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R 131021Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5368
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
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RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0262
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RUEHBAD/AMCONSUL PERTH 0226
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0174

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NOUAKCHOTT 000435 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR EAID KPAO MR
SUBJECT: UN AGREES THAT SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS EXIST IN 
CENSUS UNDERWAY THROUGHOUT COUNTRY 
 
REF: NOUAKCHOTT 409 
 
Classified By: Amb. Joseph LeBaron, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) 
 
-------------- 
(C) Key Points 
-------------- 
 
-- The UN and its western partners, including US Embassy 
reps, spent much of a recent UN meeting on electoral 
assistance issues discussing current census problems, 
particularly the difficulties Black African Mauritanians are 
having registering in southern Mauritania. 
 
-- The UN System Coordinator commented that Afro-Mauritanians 
clearly are facing barriers to their participation in the 
census.  She added that reaching the international standard 
for such a census (at least 80% of all eligible voters 
counted) is not the whole point, especially if the 20 percent 
not counted are all Afro-Mauritanians.  That would be 
unacceptable to the UN, the System Coordinator, Cecile 
Molinier, said. 
 
-- The transitional government, with AU assistance, will hold 
a roundtable April 25 to discuss donor support of the 
electoral process.  Japan is expected to announce a 
contribution to the Basket Fund, and Egypt will likely 
announce a contribution to the Electoral Commission. 
 
------------ 
(C) Comments 
------------ 
 
-- The upcoming roundtable could be an excellent venue for 
raising concerns about the census, especially if the results 
of the UN mid-point evaluation are available by then. 
 
-- Embassy will continue closely coordinating with the UN, 
the EU, and European embassies on efforts to get the 
transitional government and the independent electoral 
commission to improve the census and voter registration 
program in the south. 
 
-- At this point, we are not optimistic that the transitional 
government will take action, despite the rising concern in 
the international community, since there appears to be little 
domestic pressure on the government or the electoral 
commission to do something. 
 
-- Many Moors appear to believe that the reportedly extensive 
illegal immigration from West Africa requires their 
government to be doubly cautious and skeptical about claims 
of Mauritanian nationality by Black Africans in the south. 
We disagree. 
 
End Key Points and Comments. 
 
¶1. (C) Representatives of partners for the UN Basket Fund 
Steering Committee met April 7 to discuss preparations for 
the first official Steering Committee meeting scheduled for 
April 20.  The group, which included UN, EU, French, Spanish, 
German, and US representatives, discussed the addition of 
Mauritanian representatives to the committee, proposed Basket 
Fund allocations, and procedures for interaction with the 
media, political parties, and civil society.  (Though invited 
to participate in the meeting, because the U.S. and the 
Germans have not yet contributed to the basket fund, we are 
not official members of the Steering Committee.)  While not 
on the agenda, more than half the meeting was dedicated to 
the current census problems, particularly the difficulties of 
Afro-Mauritanian registration in the south (reftel). 
 
---------------------------- 
CONSENSUS ON CENSUS PROBLEMS 
---------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) After PolOff Morris briefed the group about his recent 
reftel visit to southern Mauritania, the DCM at the French 
Embassy, Marc Flattot, said that a team from his embassy had 
recently visited a separate region in the south and had 
"found exactly the same thing."  "We heard numerous 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000435  002 OF 003 
 
 
complaints from Afro-Mauritanians unable to get their ID 
card...and of villages the electoral commission had never 
visited," Flattot said, adding that "political parties were 
also completely absent from these areas."  The deputy EU 
ambassador added that his team was also aware of "widespread 
problems" in the south. 
 
¶3. (C) Discussion then turned to the recent census 
registration figures provided to the UN by the National 
Independent Electoral Commission (reftel).  "We are highly 
suspicious of the accuracy of these figures," Flattot said, 
clarifying that "while the numbers of those registered to 
date may be correct, the estimate of total eligible voters 
and the figures of the number of people without ID cards are 
both suspect."  The German Embassy DCM, Christian Sedat, 
asked "where did the figures of total eligible voters come 
from?"  "If they were based on the last census, then they 
likely don,t account for all Mauritanians," he said.  (Note: 
 Through other statements it was clear that by "all 
Mauritanians," Sedat was insinuating that Afro-Mauritanians 
were likely undercounted in the past census and were thus not 
accurately represented in these estimates.  End note.) 
 
¶4. (C) UN Principal Technical Advisor Mathieu Bile Bouah 
acknowledged that he was aware of some registration problems 
in "certain areas of the south."  He added that he "did not 
know how widespread the problems were," but said "there 
appeared to be barriers to Afro-Mauritanians participating in 
the census in certain southern regions."  In responding to 
the concerns about the electoral commission,s census 
registration figures, Bile agreed that the figures were 
"suspect," but added that "the upcoming mid-term assessment 
will provide us with more credible figures." 
 
¶5. (C) UN System Coordinator Cecile Molinier summarized the 
group,s position by saying that "we all agree that 
Afro-Mauritanians are facing barriers to their 
participation," adding that "we need to join together in 
telling the government that these problems exist and that 
they must be addressed." 
 
¶6. (C)  Molinier then raised the issue of the UN,s upcoming 
audit of the census and voter lists, saying that "reaching 
the 80 percent international standard is not the whole point, 
but also what that 80 percent looks like."  "If the 20 
percent not included are all Afro-Mauritanian, that is 
unacceptable, and we will tell the ministers and electoral 
commission that when we meet with them." 
 
¶7. (C) Molinier said she believes that general public support 
for the census process was beginning to wane.  "In the press 
coverage I've been reading and my conversations with 
political parties and members of civil society, I feel like 
public perception is turning against the census," she said, 
adding that "this could risk damaging the public,s 
perception of the credibility of elections."  Molinier 
concluded the point by stating that "we are convinced that 
the electoral commission must ensure the credibility of the 
(census and electoral) process...and we must help them in 
this effort." 
 
------------------------------------- 
STEERING COMMITTEES IRONS-OUT DETAILS 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) The Steering Committee decided it would seek 
"participation" form political parties and civil society on 
the committee, as well as ask the government to propose 
Steering Committee member representatives from the Ministries 
of Interior and Finance. 
 
¶9. (C) The committee presented a proposal for distributing 
the 2,295,000 Euros currently slated for the Basket Fund, 
with 170,000 for the public media, 340,000 for the private 
media, 850,000 for political parties, and 935,000 for civil 
society organizations.  The committee also presented several 
conditions groups must fulfill before being eligible for 
Basket Funds, but the committee agreed that it would work 
with "any actor that satisfied these requirements."  "We 
understand why groups like NDI have selected a smaller group 
of political parties to work with, but as the UN, we must be 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000435  003 OF 003 
 
 
seen as working openly and fairly with all actors...this 
includes political parties, civil society and the press," 
Barranca said, with Molinier adding that "we must be 
objective." 
 
----------------------------------- 
DONOR ROUNTABLE TO BE HELD APRIL 25 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (C) The AU has announced its support for an April 25 
roundtable in Nouakchott hosted by the transitional 
government, designed to mobilize donors to fund the electoral 
process.  Akihiro Takazawa, head of the Economic Cooperation 
at the Japanese Embassy in Japan told DCM Koutsis April 12 
the Japan will likely announce a contribution of up to USD 1 
million to the Basket Fund during the roundtable.  He said 
this was a change of policy for Japan, which had originally 
considered a bilateral donation.  On the same day the 
Egyptian DCM said that Egypt plans to announce a bilateral 
contribution of 100,000 EP (approx. USD 18,000) to the 
electoral commission. 
LeBaron