VZCZCXRO9323
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHPL #0164/01 1420733
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210733Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY PORT LOUIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3993
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT LOUIS 000164 
 
AF/E FOR MARIA BEYZEROV 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR KDEM MP
SUBJECT: MAURITIUS: EMERGING CREOLE MOVEMENT SURPRISES TRADITIONAL 
POLITICAL PARTIES 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. The May 1 Labor Day political rallies not only confirmed Paul 
Berenger's Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) party's rise in 
popularity, but it also brought the Creole Community under the 
spotlight.  Father Jocelyn Gregoire's Federation of Mauritian 
Creoles (FMC) rally drew a larger crowd than all three main 
political parties, thereby taking them by surprise and heightening 
public interest.  Meanwhile, the courtesy that the Labor Party and 
the MSM showed towards each other during their respective rallies 
points to an alliance in the making; even as the rise of FMC could 
change party strategies. 
 
------------------ 
FMC STEALS THUNDER 
------------------ 
 
¶2. On May 1, the Creole Roman Catholic Priest and President of the 
Federation of Mauritian Creoles (FMC), Father Jocelyn Gregoire, 
gathered 20,000 people in the MMM bastion of Rose Hill, dwarfing the 
numbers of all three main political parties.  The crowd, comprised 
mostly of Creoles from all walks of life, gathered to listen to 
Gregoire's message of hope and empowerment  According to media 
reports, the MMM drew the biggest crowd among the political parties 
(10,000), followed by the Social Alliance (8,000) and the Mouvement 
Socialiste Mauricien, or MSM, (4,500). 
 
¶3. FMC's Labor Day rally is a follow up to the October 2007 meeting 
where 30,000 people gathered to mark International Creole Day, and 
to show support for the federation's work: Gregoire exhorted Creoles 
to stop blaming the State, the private sector, or the Catholic 
Church for their current situation, and urged them to take 
responsibility for their own wellbeing. 
 
¶4. The FMC intends to be a lobby group for Creoles' rights and will 
lobby any government in power, said Gregoire.  The federation claims 
that among its members, there are Creole and Franco-Mauritian 
politicians from the MMM, MSM, Labor Party, Parti Mauricien Social 
Democrate (PMSD), and Union Nationale. In an April 27 interview 
Gregoire insisted that "the federation's voice will be heard in all 
possible political instances." 
 
------------------------------------------ 
FMC OBJECTIVES DENOUNCED AS DISCRIMINATORY 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. The FMC has a number of goals, including that the Constitution be 
amended to recognize Creoles as such, vice the current generic term 
of "General Population;" that the Creole language is recognized as a 
language and is taught in schools, just as English, French and 
Hindi; that the government establish night schools, opened to all 
communities, for school drop-outs and adults; and that 35 percent of 
public service employment be reserved for Creoles.  In his April 27 
interview, Gregoire said that FMC aims to redress the injustices 
sustained by Creoles since independence and that it does not intend 
to deprive the other communities of their rights. 
 
¶6. Senior journalists like Raj Meeterbhan and Ministers such as 
Minister of Information Technology, Etienne Sinatambou, commended 
Gregoire in local press reports for bringing together Creoles from 
all walks of life.  Ironically, other religious lobby groups who 
operate under the cover of socio-religious organizations denounced 
Gregoire's actions and the federation's objectives as 
discriminatory.  For example, in his political rally, Cehl Meeah, 
Leader of Mauritian Solidarity Front (MSF) (which was once named 
"Hezbollah"), accused FCM of being communalists (L'Express, Friday 
May 2, 2008) and Sumduth Dulthumun, President of the Mauritius 
Sanatan Dharma Temples Federation (MSDF), said on a private radio 
interview that FMC's objectives were anti-patriotic and that the 
FMC's action could fragment Mauritian society (Radio Plus, Friday, 
May 2, 2008). 
 
------------------------------------ 
MMM'S REGAIN OF POPULARITY CONFIRMED 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶7. As expected, the Labor Day rally confirmed the MMM's rise in 
popularity.  On April 2, a London-based global market research and 
information group, TNS-SOFRES, published a survey which revealed 
that 27 percent of Mauritians interviewed would prefer to have 
Berenger as Prime Minister.  For the first time since the last 
published survey six months ago, Berenger is ahead of Prime Minister 
Navin Ramgoolam (26 percent). 
 
¶8. Meanwhile, the courtesy shown by the Labor Party and the MSM 
towards each other implied an alliance in the making.  Both 
Ramgoolam and Pravind Jugnauth, MSM's leader, centered their attacks 
 
PORT LOUIS 00000164  002 OF 002 
 
 
on the MMM and Paul Berenger.  According to local press, during his 
speech Jugnauth hinted that his father, the current President of the 
Republic, may make a political come-back at the end of his 
presidential mandate.  There have been rumblings about President 
Jugnauth's return to the political arena for months.  In April 2008, 
for example, President Jugnauth's wife mentioned his possible return 
to the political forum in a radio interview. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9. The rise of FMC underlines the potential for Creole influence; 
Creoles have claimed for a long time that they are taken for granted 
by the MMM. There have been other notable Creole movements, but the 
FMC differs from them in two distinct ways.  First, the FMC clearly 
identifies specific and concrete demands on behalf of the Creole 
community. Second, the FMC comes at a time when, for the first time 
since independence, the Creoles stand as a more clearly defined 
political force.  With the FMC's growing influence, the Creole bloc 
may become a viable voting bloc in the next elections.  The April 2 
TNS-SOFRES survey shows that a strong majority of the 31 percent of 
Mauritians in favor of an MMM-MSM alliance come from Creole and 
Muslim communities.  The survey suggested, on the other hand, that a 
potential Labor Party-MSM alliance would garner its majority support 
from the Hindu community.  Given that FMC has widespread influence 
and a membership that spans all of the major political parties, 
however, their movement could be a game-changer. Creole voters may 
be an active voting bloc in the next elections, and political 
coalitions may court them more than before. 
 
BLASER