MAURITANIA: OPPOSITION LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000210 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV USAU LY MR SUBJECT: MAURITANIA: OPPOSITION LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOLLOWING QADHAFI'S VISIT (SBU) The Embassy has received the following note from President Abdallahi's FNDD Foreign Affairs Director Mohamed Ould Maouloud asking the members of the African Union and the International Contact Group on Mauritania to distance themselves publicly from Qadhafi's statements: Begin Informal Translation of Text Note Addressed To The International Contact Group and the African Union Peace and Security Council following the Visit of Muammar Qadhafi to Mauritania The current President of the African Union, Mr. Muammar Qadhafi, just completed a March 9 - 12 visit to Mauritania. This visit was in essence an Official Visit both in its preparation -- which included recognition of the putschist junta via the acceptance of the credentials letters of the junta's newly appointed ambassador to Tripoli and via the welcoming of General Aziz with the honors reserved for a head-of-state -- as well as in the manner in which the visit followed that of a State Visit -- including joint events with the junta and the inauguration of various projects. The International Contact Group (ICG),during its February 20 meeting in Paris, had "noted the efforts undertaken by the current President of the African Union aimed at promoting a consensual solution acceptable to all Mauritanian parties and to the international community." The ICG encouraged, "an inclusive national dialogue under the auspices of the President of the African Union, Muammar Qadhafi and with the full participation of the international organizations and member states engaged in the consultative process for Mauritania." The camp for constitutional legality, which has never departed from the spirit of dialogue, welcomed this initiative by the ICG and responded favorably by traveling to Libya. The preliminary contacts in Libya, as well as in Mauritania, allowed the various authorities and political forces of the camp to present their own points of view. Despite the multiple indications by the Libyan side -- in total contradiction with its role and mission as a mediator -- the FNDD stayed faithful to the possibility of an opening for negotiation. However, even before a national dialogue had begun, Muammar Qadhafi gave a speech that provoked general consternation: -- a lampoon against democracy and democratic values; -- a appeal for self interest and clanism that can only wall in Africa; -- (it said that) the targeted sanctions declared by the African Union are "foreign intervention" and the forces of resistance are "traitors" looking for foreign support; -- (it said that) the "sanctions are over" and the junta's June 6 electoral agenda was declared the "point of departure for the new Mauritania"; -- "the mediation is complete," he said. In view of this deviation, all authorities and political forces of the camp for legality responded by rejecting the positions taken by Muammar Qadhafi and noting that he had conspicuously sided with the junta and had, by himself, brought an end to the Libyan mediation. The President of the Republic, Mr. Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, via his spokesperson, the FNDD, and the labor unions have declared the failure and disqualification of the Libyan mediation. The FNDD and the Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD) signed a joint declaration in which they emphasized that, "the speech of the mediator asking to accept the junta's agenda as a fait accompli and the following speech via a final declaration announcing the closure of the mediation leads us to regrettably declare the failure of this meeting." The FNDD and the RFD recall that, "the declarations of the African Union (both in the Heads-of-State summit and in the PSC) and those of the ICG, notably those of 21 November 2008, and 20 February 2009 remain the foundation for any search for a NOUAKCHOTT 00000210 002 OF 002 consensual solution." The junta has found new encouragement in the position taken by Muammar Qadhafi. General Ould Abdel Aziz' particularly vindictive, arrogant and obstinate speech of March 13 in Akjoujt demonstrates this. In view of this development, the FNDD calls upon the ICG and the African Union to: -- note the deviation taken by Libya and by Muammar Qadhafi's decision to close the mediation before it had even started; -- declare, as a result, the definitive disqualification of the Libyan mediator; -- consider the damage he caused democratic forces and democracy in general when his role should have been to promote the principles of the founding documents of the African Union; -- immediately implement the targeted individual sanctions decided on by the PSC during its 22 December 2008 and 5 February 2009 meetings: -- reject any demarche returning to the junta's unilateral agenda; -- declare nul and void all institutional, legislative and regulatory actions taken by the military power. For its part, the FNDD remains open to dialogue and confident in the capacity of the various competent organs of the African Union to work on a credible search for a consensual solution to the crisis. End Text HANKINS