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DE RUEHFR #0232/01 0561455
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FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
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INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 000232 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2020 
TAGS: PREL PINS KDEM PINR MA FR
SUBJECT: MADAGASCAR:  FRUSTRATION INCREASES AT FRENCH 
PRESIDENCY 
 
REF: PARIS 216 
 
Classified By: Wallace Bain, Political Officer, 1.4 (b/d). 
 
¶1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  Remi Marechaux, Africa Advisor at the 
French Presidency, on February 23 expressed his growing 
frustration with the lack of movement on Madagascar.  He 
strongly criticized SADC mediator Chissano for not doing 
more, on a sustained basis, to drive the parties towards an 
agreement.  He was equally critical of Rajoelina, although he 
said that Rajoelina, via a February 16 letter to AU Chairman 
Ping, agreed to work within the Maputo/Addis Ababa framework 
to arrive at a consensual way forward.  Marechaux said that 
France now favored a return to that framework as well. 
Marechaux also criticized French lawyer/businessman Robert 
Bourgi, who Marechaux claimed had advised Rajoelina to seek 
money from Libya, with the Libyans puzzled by the request. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (C)  Presidential Africa Advisor Remi Marechaux on 
February 23 briefed Africa Watcher and Assistant on President 
Sarkozy's visit the next day to Gabon (reftel), after which 
we asked for an update on Madagascar.  The normally cool and 
even-tempered Marechaux abruptly shifted gears, visibly 
frustrated and exasperated by what he termed a "complete lack 
of movement" on Madagascar.  He first criticized SADC 
mediator Chissano, saying several times that he was not doing 
anything to advance the process.  Marechaux said that the 
task of bringing the Malgache parties to agreement was a 
"full-time job" and that Chissano regrettably was not 
displaying the requisite energy and did not seem to have even 
the necessary interest.  In Marechaux's view, Chissano was 
putting other activities ahead of his mediation role, 
frequently postponing Madagascar-related meetings.  Marechaux 
said that Chissano should find a high-level deputy who could 
pursue the mediation on a full-time basis but he was not 
confident that that would happen. 
 
¶3. (C)  Repeating earlier criticism, Marechaux said that 
Chissano's poor handling of Maputo III (the event Rajoelina 
boycotted) was partly responsible for the breakdown of the 
process.  Providing one example, he noted how the text of 
Maputo III significantly misinterpreted what the parties had 
earlier accepted regarding the two co-presidents.  The 
earlier text set forth an arrangement where the two 
co-presidents operated together at a level below the 
president, whereas Maputo III, which was supposed to repeat 
elements of the earlier agreements, contained a provision 
making the president and two co-presidents members of one 
single body.  Marechaux said that Chissano's failure to 
capture in Maputo III elements such as this that the parties 
had earlier accepted was a major error (whether deliberate or 
careless Marechaux could not say), and provided Rajoelina 
ample grounds for considering Maputo III a repudiation of the 
earlier agreements. 
 
¶4.  (C)  Marechaux was nearly as strongly critical of 
Rajoelina as he had been of Chissano, saying that Rajoelina 
was intransigent and did not seem to understand the need to 
make concessions in order to deliver an agreement to 
everyone's benefit.  Marechaux said, however, that Rajoelina 
seemed to be coming around, and he provided a copy of a 
February 16 letter from Rajoelina to AU Chairman Ping in 
which Rajoelina appeared to agree to return to the 
Maputo/Addis Ababa framework and work with Ping and the 
others.  (Note:  We have sent a copy of this letter to the 
Department and Embassy Antananarivo.  End note.)  To 
Marechaux's dismay, there had been little follow-up to 
Rajoelina's letter, either by Ping or Chissano.  Marechaux 
stated that at one point the French encouraged Rajoelina 
strongly to work with Ping.  To counter Rajoelina's apparent 
discomfort at working with the AU ("the Malgache have always 
viewed themselves as distinct from Africa and Africans"), the 
French said that Ping's Afro-Asian background in fact made 
him very much like a Malgache. 
 
¶5.  (C)  Marechaux said that France favored returning to the 
Maputo/Addis Ababa framework as a point of departure.  (Note: 
 The French had once claimed that Maputo/Addis Ababa was dead 
but found themselves isolated and have dropped that position. 
 End note.)  He repeated the need for all parties to return 
to work, and he especially repeated his hope that Chissano 
would become more active and as soon as possible. 
 
¶6.  (C)  Marechaux offered a final scathing criticism of 
French lawyer, businessman, and reputed 
behind-the-scenes-fixer Robert Bourgi, often viewed as a 
throwback figure to the classic "France-Afrique" era (the 
vestiges of which are still with us).  Marechaux called 
Bourgi a "mercenary" always out for his own interest as he 
worked to gain favor with African leaders such as Gabon's 
 
PARIS 00000232  002 OF 002 
 
 
Bongo and, more recently, Rajoelina.  Marechaux said that 
Bourgi had suggested to Rajoelina that Libya might be a 
source of funding, which prompted Rajoelina, according to 
Marechaux, to approach the Libyans to request some 200,000 
euro (about USD 270,000).  The Libyans reportedly responded 
with bewilderment and did not provide the money.  Marechaux 
referred to a photo of a public event in Madagascar that 
showed Bourgi and his associates a row or two down from where 
Rajoelina was sitting, which caused Marechaux to denounce 
them for contributing to speculation that France was secretly 
controlling Rajoelina behind the scenes.  Marechaux also 
forcefully denied reports that the French were trying to 
obtain DRC support for Rajoelina.  He elaborated that during 
a recent visit by the DRC Foreign Minister, the Presidency's 
Africa cell discussed the lack of progress in Madagascar's 
political stalemate and pointed out the discrepancies 
Chissano permitted (as noted above) in the hope that the DRC, 
as the current SADC Chair, could help push the process 
forward.  Marechaux continued to criticize Bourgi and his ilk 
but, in order to avoid provoking another tirade, we refrained 
from pointing out that according to the press, Bourgi was 
going to travel to Gabon with Sarkozy in Sarkozy's plane. 
 
¶7.  (C)  COMMENT:  Every time we speak to Marechaux about 
Madagascar, his frustration and exasperation seem to go up a 
notch or two, which is perhaps understandable given the 
nature of the crisis and the difficult role the French are 
perceived as having chosen to play.  However, his main point 
-- that all parties need to make a sustained effort to move 
towards a solution and that the outside mediators need to do 
more to drive this process -- came through loud and clear. 
END COMMENT. 
 
¶8.  (U)  Tripoli minimize considered. 
PEKALA