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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NOUAKCHOTT 000705 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PREF EMIN EAIR EAID MR
SUBJECT: MAURITANIA: POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ROUNDUP FOR THE 
MONTH OF OCTOBER 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR MARK M. BOULWARE FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D) 
 
¶1.  (U)  Summary:  This month in Mauritania, President Aziz's 
government took important first steps towards fighting 
corruption while a poll financed by the World Bank found that 
82.9 percent of Mauritanians think the government is corrupt. 
 The Spanish and the French sent high level emissaries to 
Mauritania to strengthen security and cooperation and the 
European Union dispatched a mission to assess the 
post-election political situation.  President Aziz traveled 
to France and Spain to meet with President Sarkozy and 
President Zapatero.  The campaign for senatorial elections 
was launched and the majority party Union Pour la Republique 
(UPR) went through stormy moments.  14,955 refugees returned 
to Mauritania and the Ministry of Education reinstated 144 
refugees to their former teaching positions.  On the economic 
front, perspectives are positive in the mining and oil 
industry and food security might be better than expected. 
End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  The fight against corruption.  On October 3, the 
government reacted promptly to the Aids Global Fund 
corruption scandal by arresting Dr. Abdallahi Ould Horma Ould 
Babana, the program's general director.  Note:  Babana is 
also Prime Minister Laghdaf's cousin.  End note.  The 
executive secretary and the administrative and financial 
director were also arrested.  The GIRM has shown a 
willingness to make difficult short-term choices to reinstate 
Mauritania into the Global Fund and hosted a visiting Global 
Fund technical assistance team to help bring Mauritania's 
Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) into prescribed Global 
Fund operational and management standards.  In mid-October, 
in an attempt to regain control over government official 
vehicles, the government announced that all missing official 
vehicles should be returned and that no official vehicles 
should circulate after 4:00 pm on weekdays.  According to a 
poll published in March 2009 by the Secretary of State in 
Charge of the Administration's Modernization, 82.9 percent of 
Mauritanians think the government is corrupt and 88.7 percent 
of those polled think that public administrators are lazy and 
negligent.  Financed by the World Bank, the report focused on 
what citizens between 15-65 years of age think about the 
administration.  78.7 percent think that influence peddling 
is the country's worst form of corruption. 
 
¶3.  (U)  Bilateral cooperation:  France and Mauritania held 
bilateral security talks on October 5 that focused on 
terrorism, clandestine immigration and arms trafficking.  On 
October 5, Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos 
visited Nouakchott to enhance bilateral cooperation on the 
immigration, development and fishing fronts.  French Chief of 
Defense General Georgelin visited Mauritania on October 11. 
President Aziz traveled to France on October 27 for his first 
official visit and met with President Sarkozy, Prime Minister 
Fillon, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kouchner and Secretary of 
State in charge of Cooperation Joyandet.  A Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs spokesman stated the visit marks the 
normalization of relations between Paris and Nouakchott. 
Following his visit to France, President Aziz visited Spain 
on October 28 to meet with President Jose Luis Rodriguez 
Zapatero. 
¶4.  (U)  Senatorial elections:  The campaign for one third of 
Mauritania's 56 senatorial seats was launched on October 23. 
Majority party UPR will present a common list with former 
opposition party Tawassoul.  The opposition -- represented by 
the Front National pour la Defense de la Democratie (FNDD) 
and the Rassemblement des Forces Democratiques (RFD) -- will 
field separate lists. 
¶5.  (C)  Human rights:  On October 15, the Council of 
Ministers announced it will reinstate 144 refuges from 
Senegal and Mali to their teaching positions in the Ministry 
of Education.  By October 26, 14,955 refugees had returned to 
Mauritania.  Gulnara Shahinian, United Nations' special 
rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, visited 
Mauritania from October 24 to November 4 to study actions 
taken by the government to end slavery.  In a meeting with 
PolOff on October 30, Shahinian stated the slavery situation 
in Mauritania is dire and the government is paying lip 
service to the international community but lacks the 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000705  002 OF 003 
 
