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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 NOUAKCHOTT 000409 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/05/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR EAID KPAO MR
SUBJECT: DISCRIMINATION PREVENTING AFRO-MAURITANIANS IN THE 
SOUTH FROM REGISTERING TO VOTE 
 
 
Classified By: Amb. Joseph LeBaron, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) 
 
-------------- 
(C) Key Points 
-------------- 
 
-- The critically important national census and voter 
registration drive is entering its final month amid 
allegations of discrimination against Afro-Mauritanians, 
especially in the south, where most Afro-Mauritanians live. 
 
-- Based on a recent visit by Embassy PolOff Morris to 
southern Mauritania, Embassy believes the allegations have 
merit.  Many Afro-Mauritanians appear to have been excluded, 
at least so far in the census and registration process. 
 
-- But it is impossible to say how many, and statistics 
provided by the Independent Electoral Commission suggest that 
the numbers are small.  With a month to go, an estimated 69.5 
percent of all voters have been registered nationwide, 
according to the statistics.  In the south, the percentage 
registered in some provinces is at this point in the process 
as low as 62 percent.  But the problem could be worse than 
the statistics indicate, since many observers believe the 
Commission's statistics to be erroneous. 
 
-- Afro-Mauritanians are prevented from registering because 
they cannot get national ID cards.  The ID cards are crucial. 
 Without them, Mauritanians cannot be included in the census 
rolls and voter registration lists.  The cards are processed 
throughout the country with little hassle for Moors, both 
White and Black.  But credible reports indicate police in the 
south are requiring Afro-Mauritanians to wait in line for 
hours and to show significantly more documentation than Moors. 
 
-- Mauritanian government officials say they have a 
well-grounded fear of fraud, and that is what has led to 
delays and the requirement for more documentation.  They say 
that Mauritania has an enormous problem with illegal 
immigration, especially from Sub-Saharan Black Africa. 
 
------------ 
(C) Comments 
------------ 
 
-- Embassy believes that fraud and illegal immigration are 
significant problems in Mauritania, but a greater force is at 
work:  deep structural discrimination and prejudice against 
Black African Mauritanians by the Moorish majority.  If not 
mitigated, this disfranchisement of a segment of the voting 
population will threaten the integrity of the transition to 
democracy.  Unrepresentative census and voter lists will lead 
inexorably to flawed elections. 
 
-- The exclusion of Afro-Mauritanians, if in sufficiently 
large number, will make it difficult for UN auditors to 
determine that Mauritania's voter lists meet international 
standards.  The UN has said it will have to pull out its 
electoral assistance team, if UN auditors conclude that these 
international standards have not been met.  UN auditors are 
scheduled to come for 10 days in June to observe the 
constitutional referendum, the first in a series of votes and 
elections leading to a transfer of power to an elected 
government by the end of May 2007. 
 
-- There is some good news.  Mauritania's Independent 
Electoral Commission will undertake next week a mid-term 
assessment with the assistance of the UN electoral assistance 
mission.  The results of that assessment will give Embassy a 
better idea of the severity of the problem and what it will 
take to fix it to an acceptable degree. 
 
------------------------ 
(C) Embassy's Next Steps 
------------------------ 
 
-- Ambassador is to see Colonel Fal, the head of the Military 
Council, on Friday, April 7th.  Ambassador intends to focus 
the meeting on the problems reported in the south.  He will 
press Fal to take immediate action to fix these problems. 
With the extension of the census and registration campaign 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000409  002 OF 004 
 
 
until the end of April, it is not too late for Fal to act. 
 
-- Embassy will continue to push at all levels of Mauritanian 
society and government to convince Mauritanians that 
inclusiveness and the principle of one person one vote are 
the bedrock for free and fair elections. 
 
-- Embassy also will work closely with the UN and 
international partners to assess and redress the issue. 
Embassy now meets at least weekly with UN reps to coordinate 
efforts. 
 
-- Embassy will continue its close collaboration with NDI to 
encourage political parties and civil society to press the 
transitional government to take more action in registering 
qualified voters.  Embassy also meets with NDI at least 
weekly. 
 
End Key Points and Comments. 
 
