During a February 2 meeting with the Embassy,
leaders of Mali's two main opposition parties, the Rally for
Mali (RPM) and Party for National Renewal (PARENA),provided
extraordinarily pessimistic views of upcoming municipal
elections and the near future of Malian democracy. Although
both the RPM and PARENA will contest the local elections,
neither expects to fare well, citing a long list of what RPM
and PARENA officials characterize as anti-democratic actions
taken by the Malian government to manipulate the electoral
process. After rehashing why they believe the 2002 and 2007
presidential elections were neither free nor fair, RPM and
PARENA leaders said they had little hope that local elections
scheduled for April 26 would meet their criteria for
transparency and fairness. It is clearly in the interests of
RPM and PARENA to portray Malian democracy as more troubled
that it actually is and opposition leaders seem generally
oblivious to the irony that their evident right to freely
accuse the Malian government of a full range of misdeeds
without serious fear of retribution is rooted in Mali's
democratic success. However, certain aspects of their
criticism - particularly regarding the political independence
of the institutions charged with administering elections and
Mali's allegedly flawed electoral rolls - are valid concerns.
End Summary.

--------------
RPM: How Our Party Saved Mali
--------------

2.(SBU) On February 2 the Embassy met with Bocar Treta,
General Secretary of the RPM, and other party officials.
Although RPM's president and founder, former National
Assembly president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (IBK),was not
present, his specter loomed large throughout our discussion
as Treta carefully rehashed the genesis of the RPM and
political trajectory of IBK. Formerly Prime Minister for
Mali's first democratically elected President and Alliance
for Democracy in Mali (ADEMA) co-founder, Alpha Oumar Konare,
IBK broke away from both Konare and ADEMA in 2001 to create
the RPM in advance of the 2002 presidential elections.
According to Treta, IBK left ADEMA at the height of the
party's power, and took with him the cream of ADEMA's

leadership. Treta said the motivation for the break was a
gradual realization on the part of IBK and his supporters
that ADEMA was straying from the ideals of the 1991
democratic revolution.

3.(SBU) Treta attributed the peace and stability of today's
Mali solely to the personal character of IBK. Specifically,
Treta alleged that the 2002 and 2007 elections which brought
President Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT) to power were stolen,
but that, "unlike Al Gore," IBK chose not to challenge the
fraud. Instead, Treta stressed that IBK had chosen to accept
the results of the elections, and has since cooperated in
good faith with the government. Had the situation been
reversed, Treta stressed, and had the RPM been accused of
manipulating the election results, Mali would today be "on
fire and in flames." IBK narrowly missed the second round of
presidential voting in 2002, perhaps due to the
disqualification of nearly 25 percent of the ballots cast
during the first round. In 2007 IBK garnered 19 percent of
the presidential vote as ATT cruised to first round victory
with more than 70 percent of ballots cast. Treta claimed
that Mali remained peaceful due only to IBK and the RPM's
reluctance to openly challenge the irregularities in Mali's
recent elections.

4.(SBU) When asked what distinguished RPM from other
political parties, both those in the opposition and those
aligned with ATT, Treta replied that only RPM could restore
"vigor" to Malian democracy. He referenced RPM's extensive
relations with foreign governments and cited as an example of
RPM's international standing the recent trip of IBK to see
the inauguration of President Obama. Treta asserted that IBK
had been formally invited, alone among Malian politicians.
(Comment: IBK first told the Embassy that he wanted to meet
then Senator Obama in 2006. Rumors that ATT's invite and
travel to the presidential inauguration were arranged by the
National Democratic Institute (NDI),which did pay for IBK to
attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver in 2008,
were dispelled by the local NDI representative in Bamako. We
have no other information regarding IBK's apparent
inauguration attendance. End Comment.)

5.(SBU) More substantively, Treta argued that RPM was
distinguished from the government and other opposition

BAMAKO 00000073 002 OF 004


parties by its conception of the state. RPM, according to
Treta, sees the state as an instrument for the people, to be
guided by but not fused with the majority political party.
Treta stated bluntly that ATT was not a democrat, and that
ATT had co-opted the institutions of the state to maintain
his hold on power. Thus, he said of the 2007 election, there
had never been question of whether ATT would be re-elected,
because state appointed governors, prefects, and
sous-prefects had instructed local authorities to make it so.


