Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09NOUAKCHOTT210
2009-03-17 16:35:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Nouakchott
Cable title:  

MAURITANIA: OPPOSITION LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL

Tags:  PREL PGOV USAU LY MR 
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FM AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT
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RUEHDS/USMISSION USAU ADDIS ABABA
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0979
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

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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