VZCZCXRO0957
PP RUEHBC RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHLH RUEHMOS RUEHPA RUEHPW
DE RUEHDK #1264/01 1501046
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 301046Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5244
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 001264 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR P, R, AF, DRL, NEA, DRL/IRF, AF/RSA AND AF/W 
PARIS FOR POL - D,ELIA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/30/2016 
TAGS: SOCI PHUM PINS ECON KIRF KISL SMIG UNAUS IR
IZ, SG 
SUBJECT: THIRD MEETING OF THE UN HIGH LEVEL GROUP OF THE 
ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS CRITICIZES U.S. POLICY IN IRAQ 
AND AFGHANISTAN 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Janice L. Jacobs for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  President Wade opened the third meeting of 
the 15-member UN High Level Group of the Alliance of 
Civilizations on May 28.  Like Turkish Minister of State 
Aydin and former UNESCO Secretary General Mayor before him, 
Wade spoke of both economic and religious divisions, warning 
that the world is splitting into countries that have 
petroleum and countries that do not.  Wade said the 
Islamic-Christian divide is growing wider, and he criticized 
human rights abusers who claim to be an example for others. 
Iqbal Riza, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General 
(SYG), stated that Western-Muslim relations are marked by 
hostility and fear and declared that Western governments, 
actions in Palestine, Iraq and Chechnya have fanned Muslim 
extremism.  The three-day gathering will also hear from the 
OECD Secretary General, the Islamic Educational, Scientific 
and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) Director General, and the 
Mayor of The Hague.  The High Level Group will debate 
approaches to creating employment, integrating immigrants, 
combating extremism and radicalism, promoting global and 
cross-cultural education, and using media to strengthen 
collaboration between the Muslim and Western Worlds.  The 
Group will also recommend whether it should become a 
permanent UN institution.  The High Level Group,s final 
statement criticizes U.S. policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
The statement does, however, include an expression of concern 
about Iran,s nuclear ambitions.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (U) On May 28, Turkish Minister of State Mehmet Aydin 
opened the third meeting of the UN High Level Group of the 
Alliance of Civilizations.  Minister Aydin noted that it was 
appropriate that the meeting was taking place in Africa, the 
birthplace of civilization.  He acknowledged that the 
continent faces many challenges, including unemployment, 
poverty, social injustice, women,s inequality, and 
illiteracy.  He hoped that unlike the second meeting in Doha, 
Qatar, which took place during the cartoon controversy, the 
third meeting would be able to focus on global conflict. 
 
¶3.  (U) Frederico Mayor, former UNESCO Director General and 
current President of the Culture of Peace Foundation, 
followed Aydin.  Mayor focused on the injustice of the world 
economic system.  Noting that Senegal,s Goree Island is 
known worldwide because of the slave trade, Mayor suggested 
that today,s economic system is a modern form of slavery 
withinequitable distribution of wealth.  He stressedinclusion and peaceful resolution of conflicts. 
¶4.  (U) Iqbal Riza, Special Advisor to UN Secretar General 
Kofi Annan, spoke third and broadened te discussion by 
reminding the assembly, which incuded Senegalese officials, 
UN officials and membrs of the diplomatic corps, that nation 
states cmpete with media and non-state actors for influenc 
in today,s world.  Riza stated that Western-Musim relations 
are marked by hostility and fear.  Riza declared that the 
actions of Western governments in Palestine, Iraq, Chechnya 
and elsewhere have fanned Muslim extremism.  He acknowledged 
that genocide and religious violence as seen in Iraq, 
Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, and the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo generally remained within the borders 
of nation states.  Riza challenged the High Level Group to 
find ways to defuse mutual hostility and mistrust.  Before 
yielding the floor to Senegalese President Abdoualye Wade, 
who received UNESCO,s Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize in Paris 
two weeks ago, Riza noted that Senegal is an outstanding 
example of religious harmony and of respect for differences. 
 
¶5.  (U) For his part, President Wade urged the High Level 
Group to combat prejudice and misunderstanding.  Wade opined 
that the gulf between the West and the Muslim World is 
growing wider, and he called upon the Alliance of 
Civilizations to endorse the Islamic-Christian Dialogue that 
is scheduled to take place following the Organization of the 
Islamic Conferences (OIC) Summit in Dakar.  Wade noted that 
civilization existed before modern religions and that an 
alliance of civilizations is not an alliance of religions. 
He stressed that religion should not be used for political 
ends. 
 
¶6.  (U) Returning to Aydin and Mayor,s economic themes, Wade 
declared that the price of oil is destroying countries that 
do not have petroleum.  He suggested that people need to 
focus on achieving harmony with nature and with their 
environment rather than accumulating material wealth.  In a 
slap at Western countries, Wade criticized nations that 
 
DAKAR 00001264  002 OF 002 
 
 
pretend to be points of reference and that try to impose a 
single global vision while violating human rights.  He urged 
countries to demonstrate generosity, and he emphasized that 
education is critical for understanding and for development. 
 
¶7.  (U) Prior to the three-day Alliance meeting, the 
Ambassador and EmbOffs had the opportunity to meet with two 
of the three Americans on the High Level Group )- religious 
historian Karen Armstrong and Rabbi Arthur Schneier, 
President of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation.  In fact, 
Rabbi Schneier and his party met representatives of 
Senegal,s major Muslim brotherhoods at the EMR.  For many of 
the Senegalese Muslims, it was the first time they had met a 
Jewish leader, and they had an excellent discussion about 
religious tolerance and human rights in Senegal, as well as 
the purpose of the Alliance of Civilizations.  A third 
American, John Esposito, the Founding Director of Georgetown 
University,s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and 
Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic 
World, was also slated to participate in the High Level 
Group,s deliberations. 
 
¶8.  (U) The three Americans and their 12 non-American 
colleagues -) Aydin, Mayor, former Senegalese Prime Minister 
Moustapha Niasse, former French Foreign Minister Hubert 
Vedrine, former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, 
former Tunisian Education Minister Mohamed Charfi, South 
African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Professor Pan Guang 
from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Ibero-American 
Secretary General Enrique Iglesias, Brazilian Rector of 
 
SIPDIS 
Candido Mendes University Candido Antonio Mendes de Almeida, 
Moscow State University professor Vitaly Naumkin, and Special 
Advisor to the UNSYG Nafis Sadik -- are slated to hear from 
Abdulaziz Othman Al-Tuwaijiri, the ISESCO Director General; 
Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, the Secretary General of the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); 
and Wim Deetman, the Mayor of The Hague.  The deliberations 
are to recommend whether or not the High Level Group of the 
Alliance of Civilizations should become a permanent UN body. 
The 15 members will also debate approaches to creating 
employment, integrating immigrants, combating extremism and 
radicalism, promoting global and cross-cultural education, 
and using media to strengthen collaboration between the 
Muslim and Western Worlds. 
 
¶9.  (C) On May 29, Rabbi Schneier (strictly protect) told the 
Ambassador that the High Level Group,s final declaration is 
critical of U.S. policy in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Schneier 
added that he insisted that the statement take note of 
Iran,s nuclear program, and he got it included but only 
after a lengthy debate in which the majority of members 
insisted that Iran is not an &extremist8 country. 
 
¶10.  (C) COMMENT: The language about Iraq, Afghanistan, the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and globalization is 
disappointing.  President Wade and Mayor,s remarks followed 
a week in which illegal emigration, especially to Spain, has 
dominated the local media.  Hundreds of Senegalese seeking 
employment have been intercepted as they prepared to depart 
Senegal by boat, enter the Canary Islands by boat or enter 
the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on foot.  END 
COMMENT. 
JACOBS