VZCZCXRO4401
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0576/01 1431343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231343Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5438
INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0250
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0070
RUEHPO/AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO 0016
RUEHLC/AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE 0025
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAMAKO 000576 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS AND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
PARAMARIBO FOR DCM MARY BETH LEONARD 
LIBREVILLE FOR GLENN FEDZER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM ECON ML
SUBJECT: SARKOZY MAKES FEW FRIENDS IN BAMAKO 
 
REF: 05 BAMAKO 01484 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  On May 18 French Interior Minister 
Nicholas Sarkozy completed a candid and at times 
confrontational two-day visit to Mali.  Hyped as a chance 
for Sarkozy to articulate his vision of future France-Africa 
relations and hone his image as a French presidential 
candidate, the visit was mired in controversy from the 
start.  Angered by Sarkozy's policy of "selective 
immigration", 21 National Assembly Deputies from Mali's 
western region of Kayes issued a statement one week before 
his arrival declaring Sarkozy persona non grata and calling 
on Malians to "mobilize" in protest.  After receiving 
pressure from President Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT) and the 
French Ambassador, however, the Deputies failed to attend 
their own protest march.  Once in Bamako, Sarkozy gave a 
speech on the future of France-Africa relations but lost 
much of the goodwill his speech had earned when the 
subsequent question and answer session deteriorated into a 
heated exchange between Sarkozy and his Malian audience. 
End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Deputies from Kayes Declare Sarkozy PNG 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy's May 17-18 
visit to Bamako coincided with the passage of his 
controversial "selective immigration" bill by the French 
National Assembly.  The bill has received extensive coverage 
in the press in Mali, most of it negative, since it is 
interpreted here as a limit on immigration from Africa.  One 
week prior to his arrival, a group of 21 National Assembly 
Deputies from Mali's western region of Kayes issued a 
strongly-worded statement describing Sarkozy's visit as an 
undesirable "provocation" and urging Malians to join the 
Deputies in protest before the French Embassy.  The Deputies 
delivered their declaration along with representatives of 
the Malian diaspora, Malians recently deported from France, 
and several Deputies from other regions who appeared beside 
the Kayes Deputies for support. 
 
¶3. (U) The majority of Malians living abroad are estimated 
to hail from the Kayes region and remittances from Malians 
working in Europe constitute an enormous amount of annual 
income.  The vehemence with which the Kayes Deputies 
denounced Sarkozy and his immigration stance, however, 
appeared to catch many by surprise, particularly since 
President Jacques Chirac had previously unveiled what is now 
known as "selective immigration" during the Africa-France 
Summit held in Bamako in December 2005 (see reftel). 
 
--------------------- 
French Damage Control 
--------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) In response to the growing furor over Sarkozy's 
arrival, the French Ambassador issued a brief communiqu to 
"clarify" the reasons behind the impending visit.  According 
to the French Ambassador, Sarkozy hoped to share his vision 
of future French-African relations, both as the second- 
ranking figure in the French government, and as  a likely 
presidential candidate.  Immigration, stated the Ambassador, 
would be only one of many subjects discussed during 
Sarkozy's visit to Mali.  The Ambassador described the 
timing of Sarkozy's visit and the ratification of France's 
new immigration bill as coincidental but noted that Sarkozy 
"was naturally willing to listen attentively to the Malian 
point of view on this matter."  The French Ambassador's 
communiqu ended by reminding his Malian readers of their 
tradition of hospitality. 
 
¶5. (U) Malian President ATT did his part to head off any 
potential demonstrations by stating that while France may 
y 
practice selective immigration, there was no "selective 
hospitality" in Mali.  ATT also sent two senior members of 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to the National 
Assembly to meet with the angered Deputies from Kayes. 
 
¶6. (SBU) On May 17, after the MFA's apparent failure to 
placate the Kayes Deputies, the French Ambassador called on 
the parliamentarians at the National Assembly.  Curiously 
 
BAMAKO 00000576  002 OF 003 
 
 
timed to coincide with the scheduled protest march on the 
French Embassy, the Kayes Deputies elected to receive the 
French Ambassador rather than attend the opposition march 
they had instigated.  As a result, the poorly attended march 
included no more than 200 protestors at a location far 
removed from the French Embassy compound.  By the end of the 
march, many protestors appeared to be as angry with the no- 
show Kayes Deputies as with Nicholas Sarkozy. 
 