¶1. (C) As the census to register voters finishes its first 
phase of door-to-door canvassing and enters into April's 
"fixed post" phase, there are indications that 
Afro-Mauritanians have been undercounted in relation to the 
general population.  But hard statistics are impossible to 
get.  The population reportedly is never counted by ethnic 
group, and the current census effort is no exception. 
Nevertheless, a mid-term assessment by the Electoral 
Commission scheduled for next week may provide a clearer 
picture as to the extent of the problem. 
 
¶2. (C) According to figures made available by the Electoral 
Commission, as of March 30, 904,874 people had been 
registered out of an estimated total of 1.3 million eligible 
voters.  However, a breakdown by province (wilaya) indicates 
that in provinces where Moors are thought to predominate, 
there is a higher registration rate by a few percentage 
points than the in the provinces where Afro-Mauritanians 
almost certainly predominate. 
 
¶3. (C) The lowest percentages of voters registered are in the 
southern provinces of Guidimaka (62.16 pct) and Gorgol (63.2 
pct).  The ethically mixed region of Brakna, a bit to the 
north, is at 71.76 pct.  In the predominantly White Moor 
province of Adrar, the registration rate is at 85.6 percent. 
In adjacent and sparsely populated Inchiri province, the 
census and voter registration drive appears to be almost 
complete. 
 
¶4. (C) According to the Commission's statistics, there are a 
total of 57,648 Mauritanians throughout the country who do 
not have national ID cards.  That's about 5% of the total 
number of Mauritanian voters, according to the Commission's 
statistics.  If a Mauritanian does not have an identity card, 
that Mauritanian is unable to register to vote. 
 
¶5. (C) Our discussions with political party leaders and 
partners such as NDI and the EU, along with a recent visit by 
Poloff to the Gorgol and Brakna provinces in the south, have 
led us to conclude the Commission's figures probably 
understate the problem. Further, while we have seen 
indications that census resources have not been equally 
apportioned throughout Mauritania, the fundamental problem 
lies in the process of issuing the national ID card, the 
important first step to voter registeration. 
 
¶6. (C) Ambassador raised the issue of discrimination in the 
south during a March 23 meeting with the National Independent 
Electoral Commission.  The question was received coolly, and 
Commission president Cheikh Sid'Ahmed Ould Babamine denied 
that there were problems particular to the Afro-Mauritanian 
community.  While there were problems with the census 
country-wide, he said, he believed the situation would 
improve over time. 
 
¶7. (C) Babamine added that the government had the 
responsibility to determine nationality and limit fraudulent 
applications.  He said the police have found instances where 
foreigners have erroneously received ID cards.  Babamine 
estimated that 10 percent of Mauritanians do not have ID 
cards, and regional Commission representatives have been 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000409  003 OF 004 
 
 
instructed to report to the commission cases where legitimate 
Mauritanians were denied ID cards, but he said that the 
commission had not yet received any such reports. 
 
¶8. (C) In PolOff's meetings with southern prefects, officials 
were clearly sensitive towards the notion of registration 
problems in the south. The southern prefects were dismissive 
of any problems; instead, presenting PolOff with an 
optimistic assessment of census progress.  When officials 
have addressed allegations of discrimination, they have stuck 
closely to their position that those Black Africans denied in 
the south are illegal immigrants trying to fraudulently claim 
Mauritanian citizenship. 
 
¶9. (C) NDI Political Party Program Director Eric Duhaime told 
Ambassador that NDI is encouraging other political parties to 
follow the lead of two other parties that sent letters to the 
government and the Electoral Commission demanding that they 
address the registration problems in the south. 
 
