MAURITANIA: INTERNATIONAL CONTACT GROUP DOES A

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000607

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2014
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM MR
SUBJECT: MAURITANIA: INTERNATIONAL CONTACT GROUP DOES A
FINAL ROUND

Classified By: CDA Dennis Hankins for reasons 1.4 (b and d)


1. (U) The International Contact Group on Mauritania
convened on September 10, 2009 in Nouakchott to consider
developments in Mauritania since the finalization of the
Dakar Accord's laying out the steps for a consensual return
to constitutional order leading to new elections to resolve
Mauritania's political crisis. Meeting under the
chairmanship of AU Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane
Lamamra who was joined by Senegalese Foreign Minister
Gadio, the group included visiting representatives of the
Organization International de la Francophonie, the United
Nations, Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Arab
League. Permanent and African members of the U.N.
Security Council were represented by resident Ambassadors
of the U.S., China, France, Mali and the Russian Charge.
The EU Presidency and Commission were represented
respectively by the EU Commission. The Malian Ambassador
represented the Presidency of the AU Peace and Security
Commission.


2. (SBU) Activities with began with a call on President
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz who welcomed the group and noted
the Dakar Accord provisions for continuing support and
engagement on the part of the international community.
He thanked the contact group for the international
community's determination to help Mauritania resolve its
political crisis and that "has been done" Aziz said. He
urged that friends of Mauritania focus on the future and
the country's urgent needs. Commissioner Lamamra agreed
with the relevance and importance of international
solidarity in favor of assisting Mauritanian development
assistance, the Dakar Accord called for continuing
national dialogue. Presidnet Aziz insisted that he and
his government had repeatedly extended a hand to the
opposition but that it remained in denial over the
election results and had not yet responded. Aziz hoped
that the opposition would plau a constructive and
traditional role. Both Foreign Minister Gadio and
COmmissioner Lamamra urged that no effort be spared to
engage the opposition and that "as the victor and head
of state" Aziz had a greater responsibility to make that
happen. Meeting separately with the with the President
of Aziz' UPR party (and former Defense Minister) Mohamed
Ould Lemine, as the representative of the political pole
supporting Aziz, the contact group heard a similar
analysis including assurances that the majority party
had "repeatedly stated it's willingness to dialogue with
the opposition." Now, Lemine asserted, was the time for
the international community to honor its commitment to
Mauritania by mobilizing substantial donor development
assistance.


3. (SBU) Meeting separately with representatives of
the opposition poles signatory to the Dakar Accord, the
group heard first from the RFD's Ould Moine and the
FNDD's Ould Maouloud. Each offered a similar appraisal,
bitterly complaining that the international community,
and in particular local representatives forming the
"follow up group" (groupe de suivi) were unsuccessful in
getting the interim government of national unity to
suppress partisan actions by senior military officers and
some government agencies such as the Commission for Food
Security. Each complained that they had been "pressured"
to accept an unrealistically short period for electoral
preparations that left thier candidates seriously
disadvantaged and that the international community had
failed to compensate for these deficiencies with the
robust electoral support and oversight they had been led
to expect. Each noted that while the elections may have
been technically legal, they could not consider them
legitimate and did not believe that the political crisis
had been resolved. Nonetheless, both of the parties
expressed support for continued national dialogue with
the FNDD suggesting that a good starting point would be
an objective audit of the recent elections in order to
draw lessons for the future.


4. (SBU) In closing deliberations, the group expressed
satisfaction that constitutional order had been restored
with the establishment of a national unity government

NOUAKCHOTT 00000607 002 OF 002


and the subsequent resignation of President Abdallahi
that permitted holding legal new elections as a means
out of the political crisis. While rejecting the
opposition's view that fraud had determined the outcome
of the election, there was general regret that the
opposition had yet to come to terms with the election
results and that there seemed to be no real movement
toward the inclusive dialogue that all sides say they
want. Similarly, group members agreed with the need to
mobilize development resources but feared that the GIRM
did not have a realistic grasp of the time and effort
that would be required.


5. (C) Comment: AU PSC Commissioner Lamamra and
Minister Gadio likely conceived of the Nouakchott
meeting as a kind of victory lap that would usefully
highlight Senegal's successful support of the AU and
the ICG in forcing a return to constitutional order
followed by inclusive elections that passed
international muster. The opposition's inability to
accept its defeat coupled with the GIRM's merely
prefunctory attempts at inclusion dampened the
celebratory mood. The ICG rightly used its final
communique to urge that the inclusive national
political dialogue envisioned by the Dakar Accord be
undertaked as soon as possible. Also recognizing
Mauritania's urgent need to refocus its attention on
development governance issues, the ICG calls on donors
to mobilize financial support and envisions a possible
pledging conference during the first half of 2010.


6. (C) Comment Continued: The opposition remains in
disarray following Aziz; July 18 election victory.
Rotating president of the FNDD Abdel Kaddous Abeidna
told Charge there remain strong divisions within the
opposition on how to move forward. The RFD's Ahmed
Ould Daddah and his militants continue to push for a
continuation of the political crisis with protests on
the street. The pivotal role of Chamber of Deputies
President Messaoud Ould Boulkheir remains unclear as
he had remained out of town almost constantly since
his election loss. President Aziz wants him to resume
his position at the head of the lower house without
using the seat to obstruct the governmental process
(which Abeidna interprets as meaning Ould Boulkheir
is not supposed to even say anything critical.) Ould
Boulkheir has not indicated whether he will reconvene
the Chamber of Deputies or recognize the government
stemming from the July 18 elections. For now, Abeidna
told Charge he had convinced the opposition to let
Aziz "undermine himself" as he proves himself unable
to meet the campaign promises he had made as the
"candidate of the poor." Abeidna said that the
combination rains and power shortages were already
turning off many who had voted for Aziz. The lack
of immediate development funding also had Aziz
high-level supporters questioning whether he could
deliver. Charge noted that no matter who had won on
the 18th, he would have faced the same economic and
environmental realities. Abeidna agredd but said,
"If it had been Messaoud, there would have been more
international desire to start up the aid quickly."
Charge suggested the opposition needed to take the
strength they built over the past year and put it to
use in making the parliament an effective counter-
balance to executive authority. That meant using the
Assembly debates to raise the tough questions that
needed answers, but not using it to create gridlock.
HANKINS