VZCZCXYZ0008
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DE RUEHDK #0496/01 1210855
ZNY CCCCC ZZH (CCY ADX08923C3 MSI3960
O 291345Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0391
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAKAR 000496 
 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y (INFO ADDRESSEE & PARA #S) 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/UNP, EUR/SCE, NEA/IAP, AND AF/W 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2018 
TAGS: OIC KISL PGOV PREL AORC KV SR SG
SUBJECT: SPECIAL ENVOY MEETS WITH OIC CHAIR, PRESIDENT WADE 
OF SENEGAL 
 
Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES JAY T. SMITH for reasons 1.5 B/D 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary: On April 22 Special Envoy to the 
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Sada Cumber, 
accompanied by Charge and political counselor, met with 
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade in his new capacity as 
the chairman of the 57-nation OIC following Senegal,s 
hosting of the OIC summit in March.  Special Envoy Cumber 
shared with Wade his plan for supporting the OIC,s 
initiatives and the MOU he hopes to sign with the OIC 
Secretary General.  Wade complimented the Special Envoy on 
 
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his proposals but emphasized the need for tangible 
accomplishments.  He urged the United States to call for an 
Islamic-Christian dialogue and to support his efforts at 
brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.  Wade also 
agreed to encourage Saudi Arabia and African OIC member 
states to recognize Kosovo.  End summary. 
 
U.S. Support for OIC Initiatives 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Special Envoy Cumber congratulated President Wade 
on the success of the summit and the successful conclusion of 
the peace negotiations between Chad and the Sudan that 
President Wade and the president of Gabon mediated.  He told 
President Wade that he hoped to work closely with him and OIC 
Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu explaining that the 
 
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his role as OIC Special Envoy was not only to act as the U.S. 
representative to the OIC, its members, and Muslim 
communities in non-OIC countries, but also to oversee U.S. 
support for the OIC,s initiatives.  Special Envoy Cumber 
shared with Wade the draft MOU that he hoped to sign with SG 
Ihsanoglu and outlined the three areas on which the United 
States would focus -- science and technology, enhancing the 
status of women and education ) emphasizing that these 
themes were drawn from the OIC,s ten-year program. 
Moreover, he informed Wade of his plan to establish a digital 
library in the ten poorest OIC member countries.  Special 
Envoy Cumber asked for and received Wade,s support for these 
proposals, although Wade commented that the program should 
focus less on conferences and seminars and more on &concrete 
things.8  He opined that most development aid, including 
U.S. assistance, to Senegal had resulted in &zero8 and 
argued that developing countries and donors needed to think 
of new ways to spend aid money to produce more tangible 
results. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) To illustrate his point, President Wade described 
four projects that his government was initiating which he 
said would have tangible results: the eco-village; &hut for 
little ones;8 the University of the Future; and the 
cyber-village.  The eco-village, which is designed to be 
self-sustaining and environmentally sound, is divided into 
sections including one which provides solar and 
wind-generated electricity as well as sections with fruit 
trees and trees for lumber.  The already established &huts 
for little ones8 (i.e. cases de tout petits) are in essence 
day-cares where children under six can get an education 
through the use of educational games and traditional 
storytelling.  The University of the Future would bring 
together students that already have masters degrees and train 
them in practical disciplines such as agriculture and 
information and communications technology.  The University 
would leverage digital conferencing so that students would 
not have to leave Africa to go to developed countries to 
receive this education.  The cyber-village project would 
provide a large flat-panel screen to villages for use in 
receiving information and providing training. 
 
Islamic-Christian Dialogue 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) In addition, Special Envoy Cumber informed President 
Wade of his plan to organize a summit at the White House with 
heads of the 10-15 largest Muslim development NGOs and 
expressed support for Wade,s proposal to organize a dialogue 
between the West and the Muslim world.  Wade expressed 
appreciation for the support and emphasized that the dialogue 
should be an Islamic-Christian dialogue not a 
Islamo-Judeo-Christian dialogue as proposed by King Abdullah 
of Saudi Arabia.  Wade asked the Special Envoy to urge 
President Bush to call for a summit of Christian and Muslim 
leaders and strongly encourage him to say no to King 
Abdullah,s proposals for a dialogue for the three 
&revealed8 religions. 
 
¶5.  (C) Special Envoy Cumber asked about the possibility of 
 
 
Wade, in his capacity as chair of the OIC and unofficial head 
of the ummah, to bring together the various schools of 
thought and traditions of Islam using the cooperative model 
of American Muslims as an example.  Wade replied that it 
would be hard to do so because of deep philosophical 
differences.  Moreover, he said there are some Muslims that 
think the West is the devil.  As a result, he opined that 
progress in resolving East-West divisions depends on 
President Bush,s actions in the Muslim world. 
 
¶6.   (C) According to Wade three things must be done to 
improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world: 1) Peace must 
be obtained between Israel and the Palestinians; 2) The 
United States must withdraw from Iraq; and 3) a peaceful 
settlement must be obtained with Iran.  Wade commented that 
he had offered his services to mediate between Iran and the 
United States and that while Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad had accepted,  President Bush had not.  He opined 
that if the United States attacks Iran three-fifths of the 
world,s Muslims would support Iran. 
 
Promoting Peace Between Israel and the Palestinians 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶7.  (C) President Wade informed the Special Envoy that he had 
been in communication with President Mahmoud Abbas of the 
Palestinian Authority, President Shimon Perez, and Hamas 
leader Khaled Maashal in an effort to broker a cease-fire. 
According to Wade, Hamas is ready to agree to a cease-fire if 
Wade is the one to &launch8 it and if Israel is willing to 
lift the embargo on the Gaza Strip and end the check-points 
in the West Bank.  President Wade said he,s on a mission to 
make peace and said he wanted to know if President Bush was 
willing to help. 
 
Recognition of Kosovo 
--------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) Special Envoy Cumber urged President Wade to use his 
influence to persuade OIC members to recognize Kosovo.  Wade 
responded that he had already discussed the matter with King 
Abdullah but agreed to contact him again.  He also undertook 
to contact African OIC members to encourage them to recognize 
Kosovo. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9.  (C) While President Wade seemed to have difficulties in 
separating his roles as chair of the OIC and President of 
Senegal he expressed support for the work of the Special 
Envoy.  Although he acknowledges the importance of education, 
Wade believes that Senegal does not need any assistance in 
this area.  He commented to us that Senegal devotes 40 
percent of its budget to education.  He is most enthusiastic 
about assistance projects that deal with construction of some 
kind and opined during the meeting that developing countries 
such as Senegal can implement small projects and that donor 
countries and international NGOs should focus on large 
infrastructure projects.  It is not clear what level of 
active support we can expect from President Wade for the 
program described in the MOU.  Moreover, he seems almost 
hostile to the idea of an inter-faith dialogue that is not 
limited to Islam and Christianity, which might complicate 
efforts to get the support of Saudi Arabia. During the 
meeting President Wade also claimed that &everyone8 wants 
him to act as a mediator.  He clearly revels in the idea of 
being an international statesman and actively pursues 
opportunities to take the global stage.  He took a call from 
Hamas just as we were leaving. 
 
¶10.  (U) This cable was cleared by Special Envoy Sada Cumber. 
SMITH 
SMITH