¶7. (U) Also on May 17, Sarkozy authorized the return of a 
Malian women and her two school aged children who had been 
"wrongly deported" from France the week before. 
Embarrassing details regarding the family's apparently 
illegal and slipshod deportation received a significant 
amount of attention from the Malian press prior to the 
French government's reversal. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Selective Immigration Better Than Zero Immigration 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Following a brief meeting with ATT and a select 
number of cabinet Ministers in Bamako, Sarkozy addressed a 
larger assembly of political leaders, civil society 
representatives and members of the diplomatic corps.  Billed 
as a forum for Sarkozy to elucidate his vision of the future 
of France's relations with Africa, the speech quickly became 
a defense of the selective immigration policy.  Armed with 
an impressive array of figures, Sarkozy's direct and 
combative style initially earned a certain amount of 
goodwill from the largely skeptical audience.  After 
stating, for instance, that France issued visas to 70% of 
the 45,000 Malians who applied for French visas last year, 
Sarkozy asked the audience: where is the xenophobia or 
racism in that? 
 
¶9. (U) "The real danger for France and Africa," argued 
Sarkozy, "is not the concept of selective immigration, but 
the absence of debate regarding the factors behind 
immigration such as inadequate development, unemployment and 
corruption."  A policy of selective immigration, warned 
Sarkozy, is better than a policy of zero immigration.  He 
then encouraged Mali to join with France in an "adult" 
discussion, without "paternalism" or "clientism", of each 
nation's needs in terms of immigration, youth employment, 
skills training and development. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Sarkozy Makes Few Friends in Bamako 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Following his speech, Sarkozy opened the floor for 
questions.  Noting Sarkozy's call for a balanced debate 
between Mali and France on immigration policy, a Malian 
National Assembly Deputy aggressively questioned Sarkozy's 
sincerity since the immigration bill had already been 
approved by the French National Assembly.  "Wouldn't it have 
been better," the Deputy asked, "to have invited Mali to 
debate before sending the bill to the parliament?" 
 
¶11. (SBU) As the Deputy tried to articulate another 
question, Sarkozy - losing his patience after the Deputy had 
failed to follow the rules regarding one question per person 
- interrupte with shouts of "Non! Non! Non!"  A heated 
exchage followed wherein the Deputy stated that he was nt 
Sarkozy's student, that he too held a Parisianlaw degree, 
and that Mali didn't select to be coonized by France. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Similar exchanges ocurred with other questioners, 
with Sarkozy stating at one point that "Economically, France 
does not need Africa," and later accusing the head of the 
Malian Human Rights League of spreading misinformation 
regarding rumored charter flights of Malian deportees from 
France to Bamako. 
 
------------------------- 
Comment: The Sarkozy File 
------------------------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) Although the anti-Sarkozy demonstrations in Bamako 
fizzled, the French Interior Minister's Malian tour did 
little to persuade the Malian political class or civil 
society of the benefits of "selective immigration," which 
 
BAMAKO 00000576  003 OF 003 
 
 
most Malians see as an anti-African measure.  Similarly, few 
here accepted French claims that the timing of his visit and 
the approval of the selective immigration bill by the French 
National Assembly were purely coincidental.  Sarkozy's 
direct style, particularly his cutting responses to 
questions from representatives of Malian political and civil 
society, seemed at odds with his earlier statements 
regarding the need for open debate on the issues linking 
Mali and France.  Perhaps the biggest loser of the "Sarkozy 
file", as the Malian press calls it, was Mali's own National 
Assembly and the 21 Deputies from Kayes.  By skipping their 
own protest march and appearing to bend to pressure from ATT 
and the French Ambassador, the credibility of the Kayes 
Deputies and a good portion of the National Assembly reached 
a new low. 
 
McCulley