MAURITANIA: POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ROUNDUP FOR THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NOUAKCHOTT 000705

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PREF EMIN EAIR EAID MR
SUBJECT: MAURITANIA: POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ROUNDUP FOR THE
MONTH OF OCTOBER

Classified By: AMBASSADOR MARK M. BOULWARE FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D)


1. (U) Summary: This month in Mauritania, President Aziz's
government took important first steps towards fighting
corruption while a poll financed by the World Bank found that
82.9 percent of Mauritanians think the government is corrupt.
The Spanish and the French sent high level emissaries to
Mauritania to strengthen security and cooperation and the
European Union dispatched a mission to assess the
post-election political situation. President Aziz traveled
to France and Spain to meet with President Sarkozy and
President Zapatero. The campaign for senatorial elections
was launched and the majority party Union Pour la Republique
(UPR) went through stormy moments. 14,955 refugees returned
to Mauritania and the Ministry of Education reinstated 144
refugees to their former teaching positions. On the economic
front, perspectives are positive in the mining and oil
industry and food security might be better than expected.
End summary.


2. (U) The fight against corruption. On October 3, the
government reacted promptly to the Aids Global Fund
corruption scandal by arresting Dr. Abdallahi Ould Horma Ould
Babana, the program's general director. Note: Babana is
also Prime Minister Laghdaf's cousin. End note. The
executive secretary and the administrative and financial
director were also arrested. The GIRM has shown a
willingness to make difficult short-term choices to reinstate
Mauritania into the Global Fund and hosted a visiting Global
Fund technical assistance team to help bring Mauritania's
Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) into prescribed Global
Fund operational and management standards. In mid-October,
in an attempt to regain control over government official
vehicles, the government announced that all missing official
vehicles should be returned and that no official vehicles
should circulate after 4:00 pm on weekdays. According to a
poll published in March 2009 by the Secretary of State in
Charge of the Administration's Modernization, 82.9 percent of
Mauritanians think the government is corrupt and 88.7 percent
of those polled think that public administrators are lazy and
negligent. Financed by the World Bank, the report focused on
what citizens between 15-65 years of age think about the
administration. 78.7 percent think that influence peddling
is the country's worst form of corruption.


3. (U) Bilateral cooperation: France and Mauritania held
bilateral security talks on October 5 that focused on
terrorism, clandestine immigration and arms trafficking. On
October 5, Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos
visited Nouakchott to enhance bilateral cooperation on the
immigration, development and fishing fronts. French Chief of
Defense General Georgelin visited Mauritania on October 11.
President Aziz traveled to France on October 27 for his first
official visit and met with President Sarkozy, Prime Minister
Fillon, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kouchner and Secretary of
State in charge of Cooperation Joyandet. A Ministry of
Foreign Affairs spokesman stated the visit marks the
normalization of relations between Paris and Nouakchott.
Following his visit to France, President Aziz visited Spain
on October 28 to meet with President Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero.

4. (U) Senatorial elections: The campaign for one third of
Mauritania's 56 senatorial seats was launched on October 23.
Majority party UPR will present a common list with former
opposition party Tawassoul. The opposition -- represented by
the Front National pour la Defense de la Democratie (FNDD)
and the Rassemblement des Forces Democratiques (RFD) -- will
field separate lists.

5. (C) Human rights: On October 15, the Council of
Ministers announced it will reinstate 144 refuges from
Senegal and Mali to their teaching positions in the Ministry
of Education. By October 26, 14,955 refugees had returned to
Mauritania. Gulnara Shahinian, United Nations' special
rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, visited
Mauritania from October 24 to November 4 to study actions
taken by the government to end slavery. In a meeting with
PolOff on October 30, Shahinian stated the slavery situation
in Mauritania is dire and the government is paying lip
service to the international community but lacks the

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political will to act. Nevertheless, Shahinian said she
would abstain from drafting an overtly critical press release
in order to encourage Aziz to fulfill his promises of
improving Mauritania's record. Shahinian will deliver her
report to the United Nations next year and will seek funding
to implement the report's recommendations. On October 22,
human rights group Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille
highlighted the exploitation of young house servants in
Mauritania and launched a campaign to adopt legislation
protecting house servants. On October 20, the Mauritanian
National Forum for Human Rights (FONADH),called for a census
of all victims of the 1989 inter-ethnic violence in an effort
to ensure that all victims get compensation.