--------------
Voter Lists and Election Administration
--------------

6.(SBU) Treta confirmed that RPM will contest the upcoming
municipal elections, whether or not the elections are
ultimately delayed. However, Treta stated that the RPM does
not expect to get "extraordinary" results due, in large part,
to flawed voter registration rolls and the lack of money to
support public campaign financing. Treta said the elections
would not be credible, regardless of the results, and alleged
that the Malian government had manipulated voter registration
rolls, and that the nominally independent organizations
intended to monitor the elections were politically
controlled. Treta noted that the National Independent
Electoral Commission (CENI),which is supposed to be
independent of political influence, is now headed by a senior
member of ADEMA who is also ATT's former Minister of
Agriculture. "The government runs the elections," said
Treta, "they can cheat if they want to."

7.(SBU) The RPM sees greater hope for the Presidential
elections in 2012. Despite a poor showing in the 2007
elections, RPM leadership believes IBK remains one of the
most popular individual politicians in Mali. Treta argued
that since ATT is constitutionally barred from seeking a
third term (although he suggested ATT might try to find a way
around this limitation),ATT's political alliance, led by
ADEMA and the Union for the Republic and Democracy (URD),
will fracture. Treta said he expects both ADEMA and the URD
to field presidential candidates in 2012 - something neither
party did in 2007, having both decided to endorse ATT for
re-election - thereby splitting their support and opening a
path through which Keita and the RPM could pass.

8.(SBU) As the RPM often does, Treta and other RPM officials
asked the U.S. to support Malian opposition parties.
Paradoxically, Treta also asked the U.S. to help Mali resist
perceived "foreign," and specifically French, interference in
Malian politics. Treta quoted former French President Chirac
as supposedly supporting ATT because he was a weak
personality and therefore easy to manipulate - an allegation
first raised in a controversial, and anonymous, book about
ATT published in 2006. Treta further worried that foreign
multinational companies had too much influence on policies
articulated by the Government of Mali.

--------------
PARENA: The Agony of Defeat
--------------

9.(SBU) PARENA's founder and two-time presidential also-ran,
Tiebile Drame, went one step further during a separate
February 2 meeting with the Embassy, accusing the U.S. of
being complicit in what Drame described as Mali's unfair 2007
presidential and legislative elections. Drame finished a
very distant third in the presidential race of 2007,
garnering only 3 percent of the vote. Drame told the Embassy
that Mali had a good reputation abroad, and that the
opposition parties wanted to do what was necessary to
preserve this reputation as it serves as a capital asset
vital to Mali's future economic development. However, Drame
complained of a disconnect between Mali's image abroad and
the reality of Malian democracy on the ground. He said the
2007 elections were the most fraudulent in Mali's history,
and that current government institutions were therefore
illegitimate as they were based on this fraud.

10.(SBU) Drame revisited many of the fraud claims
articulated by opposition leaders during the 2007 election:
alleged government manipulation of voter registration rolls
enabling many supporters of ATT to vote more than once; the
government's decision to give the presidential ballot
printing contract to a firm run by an ATT supporter;
opposition claims of numerous ballots pre-marked for ATT days
before election day (Drame said he saw some of these supposed
pre-marked ballots first hand); massive ballot stuffing; and
supposed fixing of the final vote count which Drame alleged
originally tallied 108 percent of the total number of voters.


BAMAKO 00000073 003 OF 004


11.(SBU) Drame was extremely critical of the United States,
and particularly the State Department, because of our
characterization of past Malian elections as "generally" free
and fair. After listing various examples of electoral fraud,
Drame asked how the U.S. and other international observers
could have classified Mali's 2007 presidential election as
free and fair. He then complained of an American double
standard, and charged that the United States did not believe
that Malians deserved real democracy. "If you tell me," said
Drame, "that the United States supports democracy throughout
the world, I will laugh."

