TAWASSOUL: PUSH TO STRENGTHEN POLITICAL PRESENCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000698

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM MR
SUBJECT: TAWASSOUL: PUSH TO STRENGTHEN POLITICAL PRESENCE
FINDS LUKEWARM SUPPORT AMONG IMAMS

REF: A. NOUAKCHOTT 659

B. NOUAKCHOTT 505

Classified By: Ambassador Mark M. Boulware for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Moderate Islamist party Tawassoul has been one of
the few winners in the past year of political crisis --
successfully establishing itself as a credible political
movement and poised to expand its influence. This political
party, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which Taya's
government would not recognize and set out to repress, went
on to join the government under President Sidi Ould Cheikh
Abdallahi. Abdallahi's inclusion of Tawassoul in the
political process raised red flags with the majority and was
one of the justifications for the coup d'etat. After playing
an active role in the anti-coup coalition Front National pour
la Defense de la Democratie (FNDD),Tawassoul parted ways
with the FNDD and decided to run an independent candidate in
the July 18 presidential election. Now, to everybody's
surprise, the party that the majority once rejected is
fielding a common list with majority party Union Pour la
Republique (UPR) for the November senatorial elections (Ref
A) and Tawassoul President Jemil Ould Mansour is optimistic
that President Aziz will offer the Islamists a cabinet
position in a future government (Ref B).


2. (C) PolOff met on October 21 with Mansour to discuss
Tawassoul's future and partnership with majority party UPR
for the upcoming senatorial elections. Mansour stated that
Tawassoul's current strategy is focused on reinforcing its
base and political presence in Mauritania. According to him,
Tawassoul remains a middle-ground opposition party and its
alliance with UPR is currently motivated by electoral
ambitions but it could eventually lead to a permanent
relationship. According to Mansour, there are commonalties
between President Aziz's and Tawassoul's program. Given the
right conditions, Tawassoul would be willing to join the
government. Those conditions include a comprehensive
dialogue about the government's program and Tawassoul's
objectives as well as freedom for Tawassoul's ministers to
implement their programs. "We are political partners, we
don't follow orders," stressed Mansour. Comment: There have
been widespread rumors that Aziz's ministers have no leeway
to exercise their functions and that they merely follow
orders from the top. Mansour's comment seems to confirm
these rumors. End comment.


3. (C) Given Tawassoul's controversial role in Mauritania's
political landscape, PolOff met with various Oulema --
influential imams -- to inquire about their views on
Tawassoul. They all agree that the political process should
be open to anybody interested in participating.
Nevertheless, they unanimously rejected any Tawassoul
aspiration to monopolize Islam, stating that Tawassoul is one
Muslim party among many and one school of thought among
others in this almost exclusively Islamic country.
Tawassoul, they argue, introduces foreign currents that do
not represent traditional Mauritanian Islam, which is Maliki,
Suni and organized around brotherhoods. Comment:
Brotherhoods are Islamic societies gathering the faithful
around cheikhs who teach Islam according to the tradition of
their spiritual leaders. The most influential brotherhoods
in Mauritania are the Tidjani and the Khadria. This
phenomenon is typical to West Africa where the brotherhoods
have tremendous power and influence, including across
borders. End comment. Imam Hademine Ould Saleck from the
Ibn Abass Institute openly stated that there was dissension
among many Islamic schools of thought and that many did not
agree with Tawassoul's principles. Tawassoul is perceived as
an exclusive group of people that politicizes Islam and that
is seeking power. Imam Abass Diaby stressed that none of the
Oulema belong to Tawassoul despite having been approached by
Tawassoul for support. Imam Hamden Ould Tah, President of
the Oulema Association, dismissed Tawassoul as a fad, a party
that appeals to young people who are looking to experience
new and foreign ideologies -- just like the Communist party a
few decades ago. Imam Mohamed El Hafedh Ould Enahoui,
President of the Cultural Islamic Group, does think that
Tawassoul's participation in government should be accompanied

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by the participation of other Sufi Islamic currents to
balance a potential Tawassoul tendency to want to present
itself as the sole representative of Islamic thought. Imam
Hamden stated that the difference between Tawassoul and the
Oulema is that the Oulema were willing to work with those in
government to ensure the government included Islam whereas
Tawassoul had a political agenda that aimed at forcibly
bringing Islam to the government through the acquisition of
political power. Tawassoul, he states, does not have the
right to monopolize a universal concept that belongs to all
like Islam. None of the imams passed judgment on President
Aziz's change of mind regarding Tawassoul's participation,
highlighting that they were all "on the side of power." Imam
Enahoui stated Aziz's new tolerance for Tawassoul was
motivated by this party's timely recognition of Aziz's win
and that it was only normal that Tawassoul wished to be on
Aziz's good side to avoid being persecuted.


4. (C) Comment: With less than five percent in the July 18
election but with an impressive nine parliamentarians,
Tawassoul remains an influential voice among Mauritania's
major political players. With its sense of discipline and
strategy, it emerges as one of the winners of the political
crisis and, ironically, it is apparently poised to acquire
more influence under an Aziz government. As one of the imams
stated, one should not forget that being part of the
government in Mauritania means access to resources and power
that generate more resources and power. Nevertheless,
Mauritanians remain wary of political Islam and foreign
influences. Tawassoul's support among religious and
political leaders -- and even among the population -- remains
limited. To an extent, the traditional ulema see Tawassoul
as a potential contender for their leadership role. Even
though the Tawassoul leadership presents itself as moderate
-- indeed, they have worked well with the embassy -- many in
politics and religious leadership fear an Algeria-like effort
to put on a friendly face and use the democratic system for
decidedly undemocratic purposes. The FNDD opposition leaders
now complain about their former Tawassoul partners as "Aziz
moles" because they so quickly recognized the elections and
are willing to work with Aziz. Tawassoul will say they
accepted the elections because they have better grass roots
ties than the other opposition parties and saw that the
elections did, in fact, reflect the will of the people.
Their goal of restoring constitutional rule attained, they
were willing to work with Aziz to ensure their political
relevance. End comment.
BOULWARE