6. (U) European Union and Commission visit Mauritania: A
joint EU-EC mission visited Mauritania from 5-7 October to
follow up on Article 96 of the Cotonou Accord. The mission
was led by Swedish Ambassador and representative of the EU
presidency Agneta Ellen Christina Bohman and the Chief of
Unity to the General Development Direction of the European
commission Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi. The mission met
with Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister as well as
the opposition and civil society for consultations.

7. (U) Mauritania requests membership to Israeli boycott
organizations: According to the press, Mauritanian
authorities requested membership in organizations boycotting
Israel. Recently, President Aziz declared in an interview
with a Saudi journal that the decision to freeze relations
with Israel was taken for "objective and clear reasons."

8. (U) Strife inside UPR: President Aziz' majority UPR
party encountered divisions at its core when Senator and
Senate Vice-President Mohcen El Hadj and four ministers
boycotted an October 17 party gathering in Rkiz (Trarza
region). According to the press, these individuals were
suspended from the party. Party president Mahmoud Ould
Mohamed Lemine denied these rumors on October 21.

9. (U) Officers arrested: On October 25, press announced
the arrest of two military officers, including Seyidna Oumar
Ould Elemine, a member of the presidential military staff.
Rumor has it they were arrested for planning a coup d'etat
but they were officially accused of arms trafficking.
Elemine denied accusations that he had trafficked weapons
missing from a military storage facility.

10. (U) Syrian Ba'ath party visit: A delegation from the
Syrian Ba'ath Socialist Party arrived in Nouakchott on
October 26 for a five-day visit. According to Deputy
Secretary General Abdalla El Ahmar, the visit responds to an
invitation from ruling party UPR.

11. (U) Total commences first on-shore drilling project:
French energy company Total began the first on-shore drilling
program in Mauritania. Despite excitement about the
development, Total has cautioned that if commercial
quantities of oil are found, it will be 2015 at earliest
before full-scale production could begin. A spokesperson for
Total also noted that there is only a 10 percent chance the
first drilling will result in commercially viable quantities
of hydrocarbons.

12. (U) Positive news in the mining sector: While
petroleum output has declined consistently over previous
quarters, there has recently been encouraging news from many
of the international firms mining for gold and uranium in
Mauritania. Tasiast (owned by Canadian firm Red Back Mining)
announced that it expects 2009 gold production in Mauritanian
to increase 53 percent over 2008 levels. Forte Energy, an
Australian based company also publicly announced encouraging
2009 results from its uranium mining operations in
Mauritania.

13. (U) International aid to promote greater food security:
The International Fund for Agricultural Development
announced a USD six million loan and USD six million grant to
help Mauritania obtain greater food security by minimizing
dependence on food imports. Nearly 70 percent of
Mauritania,s food is currently imported. The program is
meant to increase the value of Mauritania,s domestic food
products by encouraging more in-country value-added
processing so that Mauritania food products can receive
higher prices on international markets.

14. (U) Better than expected food security prediction: The
USAID-sponsored Famine Early Warning Systems Network released
their assessment of food security conditions in Mauritania

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for the last months of 2009 and 2010. Due to an abundance of
rain and higher than expected prices for agricultural output,
the harvest season of October-December is expected to be
normal/good and livestock production is expected to be better
than average.

15. (U) Growth of Mauritania Airways: On the second
anniversary of the founding of Mauritania Airways (a private
company 51% owned by TUNISAIR, 39% owned by a Mauritanian
partner and 10% owned by the Mauritanian government),the
Director General announced that the company is in discussions
to purchase two new Boeing 737-700 aircraft. EconOff had
earlier helped Mauritania Airways get in contact with FCS to
facilitate contacts with Boeing. Mauritania Airways has
increased its regional market share during the reorganization
of regional competitor Air Senegal and announced seven new
intra-African flights to begin in 2010.
BOULWARE