MAURITANIA: POLITICAL ROUNDUP FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000385

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PHUM KPAO MR
SUBJECT: MAURITANIA: POLITICAL ROUNDUP FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE
7-11

REF: A. NOUAKCHOTT 378

B. NOUAKCHOTT 289

Classified By: Ambassador Mark M. Boulware for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: In Nouakchott for the week of June 7-11,
the horse trading for ministerial posts according to the
Dakar agreement took center stage. As of June 11, though, a
national unity government had not yet been finalized. Prime
Minister Waghef and other detainees deemed political
prisoners by the opposition were released after businessmen
paid their bail amounts. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall announced his
candidacy and began a full-court media press. Ahmed Ould
Daddah announced his candidacy as well, while it was rumored
that Messaoud Ould Boulkheir would be the FNDD's candidate.
End summary.


2. (U) National unity government still not announced: The
Dakar agreement, supposed to put an end to 10 months of
political stalemate in Mauritania, had not led to a national
unity government announcement as of mid-day June 11, despite
intense negotiations and several meetings between the various
actors, including President Abdallahi (Ref A).


3. (U) Political prisoners liberated: Prime Minister Yahya
Ould Ahmed El Waghef and those detained in connection with
the Air Mauritania case were liberated on June 4. While the
FNDD insisted the detainees were political prisoners, General
Aziz's camp stated that, as suspects in a corruption case,
they had to pay bail to obtain conditional freedom. Bail
payments amounting to 400 million ouguiyas (approximately
$1.48 million US) were finally paid by the families of the
detainees and Mauritanian businessmen Ahmed Baba Ould Azizi,
Mohamed Ould Abdallahi, Mohamed Ould Bouamatou, Maurice
Benza, Isselmou Ould Tajeddine and Ould Bouna Moctar. The
press called this gesture "the contribution of Mauritanian
businessmen to the resolution of the crisis."


4. (U) Vall announces his candidacy: Colonel and former
President Ely Ould Mohamed Vall released a communique on June
5 celebrating the signing of the agreement and announcing his
presidential candidacy. Vall will oppose his Ouled Bisbaa
tribesman and cousin General Aziz in the upcoming July 18
election. According to local press reports, Aziz stated to
his parliamentarian supporters that Vall was still a colonel;
Vall, for his part, stated that he has already resigned.
Local press reports also stated that Vall traveled to Lemden
on June 8 to meet with President Abdallahi, and that the
visit lasted "more than two hours." Vall also met with
National Assembly President Messaoud Ould Boulkheir and other
political actors. No details on the substance of these
discussions were provided. Vall, who maintained complete
silence after the coup d'etat of August 2008 for nearly ten
months, has made up for lost time, granting interviews to
RFI, France 24, and several other mass media outlets in the
past week.


5. (U) Women demonstrate in favor of Salafist detainees:
Female family members of suspected Salafists held in prison
requested their liberation. The detainees include those
suspected of murdering four French tourists on December 24,
2007 near Aleg, and others accused of attacking the Lemgheity
garrison in 2005 and killing 15 soldiers. Other detainees
are accused of wanting to start an AQIM cell in Nouakchott.


6. (C) Boulkheir will be FNDD's candidate: Messaoud Ould
Boulkheir will be the only candidate for the FNDD, reported
Nouakchott press. These reports were confirmed by Abdel
Koudouss Ould Abeidna on his visit to the Ambassador on June

7. The FNDD believes that uniting behind one candidate will
increase their chances of winning.


7. (C) Ambassador meets with Abdel Koudouss Ould Abeidna:
Ambassador met UNAD President and FNDD member Abeidna on June

7. Abeidna declared himself satisfied with the Dakar

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Agreement but stated the FNDD and RFD had felt pressured to
accept it. "We were afraid that if we did not accept it, the
failure of negotiations would be blamed on us and the
international community would recognize Aziz after the
election," he intimated. The Ambassador reassured him that
would not have been the case. Abeidna and Ambassador
Boulware concurred it would be difficult to implement the
agreement because many decisions had been verbal and there
were question marks regarding important issues like the BASEP
and the High State Council. For Abeidna, the crisis has
helped Mauritania move from a tribalist society to an
organized one by teaching Mauritanians that one can demand
laws are respected and succeed. He accused Aziz's camp of
trying to create confusion among the FNDD to block the
process as well as push the Front to accept unacceptable
things. He highlighted the importance of international
community involvement in helping Mauritanians implement the
agreement and achieve consensus. He questioned the
legitimacy of both Vall's and Aziz's candidacy as Vall is
still in the military and Aziz should not run based on the AU
Charter stating that military officers staging coup d'etats
should not run for elections. He told the Ambassador that
Aziz had accepted to negotiate because he was afraid of a
counter-coup and he knew it would have been bloody.


8. (U) Daddah announces his candidacy: RFD President Ahmed
Ould Daddah officially announced his presidential candidacy
June 9.


9. (C) Dinner with Tawassoul members: PolOff and A/DATT
hosted an informal dinner with EconOff, PolAsst, and
Tawassoul party members Mohamed Lemine Ould Mohamed Moussa
and his wife Aminetou Mint Etchagha El Mokhtar on June 9.
Moussa expressed hope for the Dakar agreement, and
acknowledged that the national unity government was nearly
complete. Moussa and El Mokhtar also squared off in a lively
debate regarding the presidential prospects of Messaoud Ould
Boulkheir. El Moktar stated that unfortunately, most White
Moors were not ready to vote for a Black Moor; "this is
reality," she said. She also predicted Ahmed Ould Daddah and
Ely Ould Mohamed Vall would advance to the second round of
presidential elections. Moussa, on the other hand, viewed
Boulkheir as a very viable candidate that could pull in votes
across ethnic and tribal lines. He stressed the need for a
unified candidate from the FNDD.


10. (C) Ambassador meets with mayor of Atar: Ambassador
Boulware met with Atar mayor Sid'Ahmed Ould Hmeimed June 10.
In contrast to his previous meeting with the Embassy in April
(Ref B),Hmeimed was full of praise this time for the United
States. He thanked the internationally community, and
especially the U.S. for helping to achieve the "extremely
important" Dakar mediation agreement. Noting that
Mauritanians were exhausted by the whole ordeal, he
maintained that the lack of an agreement would have been a
"catastrophe" for Mauritania. Hmeimed was equally
complimentary of President Obama, and deemed his recent
speech in Cairo to the Muslim world "impressive." Returning
to the Dakar agreement, Hmeimed maintained that Aziz
previously had no intention of accepting any mediation
efforts. However, Hmeimed "and some friends" were able to
convince him that it was in his interests to agree to a
mediated solution. Towards the end of the meeting, Hmeimed
raised the issue of electrical problems in his city, and
reminded the Ambassador that the U.S. had "promised" him a
generator for the city. He also said that water remained the
"nearly unsolvable" problem that his city confronted, and
asked the Ambassador several times to visit Atar.


11. (U) 11,394 refugees returned: According to the National
Agency for the Support and Re-Insertion of Refugees (ANAIR),
11,394 refugees have been repatriated from Senegal since the
start of the repatriation process in early 2008.

BOULWARE