MAURITANIAN MINISTERS ON COUNTER-EXTREMISM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000697

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2014
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER EAID MR
SUBJECT: MAURITANIAN MINISTERS ON COUNTER-EXTREMISM

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


1. (SBU) DCM met October 21 in separate meetings with the
Minister of Islamic Affairs, The Minister of Communication,
and the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports to discuss the
efforts of these ministries to combat extremism and to
discuss how the DOD Media Information Support Team (MIST),
USAID and State Public Diplomacy could complement these
efforts. The MIST team discussed ongoing counter-extremism
programs underway as well as past information campaigns done
with the GIRM. All three ministers described Islamic
extremism as counter to the moderate foundations of
Mauritanian culture and religion but accepted, to varying
degrees, that extremism is a growing (though still small)
problem that needs to be addressed. While inter-ministerial
cooperation is clear in some of the activities taken to date
(such as televised discussions between Mauritanian security
officials and Imams on the non-violent tenets of Islam),none
of the ministers suggested a centrally coordinated
counter-extremism strategy. The three ministers expressed
interest in the MIST products and suggested further,
technical level, contacts. MIST and PAO have been following
up this week in the hopes of developing a counter-extremism
collaboration.


2. (C) Islamic Affairs: Minister of Islamic Affairs and
Original Teaching Ahmed Ould Neini praised the recent
MIST-funded collaboration with the Mayors Association of the
Brakna region that pulled in nearly a thousand youth for
sports and cultural activities that allowed a venue for
Islamic leaders to emphasize the non-violent foundations of
Islam. He appreciated that the U.S. had supported this
Mauritanian effort that had fostered close cooperation
between local elected officials, civil society, and Islamic
leaders. He confirmed that his ministry had been working
closely with other ministries to promote an ant-extremist
message and said "your priorities match ours exactly." He
discussed the ministry's current effort to conduct a census
of all mosques and religious schools mahadras and confided
that Mauritanian security officers were embedded in the
survey teams. Ould Neini noted that while Mauritania is
honored to host legitimate students of Islam (noting, in
passing, the increasing number of American Muslims studying
in Mauritantia) they want to eliminate the extremist
teachings espoused by some non-Mauritanians. "We want to
know who these foreigners are, where they come from, and what
they are saying." Ould Neini accepted that terrorism was no
longer a "foreign" issue since there were already a
substantial number of Mauritanians linked to Al Qaeda;
however, he contended these Mauritanians were victims of
outside religious teachings. Ould Neini expressed interest
in longer-term proposals from the Embassy including a
sociological survey of Mauritanin terrorists/extremists
already in custody to better develop intervention strategies
with vulnerable groups and a longer-term development of a
"half-way house" concept to transition convicted extremists
back into society. (Bio Note: Ould Neini is an Imam in his
own right. He is considered one of the strongest advocates
of the moderate stream of Mauritanian Malakite Sunni Islam.
He runs one of the largest mahadras in Mauritania and has
been a partner with the embassy in past Islamic outreach
activities).


3. (C) Communications: Minister of Communications and
Relationship with Parliament Mohamed Abdallahi Ould El
Boukhary was the most cautious of the three ministers in
discussing extremism. He contended that Mauritanian military
and security forces had the Al Qaeda threat well in hand and
initially downplayed internal extremism. DCM responded that
the U.S. recognizes the moderate foundations of Mauritanian
culture but noted "even is we accept that 99% of Mauritanians
condemn terrorism and violence -- 1% still leaves 30,000 who
can be of concern." Ould El Boukhary's Director of
Communications (an 18-year veteran of the ministry who sat in
on the meeting) responded that the Ministry did not dismiss
the risk. Even as president Aziz has called the threat
"embryonic," the ministry sees extremism as something that
requires ongoing attention to prevent its growth. Despite
the Minister's desire to downplay the degree of extremism,
PAO and MIST visits to state radio and television this past
week have been very receptive.


4. (C) Youth: Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Cisse
mint Cheikh Ould Boide was the most impressive of the three
ministers in discussing the threat and outlining her
strategy. Ould Boide opened by noting "the combination of my
three competencies is not by chance." She said President

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Aziz saw extremism growing through the erosion by foreign
elements of fundamental elements of Mauritanian culture that
need to be reinforced. "Since 62% of Mauritanias are youth,
that must be our target audience." Sport, for Ould Boide, is
one of the most effective avenues to engage youth. The
minister said she had just completed her counter-extremism
strategy based on reinforcing, or creating where needed,
youth centers at the local level in order to keep youth
engaged and to build their integration into society. Of the
three ministers, she was the one to highlight youth
disenchantment and disassociation with Mauritanian government
and society as an important factor in encouraging extremism.
DCM noted the MIST would be pleased to assist the ministry
develop its youth messaging and that, when the USAID
counter-extremism program is reinstated, we will look closely
at how we can help support the ministry's youth-center
strategy.


5. (C) Comment: The Abdallahi government was in the final
stages of a draft coordinated counter-extremism strategy in
2008 prior to the coup. That strategy was written in the
Ministry of Economy (the ministry that often coordinated
inter-ministerial budget initiatives) and was headed by a
Presidential advisor. Some of the ministers were aware of
the draft but did not see that as a current strategy. The
Minister of Islamic Affairs said that while the Presidential
Advisor had been replaced by President Aziz, the new advisor
did not seem to have counter-extremism coordination as part
of his mandate. Ambassador has raised with both Prime
Minister Laghdaf and Secretary General of the Presidency Sy
Adama our desire to coordinate counter-extremism (as distinct
from counter-terrorism) activities with a senior advisor in
either the Presidency or Office of the Prime Minister. To
date, no such person has emerged. End Comment
BOULWARE