12.(SBU) After chastising the United States' failure to rush
to his defense following his resounding defeat during the
2007 presidential election, Drame complained that the General
Election Delegation (DGE) was controlled, not by a civilian,
but by a Colonel from the Malian military (Col. Siaka
Sangare) who Drame alleged was close to ATT. Drame
emphasized repeatedly that "even (the Colonel) admits" that
the voter registration rolls are a mess and said Col. Sangare
had recently warned that given the current status of the
voter rolls, holding election today in free and fair
conditions would be impossible and could very well create
tensions. Asked about recent suggestions that the municipal
elections be delayed, Drame stated that the beneficiaries of
such a delay would be those who were holding onto power
through fraud. When asked if a delay of six months might
enable the voter rolls to be fixed and a fair election held,
Drame dismissed the idea. Free and fair elections, he
stated, are a matter of political will, not a matter of time,
and the current Malian government simply did not desire to
hold free and fair elections.

13.(SBU) Drame also expressed concern over Mali's growing
budget deficit, and warned that it was reaching a critical
stage. Interestingly, Drame attributed the budgetary woes to
tax exemptions given by the government to political allies,
which Drame alleged was the cause of a dramatic drop in
government revenues.

14.(SBU) Regarding another interest of Drame's, the conflict
in northern Mali, Drame compared unrest in the north to the
conflict in Darfur. He complained of Mali's decision to use
irregular militias to fight Tuareg rebels in the north and
registered a rather odd complaint about the United State's
decision to condemn genocide in Sudan but not in northern
Mali. Drame then accused the Malian government of letting
northern Mali turn into a haven for hostage takers, implying
that were he in charge, northern Mali would be a much more
stable and secure place.

15.(SBU) Despite having no apparent faith in Malian
democracy, Drame was adamant that PARENA would take part in
the upcoming municipal elections, stating "we are not a party
that boycotts" elections. When asked if he believed the
presidential elections in 2012 would be free and fair, Drame
demurred, stating that in Mali, three years was too long a
period of time to make predictions.

--------------
Comment: The Irony of it All
--------------

16.(C) Allegations of electoral fraud form a common theme for
local opposition leaders. We reported extensively on the
recycled complaints articulated by Drame during the 2007
presidential and legislative electoral campaigns. It is
clearly within the RPM and PARENA's interest to exaggerate
perceived deficiencies of Malian democracy. Their
over-the-top rhetoric and accusations of rampant electoral
fraud, however, should not obscure two valid points of
concern: Mali's flawed voter rolls and the political
independence of the institutions responsible for
administering Malian elections.

17.(C) The number of eligible voters in Mali increased by
nearly 20 percent, from 5.7 million voters eligible for the
presidential elections in 2002 to 6.8 million voters in 2007
(Ref. A). The office that controls Mali's eligible voters
database is with the General Election Delegation (DGE),which
reports to the Ministry of Territorial Administration. An
official with the French government's development agency who
is assigned to work with the Ministry of Territorial
Administration recently told the Embassy that this database
was completely controlled by Malian military personnel who,
in this official's opinion, exhibited dubious ability to
manage computer databases. Malian officials have admitted to
the Embassy that Mali's electoral database is managed
primarily by military personnel but have gone on to say that
these military members have received specific training on
database management and therefore cannot be replaced by

BAMAKO 00000073 004 OF 004


civilian counterparts.

18.(C) Military control of Mali's electoral database is not
surprising, given that the DGE itself is headed by Col. Siaka
Sangare. Col. Sangare and the DGE report directly to the
Ministry of Territorial Administration which is lead by
another military officer, General Kafougouna Kone. A third
military officer, Col. Youssouf Traore, chaired preliminary
meetings of Mali's CENI in September 2008 until Mali selected
former Minister of Agriculture and ADEMA official Seydou
Traore as CENI president for the 2009 local elections.

19.(C) One ironic point apparently lost on Treta and Drame is
their evident freedom to peddle serious, and often
misleading, criticism of President Toure and the Malian
government. Were the RPM's and PARENA's absurd comparisons
to Zimbabwe, Kenya and Sudan actually accurate, Treta and
Drame would likely not be articulating these allegations from
the comfort of their party offices in Bamako. Unfortunately,
Treta and Drame seem to derive little solace from the
observation that their continued ability to freely accuse the
government means that something about Malian democracy must
be right.
MILOVANOVIC