 
political will to act.  Nevertheless, Shahinian said she 
would abstain from drafting an overtly critical press release 
in order to encourage Aziz to fulfill his promises of 
improving Mauritania's record.  Shahinian will deliver her 
report to the United Nations next year and will seek funding 
to implement the report's recommendations.  On October 22, 
human rights group Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille 
highlighted the exploitation of young house servants in 
Mauritania and launched a campaign to adopt legislation 
protecting house servants.  On October 20, the Mauritanian 
National Forum for Human Rights (FONADH), called for a census 
of all victims of the 1989 inter-ethnic violence in an effort 
to ensure that all victims get compensation. 
¶6.  (U)  European Union and Commission visit Mauritania:  A 
joint EU-EC mission visited Mauritania from 5-7 October to 
follow up on Article 96 of the Cotonou Accord.  The mission 
was led by Swedish Ambassador and representative of the EU 
presidency Agneta Ellen Christina Bohman and the Chief of 
Unity to the General Development Direction of the European 
commission Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi.  The mission met 
with Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister as well as 
the opposition and civil society for consultations. 
¶7.  (U)  Mauritania requests membership to Israeli boycott 
organizations:  According to the press, Mauritanian 
authorities requested membership in organizations boycotting 
Israel.  Recently, President Aziz declared in an interview 
with a Saudi journal that the decision to freeze relations 
with Israel was taken for "objective and clear reasons." 
¶8.  (U)  Strife inside UPR:  President Aziz' majority UPR 
party encountered divisions at its core when Senator and 
Senate Vice-President Mohcen El Hadj and four ministers 
boycotted an October 17 party gathering in Rkiz (Trarza 
region).  According to the press, these individuals were 
suspended from the party.  Party president Mahmoud Ould 
Mohamed Lemine denied these rumors on October 21. 
¶9.  (U)  Officers arrested:  On October 25, press announced 
the arrest of two military officers, including Seyidna Oumar 
Ould Elemine, a member of the presidential military staff. 
Rumor has it they were arrested for planning a coup d'etat 
but they were officially accused of arms trafficking. 
Elemine denied accusations that he had trafficked weapons 
missing from a military storage facility. 
¶10.  (U)  Syrian Ba'ath party visit:  A delegation from the 
Syrian Ba'ath Socialist Party arrived in Nouakchott on 
October 26 for a five-day visit.  According to Deputy 
Secretary General Abdalla El Ahmar, the visit responds to an 
invitation from ruling party UPR. 
¶11.  (U)  Total commences first on-shore drilling project: 
French energy company Total began the first on-shore drilling 
program in Mauritania.  Despite excitement about the 
development, Total has cautioned that if commercial 
quantities of oil are found, it will be 2015 at earliest 
before full-scale production could begin.  A spokesperson for 
Total also noted that there is only a 10 percent chance the 
first drilling will result in commercially viable quantities 
of hydrocarbons. 
¶12.  (U)  Positive news in the mining sector:  While 
petroleum output has declined consistently over previous 
quarters, there has recently been encouraging news from many 
of the international firms mining for gold and uranium in 
Mauritania.  Tasiast (owned by Canadian firm Red Back Mining) 
announced that it expects 2009 gold production in Mauritanian 
to increase 53 percent over 2008 levels.  Forte Energy, an 
Australian based company also publicly announced encouraging 
2009 results from its uranium mining operations in 
Mauritania. 
¶13.  (U)  International aid to promote greater food security: 
 The International Fund for Agricultural Development 
announced a USD six million loan and USD six million grant to 
help Mauritania obtain greater food security by minimizing 
dependence on food imports. Nearly 70 percent of 
Mauritania,s food is currently imported.  The program is 
meant to increase the value of Mauritania,s domestic food 
products by encouraging more in-country value-added 
processing so that Mauritania food products can receive 
higher prices on international markets. 
¶14.  (U)  Better than expected food security prediction:  The 
USAID-sponsored Famine Early Warning Systems Network released 
their assessment of food security conditions in Mauritania 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000705  003 OF 003 
 
 
for the last months of 2009 and 2010.  Due to an abundance of 
rain and higher than expected prices for agricultural output, 
the harvest season of October-December is expected to be 
normal/good and livestock production is expected to be better 
than average. 
¶15.  (U)  Growth of Mauritania Airways:  On the second 
anniversary of the founding of Mauritania Airways (a private 
company 51% owned by TUNISAIR, 39% owned by a Mauritanian 
partner and 10% owned by the Mauritanian government), the 
Director General announced that the company is in discussions 
to purchase two new Boeing 737-700 aircraft.  EconOff had 
earlier helped Mauritania Airways get in contact with FCS to 
facilitate contacts with Boeing.  Mauritania Airways has 
increased its regional market share during the reorganization 
of regional competitor Air Senegal and announced seven new 
intra-African flights to begin in 2010. 
BOULWARE