¶10. (C) NDI is now considering organizing a joint political 
party press conference to raise public awareness about the 
problems.  Ambassador strongly supported this idea. NDI is 
meeting imminently with representatives from the EU who "are 
very concerned about these problems and are looking for ways 
to pressure the government and Electoral Commission to act," 
Duhaime said. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
DISCRIMINATION IN GETTING ID CARDS, NOT IN THE CENSUS 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶11. (C) Of the seven villages that PolOff visited in his 
three-day mission to the Gorgol and Brakna regions, six were 
Afro-Mauritanian, and one (Bir El Barka) was Black Moor.  In 
four of the six Afro-Mauritanian villages, residents said 
that between 50 and 65 percent of the eligible population had 
been registered, with the other two villages reporting less 
than 20 percent registration.  All six villages reported the 
same problems in applying for ID cards, with each village 
saying that a majority of their eligible voting population 
without ID cards had applied at least one time.  While the 
figures they provided were rough estimates, collectively the 
six villages reported that between 1,500 and 2,000 residents 
had applied for ID cards with fewer than 50 receiving them. 
 
¶12. (C) Afro-Mauritanians living throughout the south 
reported deliberate discrimination by police charged with 
issuing the National ID cards.  "We arrive early in the 
morning and wait in lines for hours, before eventually being 
told that we are missing some document and will need to 
return when our papers are in order," one villager said, 
while another reported that "when a Moor arrives they just 
walk to the front of the line and the officer takes their 
application without question."  In response to PolOff's 
question about villagers' motivations to wait in line only to 
be told to return the following day and wait in line again, 
one villager said "if we can get registered and vote, then 
maybe we won't have to wait in line any more...maybe our 
children won't have to wait in line the next time." 
 
¶13. (C) Afro-Mauritanians stated that they are asked to 
provide significantly more documentation than are Moors. 
According to multiple accounts, the police ask 
Afro-Mauritanians to show their birth certificate, the birth 
certificates of their mother and father, their Certificate of 
Nationality, and their receipt from the previous Mauritanian 
census.  Moors on the other hand are asked only for their 
birth certificate -- in accordance with government 
regulations. 
 
¶14. (C) For those who lack the required documents, the local 
prefect is empowered to receive the applicant and adjudicate 
their request for an ID card.  If the prefect is satisfied, 
he can instruct the police to process the ID request. 
According to numerous accounts -- by both Moors and 
Afro-Mauritanians -- prefects are approving requests from a 
majority of Moors, but blocking requests from 
Afro-Mauritanians. 
 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000409  004 OF 004 
 
 
¶15. (C) In the Black Moor (Arabized Black African) village of 
Bir El Barka, villagers reported that approximately 90 
percent of their eligible voters had been registered, and 
that all but three of what the assistant village chief 
estimated to be 80 people that had applied for ID cards had 
received them.  PolOff spoke separately to two groups of 
Black Moors, both of whom corroborated what the 
Afro-Mauritanian community had been saying.  "We know the 
standards are different for us...for all Moors, than for 
Afro-Mauritanians," assistant village chief Mohamed Ould 
Bulkheir Ekmich said, adding that "the authorities are afraid 
of registering Senegalese, so they just decided to be safe 
and not register any blacks without IDs." 
 
---------------------------------- 
DISCRIMINATION V. RACIAL PROFILING 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶16. (C) First, it is important to acknowledge that overt 
discrimination is clearly at work in Mauritania and that most 
likely, police and prefects (if not authorities at a higher 
level) are actively working to discourage Afro-Mauritanian 
participation in elections.  But why?  Do the authorities 
simply not want Black Africans, Mauritanian or otherwise, to 
become recognized citizens and participate in elections?  Or 
is there a sincere belief among the authorities that most 
Black African ID card applicants are in fact illegal 
immigrants, not entitled to Mauritanian citizenship? 
 
¶17. (C) Moors, both white and black, speak a common language 
(Hassania), which is largely unique to Mauritania.  The two 
groups also share a common culture and style of dress.  As a 
result, there is little doubt (in the mind of the 
predominately Moorish authorities) that fellow Moors have a 
credible claim to Mauritanian citizenship (with or without 
their National ID cards).  Afro-Mauritanians, on the other 
hand are often culturally and linguistically 
indistinguishable from their Senegalese or Malian neighbors, 
and often are members of a family or tribe that stretches 
beyond Mauritania's border.  Add to this the palpable Moorish 
fear that the growing influx of black African immigrants 
looking for work in "oil rich" Mauritania will ultimately 
lessen the Moorish stranglehold on power, and you begin to 
get a sense of the problem. 
LeBaron