VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #0735/01 2430711
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 310711Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0616
INFO RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 6093
RUEHSF/AMEMBASSY SOFIA 0313
RUEHFR/USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 0005

UNCLAS RABAT 000735 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR R, ECA, IO/UNESCO, NEA/PPD AND NEA/MAG 
NSC FOR DIRECTOR FOR SYRIA, LEBANON AND NORTH AFRICA 
MEAGHEN MCDERMOTT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OEXC PREL OPDC KISL MO
SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR WHITE HOUSE ENDORSEMENT OF 
MATA-RANGI SAHARA EXPEDITION FROM MOROCCO TO FLORIDA 
 
¶1.  Summary:  This is an action request.  UNESCO 
Goodwill Ambassador Kitin Munoz Valcarcel is 
planning a fourth Mata-Rangi expedition -- from 
Tarfaya, Morocco, to Florida in 2010.  Munoz has the 
support of King Mohammed VI of Morocco and UNESCO 
Director General Koichiro Matsuura.  Munoz seeks no 
financial support from the United States but would 
like moral support in the form of a letter of 
endorsement from the President, especially in the 
context of U.S. efforts to build stronger ties with 
Muslim and African countries.  Munoz has previously 
received official endorsements from the King, Crown 
Prince and Prime Minister of Spain, as well as the 
Presidents of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Panama. 
Munoz's plan and request are outlined in paragraph 
3, and a proposed response may be found in paragraph 
¶4.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  During 40 years of studies and expeditions, 
Munoz, a member of the Explorers Club of New York, 
has previously made four expeditions aboard reed 
rafts:  from Peru to Tahiti in 1987, to Easter 
Island in 1997, from Chile to the Marquesas Islands 
in 1999, and from Spain to Cape Verde in 2001.  He 
has decided to bring together Moroccan, Bolivian and 
Iraqi craftsmen to construct a new boat, the Mata- 
Rangi Sahara, in Tarfaya, Morocco, starting this 
winter and then sail it to Florida in the spring. 
He chose Florida as his destination in part because 
a slave named Mustafa Zemmouri who was more commonly 
known as Estevanico, the first Moroccan and first 
African known to have reached what has become the 
Continental United States, traveled to Florida and 
Texas in 1527 and modern-day New Mexico and Arizona 
by 1537. 
 
¶3.  The text of Ambassador Munoz's letter follows. 
 
Begin text. 
 
TO MR. BARACK OBAMA 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
Rabat - July 16th, 2009 
 
Mr. President, 
 
Please let me begin by sincerely congratulating you 
for your decisive development actions, both in the 
United States of American and worldwide.  At the 
international level, your work greatly symbolizes a 
message of peace among peoples and nations, large 
and small, rich or poor, on the voice of 
development, for a better united world. 
 
Explorer of ethnology, working since 1988 in the 
field of experimental archeology and primitive 
navigation, I have the great honor to present you, 
Sir, my new expedition: 
 
MATA-RANGI SAHARA EXPEDITION: MOROCCO-AMERICA. 
 
Like my previous four trips, this expedition's main 
objective is to cross the Atlantic ocean on a reed 
raft, built according to ancient traditional 
methods, to demonstrate the maritime abilities of 
primitive people, who have, long before Columbus, 
transported their culture between islands and 
between continents.  Backed by UNESCO and several 
institutions and universities, the expedition 
project will also hold debates, studies and 
scientific conferences, highlighting the skills and 
lifestyles of ancient cultures and their historical 
interrelationships in order to attract the attention 
of the international community for the necessary 
preservation of the contemporary relics of these 
cultures. 
 
The new Mata-Rangi Sahara raft will be built in 
Tarfaya, a small town in the Kingdom of Morocco, 
located in the desert, facing the sea.  It is in 
Tarfaya that Antoine de Saint-Exupry wrote his 
major work, "The Little Prince".  A camp of 
"Khaima", black tents of nomadic desert tribes, will 
house, for several months, the work of an 
international scientific team, while Bolivian, Iraqi 
 
and Moroccan craftsmen unite their efforts to build 
the vessel using Totora reeds which grow in Titicaca 
Lake, Bolivia.  The maritime voyage will begin in 
Morocco at the port of Tarfaya to finish on the 
shores of Florida in the United States.  The crew 
will be multicultural, Moroccan, American and 
European.  Upon its' arrival, the expedition will be 
an opportunity to organize, in the United States, a 
grand scientific and cultural exhibition.  Mata- 
Rangi Sahara Expedition will convey a message of 
peace from the Arab-Muslim world to the West and the 
international community.  The expedition has been 
blessed by His Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco. 
 
Mr. President, considering the moral, humanitarian 
and cultural framework of this project which is 
aligned with the spirit of openness and cooperation 
conveyed by the United States of America on a global 
scale, I seek your support for the Mata-Rangi Sahara 
Expedition.  Your blessing will be crucial to the 
success of this project.  All participants - crew, 
craftsmen and scientists - would perceive it as an 
exceptional moral motivation. 
 
Hoping for a positive response to my request, I 
remain at your disposal for any information and I 
ask you, Sir, to accept the assurances of my most 
respectful greetings. 
 
/S/ 
Kitin Munoz Valcarcel 
 
MATA-RANGI SHARA EXPEDITION 
 
End text. 
 
¶4.  A draft letter of endorsement follows. 
 
Begin text. 
 
The White House 
Washington, D.C. 20500 
 
Dear Mr. Ambassador, 
 
Thank you for sharing your plans to construct the 
Mata-Rangi Sahara and to sail it from Morocco to the 
United States in 2010. 
 
As my Administration and I endeavor to establish 
stronger ties between the United States and both 
Muslim and African nations, it is fitting that such 
a journey begin in the first country to recognize 
the independent United States.  I understand that 
modern-day Morocco is also your place of birth but 
that you will employ not only Moroccan craftsmen but 
also Bolivians and Iraqis to help you and your 
Moroccan, American and European crew to carry a 
message of peace from the Arab-Muslim World to the 
West and the international community. 
 
We need ideas and efforts such as yours to highlight 
man's willingness to explore and comprehend himself 
and others. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
Barack Obama 
 
End text. 
 
¶5.  Embassy has pouched Ambassador Munoz's letter 
and a mission prospectus in a Moroccan leather 
case to NEA/MAG for delivery to the White House. 
Please advise. 
 
Jackson