VZCZCXRO1920
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNK #0210/01 0761635
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 171635Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8237
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0538
RUEHDO/AMEMBASSY DOHA 0460
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0523
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 2065
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0870
RUEHPG/AMEMBASSY PRAGUE 0098
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHDS/USMISSION USAU ADDIS ABABA
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0979

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NOUAKCHOTT 000210 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV USAU LY MR
SUBJECT: MAURITANIA: OPPOSITION LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL 
COMMUNITY FOLLOWING QADHAFI'S VISIT 
 
(SBU) The Embassy has received the following note from 
President Abdallahi's FNDD Foreign Affairs Director Mohamed 
Ould Maouloud asking the members of the African Union and the 
International Contact Group on Mauritania to distance 
themselves publicly from Qadhafi's statements: 
 
Begin Informal Translation of Text 
 
Note Addressed To The International Contact Group and the 
African Union Peace and Security Council following the Visit 
of Muammar Qadhafi to Mauritania 
 
The current President of the African Union, Mr. Muammar 
Qadhafi, just completed a March 9 - 12 visit to Mauritania. 
This visit was in essence an Official Visit both in its 
preparation -- which included recognition of the putschist 
junta via the acceptance of the credentials letters of the 
junta's newly appointed ambassador to Tripoli and via the 
welcoming of General Aziz with the honors reserved for a 
head-of-state -- as well as in the manner in which the visit 
followed that of a State Visit -- including joint events with 
the junta and the inauguration of various projects. 
 
The International Contact Group (ICG), during its February 20 
meeting in Paris, had "noted the efforts undertaken by the 
current President of the African Union aimed at promoting a 
consensual solution acceptable to all Mauritanian parties and 
to the international community."  The ICG encouraged, "an 
inclusive national dialogue under the auspices of the 
President of the African Union, Muammar Qadhafi and with the 
full participation of the international organizations and 
member states engaged in the consultative process for 
Mauritania." 
 
The camp for constitutional legality, which has never 
departed from the spirit of dialogue, welcomed this 
initiative by the ICG and responded favorably by traveling to 
Libya.  The preliminary contacts in Libya, as well as in 
Mauritania, allowed the various authorities and political 
forces of the camp to present their own points of view. 
 
Despite the multiple indications by the Libyan side -- in 
total contradiction with its role and mission as a mediator 
-- the FNDD stayed faithful to the possibility of an opening 
for negotiation.  However, even before a national dialogue 
had begun, Muammar Qadhafi gave a speech that provoked 
general consternation: 
 
-- a lampoon against democracy and democratic values; 
-- a appeal for self interest and clanism that can only wall 
in Africa; 
-- (it said that) the targeted sanctions declared by the 
African Union are "foreign intervention" and the forces of 
resistance are "traitors" looking for foreign support; 
-- (it said that) the "sanctions are over" and the junta's 
June 6 electoral agenda was declared the "point of departure 
for the new Mauritania"; 
-- "the mediation is complete," he said. 
 
In view of this deviation, all authorities and political 
forces of the camp for legality responded by rejecting the 
positions taken by Muammar Qadhafi and noting that he had 
conspicuously sided with the junta and had, by himself, 
brought an end to the Libyan mediation.  The President of the 
Republic, Mr. Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, via his 
spokesperson, the FNDD, and the labor unions have declared 
the failure and disqualification of the Libyan mediation. 
 
The FNDD and the Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD) signed a 
joint declaration in which they emphasized that, "the speech 
of the mediator asking to accept the junta's agenda as a fait 
accompli and the following speech via a final declaration 
announcing the closure of the mediation leads us to 
regrettably declare the failure of this meeting."  The FNDD 
and the RFD recall that, "the declarations of the African 
Union (both in the Heads-of-State summit and in the PSC) and 
those of the ICG, notably those of 21 November 2008, and 20 
February 2009 remain the foundation for any search for a 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000210  002 OF 002 
 
 
consensual solution." 
 
The junta has found new encouragement in the position taken 
by Muammar Qadhafi.  General Ould Abdel Aziz' particularly 
vindictive, arrogant and obstinate speech of March 13 in 
Akjoujt demonstrates this. 
 
In view of this development, the FNDD calls upon the ICG and 
the African Union to: 
 
-- note the deviation taken by Libya and by Muammar Qadhafi's 
decision to close the mediation before it had even started; 
-- declare, as a result, the definitive disqualification of 
the Libyan mediator; 
-- consider the damage he caused democratic forces and 
democracy in general when his role should have been to 
promote the principles of the founding documents of the 
African Union; 
-- immediately implement the targeted individual sanctions 
decided on by the PSC during its 22 December 2008 and 5 
February 2009 meetings: 
-- reject any demarche returning to the junta's unilateral 
agenda; 
-- declare nul and void all institutional, legislative and 
regulatory actions taken by the military power. 
 
For its part, the FNDD remains open to dialogue and confident 
in the capacity of the various competent organs of the 
African Union to work on a credible search for a consensual 
solution to the crisis. 
 
End Text 
 
HANKINS