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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000608 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS TO LTC FRANK SOBCHAK, USSOCOM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OREP PREL PGOV PINS MASS ML
SUBJECT:  CODEL MARSHALL MEETS WITH MALIAN PRESIDENT 
 
BAMAKO 00000608  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
1.(SBU)  SUMMARY: On August 27 the Ambassador and a six member 
delegation led by Congressman Jim Marshall met with Malian President 
Amadou Toumani Toure.  The President said Mali had the human 
resources to confront Al Q'Aida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb 
(AQIM) but needed resources and regional cooperation to be 
successful.  Congressman Earl Pomeroy congratulated President Toure 
for his commitment to democracy, calling him Mali's George 
Washington. The President expressed confidence that President Obama 
and Secretary of State Clinton would place Mali on the itinerary for 
their next visit to Africa.  End summary. 
 
BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR STABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
2.(SBU)  On August 27 the Ambassador and a Congressional delegation 
led by Congressman Jim Marshall and including Congressmen Earl 
Pomeroy, Frank LoBiondo, David Wu, Bill Shuster, and Timothy Walz 
met with Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT).  House Armed 
Services Committee staff members Mark Lewis and Lynn Williams also 
were present. 
 
3.(SBU)  Marshall thanked the President for receiving the 
delegation.  He noted that Democrats and Republicans are united in 
support for Mali's stability, particularly with respect to the 
regional fight against Al Q'Aida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb 
(AQIM), and the nation's economic development.  ATT thanked the 
United States for the training it has offered many of its military 
officers as well as the dropping of supplies when Malian troops were 
surrounded in September 2007 by Tuareg rebels in Tinzaouatene, near 
the border with Algeria.  He asked for additional training such as 
the biannual regional Flintlock exercises and the Joint Combined 
Exchange Training. 
 
AQIM PROBLEM IN NEED OF A REGIONAL RESPONSE 
 
4.(SBU)  The President said that AQIM was originally an Algerian 
phenomenon, but that the problem had turned regional, and that AQIM 
fighters, trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan, were well-equipped, 
mobile, and very dangerous.  He said that AQIM is funded chiefly by 
trafficking of arms, narcotics, and people, as well as 
hostage-taking for ransom.  Most of their recruiting takes place in 
Mauritania, and most recruits are not driven by ideology, but are 
simply mercenaries. 
 
5.(SBU)  Until recently, countries of the region had chosen to 
pursue AQIM individually, rather than as a group. When pressure 
increased in one country, AQIM was able to move somewhere else.  The 
President described his efforts to get foreign ministers of the 
region together to discuss a joint action plan, a draft communique, 
and a draft declaration.  The countries of the region decided to 
wait until the end of Ramadan, to organize a heads of state meeting 
in Bamako, which he expects will take place in October or November. 
The President described the distraction of the Tuareg rebellion as 
behind him, with Tuareg rebels integrated in the army and weapons 
surrendered. 
 
6.(SBU)  The President asked for a variety of materiel, including 
customs equipment, vehicles for the gendarmerie and police, 
communications equipment, helmets, and bullet proof vests.  He spoke 
of the need to refurbish a former NATO air base at Tessalit so that 
two to three regiments could be stationed there so as to prevent 
AQIM from gaining a foothold in Mali. 
 
IRREGULAR FORCES 
 
7.(SBU)  Marshall said he heard the President's message.  He noted 
that if AQIM were to embed in Northern Mali, it would be very bad 
for the country, and he hoped that the Malian people understood the 
importance of the fight, as the President did.  He said that 
irregular forces who knew the terrain could be successful in 
confronting a threat like what the President is experiencing in the 
North of Mali, and cited the example of Ramadi, Iraq, which in 
December 2006 was under serious threat from Al Q'Aida forces.  By 
repairing cell phone towers so Sunnis opposed to Al Q'Aida could 
communicate with the Iraqi government and by providing vehicles and 
rifles to Sunni irregulars fighting Al Q'Aida, the situation 
stabilized to the point that U.S. personnel could walk safely on the 
streets of Ramadi by summer 2007. 
 
8.(SBU)  The President said each faction in the North is willing to 
offer 50 of their youth to be trained and integrated into the 
military to fight against AQIM.  He said they know the region, they 
know the people, and if the Government of Mali does not take them, 
the Salafists (AQIM) or criminal elements will do so.  He described 
Malian government dialogue with the Salafists in which the latter 
claimed they are engaged in a war against the United States and the 
West, not Mali.  Malian government representatives replied that Mali 
shares Western values and questioned what the Salafists were doing 
uninvited on Malian territory.  He mentioned recent firefights with 
AQIM, noting that they were good fighters equipped with advanced 
 
BAMAKO 00000608  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
equipment such as night vision goggles which allowed them to attack 
and kill 29 Malian troops recently in a surprise, nighttime attack. 
 
 
DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
9.(SBU)  Pomeroy said that Mali faces a number of serious problems 
requiring a leader of courage and character like the President. 
Pomeroy said President Toure's military background is helpful in the 
fight against AQIM.  He called the President the George Washington 
of Mali,  a military leader who respects democracy and is willing to 
step aside and let others rule out of respect for the constitution. 
He characterized Mali's fifth democratic election as extremely 
important for the future of the nation.  Turning to Mali's 
Millennium Challenge Account, Pomeroy said he was determined to make 
it a success and point of honor for Mali as well as for the United 
States, noting that the program would continue to be followed 
closely by Congress.  Pomeroy said that former Malian Ambassador to 
the United States Diop was a great asset. 
 
10.(SBU)  The President thanked Pomeroy for his efforts to get the 
Millennium Challenge compact signed, calling him the godfather of 
Mali's MCC program.  He noted that if he were ever to have the 
opportunity to tell President Obama what priorities to continue to 
support, he would cite the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis 
and Malaria, the extremely effective President's Malaria Initiative, 
literacy and education programs, and the innovative Millennium 
Challenge Corporation.  He said Malians are not jealous that the 
President and Secretary of State bypassed Mali on their first visits 
to the African continent, and they are confident the nation will be 
on the itinerary for the next visit. 
 
11.(SBU)  Congressman Marshall did not have the opportunity to clear 
this message before departing. 
 
MILOVANOVIC