ID:217865
    Date:2009-07-23 15:32:00
    Origin:09NOUAKCHOTT490
    Source:Embassy Nouakchott
    Classification:CONFIDENTIAL
    Dunno:09NOUAKCHOTT446
    Destination:VZCZCXRO4838
PP RUEHPA RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNK #0490/01 2041532
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 231532Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8657
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0791
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1144
RUEHDO/AMEMBASSY DOHA 0715
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0776
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 0167
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 2321
RUEHDS/USMISSION USAU ADDIS ABABA
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1238
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
    
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NOUAKCHOTT 000490 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2019 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, MR, PHUM, PTER 
SUBJECT: MAURITANIA: POLITICAL ROUNDUP FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 
19-23 
 
REF: NOUAKCHOTT 446 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Mark Boulware for reasons 1.4 (c) and (d) 
 
1.  Summary:  This week in Nouakchott, Aziz scores a first 
round win with 52.58 percent of the vote.  Despite 
international observer declarations that the election was 
transparent, four opposition candidates contest the results 
and denounce "massive fraud."  Three of them filed complaints 
with the Constitutional Council.  President-elect Aziz 
receives congratulations from the AU, Morocco, and Spain, 
among others, but not from the US, France, and the European 
Union, who are waiting for the Constitutional Council to 
approve the results.  The parliamentarian majority calls for 
the opposition to concede but the opposition launches a 
"Where's My Vote?" campaign and plans to demonstrate on July 
25.  In other election unrelated news, police arrests the 
alleged Leggett murderers as well as a salafist accused of 
participating in the 2008 Tourine attack.  The Court of 
Appeals confirmed the sentences of terrorists implicated in 
the 2005 Leimghety attacks.  Government employees complain of 
the government's increasingly late payments and the swine flu 
case in Nouadhibou turns out to be a false alarm.  End 
summary. 
 
2.  (U)  Aziz wins in the first round:  In the final days of 
the campaign, Aziz swore he would win on the first round and 
he delivered -- On July 18, he emerged as the election's 
victorious candidate with 52.58 percent of the vote. 
Messaoud Ould Boulkheir and Ahmed Ould Daddah followed with 
16.29 and 13.66 percent respectively.  The remaining 
candidates obtained less than five percent.  Four opposition 
candidates, including Boulkheir, Vall, Daddah and Meimou 
organized a press conference on July 19 to contest the 
results on the grounds of "massive fraud" while the remaining 
candidates, including Mansour, immediately conceded.  Aziz's 
victory was confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior on July 
19 but the Constitutional Council has still not validated the 
results.  Several key Aziz opponents including Tawassoul 
candidate Jemil Mansour, Mayor of Nouakchott Hamza and former 
Prime Minister Zeidane (the former two being Ould Daddah 
supporters) have recognized the election results). 
 
3.  (U)  Observers and CENI claim election was fair:  A 
majority of observer groups, including the African Union, 
RHADDO and the International Organization of the 
Francophonie, have issued press releases stating the election 
was transparent despite some irregularities.  CENI published 
a press release on July 23 stressing the elections were free 
and fair.  Human rights activist Boubacar Messaoud challenged 
observer statements.  According to him, observers only 
arrived at the last minute and did not witness the election 
preparation process as in 2007; there were insufficient 
observers; and observers do not have the cultural insight to 
understand how fraud schemes are conducted in Mauritania. 
 
4.  (U)  International community congratulates Aziz:  Some 
members of the international community have already 
congratulated General Aziz on his victory, including Morocco, 
Qatar, Sudan, Spain, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Syria, and 
Algeria. 
 
5.  (U)  Parliamentarian majority supports Aziz:  On July 22, 
the parliamentarian majority reiterated its support for Aziz 
and asked the opposition to concede, inviting them "to accept 
the winning candidate's massive victory and look towards the 
future, embracing its role as the democratic opposition." 
Sixty one deputies out of ninety five support Aziz.  Rumor 
has it that Messaoud Ould Boulkheir is willing to continue 
working as the official leader of the opposition.  Aziz may 
not dissolve a parliament that is already favorable to him 
but the question remains of whether he will be willing to put 
up with Boulkheir as President of the Assembly -- Boulkheir, 
a Haratine leader and strong opposition candidate, may be too 
difficult to take on.        . 
 
6.  (C)  Spain recognizes the election despite EU guidance: 
Spain disregarded the EU presidency's guidance to hold off on 
statements until after a Constitutional Council decision and 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000490  002 OF 003 
 
 
released a communique on July 22 congratulating Mauritania on 
the election.  France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
statements have been more circumspect, saying France is 
waiting for the Constitutional Council decision. 
 
7.  (U)  French Socialist Party rejects results:  The French 
Socialist party released a communique saying that the July 18 
election "did not allow the country to overcome the political 
crisis unleashed by the August 6 coup d'etat due to the 
extreme haste in which it was prepared."  It calls on 
Mauritania's judicial authorities to give careful 
consideration to complaints submitted by the opposition. 
 
8.  (C)  Opposition files complaints with Constitutional 
Council:  On July 22, Daddah, Vall and Boulkheir filed 
complaints with the Constitutional Council, stating Aziz 
conducted "massive fraud" by manipulating the electoral list, 
producing fake electoral cards, allowing foreigners to vote 
and using chemical products on the ballot.  The FNDD's 
Mohamed Ould Maoloud told the ICG his strategy was to be more 
focused -- trying to raise sufficient doubt about the 
relatively small number of votes that gave Aziz an absolute 
majority in order to force a second round.  The 
Constitutional Council has eight days to consider the 
allegations.  It is rumored Aziz is looking to have his 
inauguration on the 27th. 
 
9.  (U)  Opposition alleges fraud and RFD launches "Where's 
My Vote?" campaign:  The For Mauritania website published 
videos of a vote buying operation supervised by Aziz staffers 
at Nouakchott's Atlantique Hotel.  Aziz spokesman Abdallahi 
Ould Hormtallah and senator Mohcen Ould El Hadj are spotted 
in the video.  The RFD has launched a Where's My Vote 
campaign and published a video of a fake electoral card 
factory.  According to Embassy sources, donkey's tagged with 
"Where's my vote?" have been spotted in Nouakchott.  On July 
20, police forces clashed against RFD supporters and 
dispersed them with batons and tear gas.  Daddah told the 
press on July 22 that his supporters are eager to take the 
streets in protest. 
 
10.  (U)  Opposition will march on July 25:  Opposition 
candidates are organizing a march on July 25 to protest the 
election results.  According to Embassy contacts, the march 
was not authorized but the opposition has decided to move 
forward. 
 
11.  (U)  Reinstatement of 2,000 government employees: 
Director of ANAIR Ba Madine announced the state was 
repatriating two thousand government employees who were fired 
during the purge of Afro-Mauritanians in the late eighties 
and early nineties, an event known in Mauritania as the 
"passif humanitaire."  One thousand of these civil servants 
are teachers.  Madine claimed that the Ministry of Education 
will give their jobs back to all those who so desire.  The 
government will pay pensions to retirees.  The government is 
also making arrangements to give all the refugees a 
compensation. 
 
12.  (U)  Mauritania Airways incident.  On 12 July, 
Mauritania Airways employees and technical staff were 
prevented by a private security company from entering their 
offices.  The Minister of Justice had to intervene with the 
President of the Nouakchott Commercial Court to solve the 
problem.  According to press reports, Mauritania Airways is 
being investigated in connection with the now defunct 
parastatal Air Mauritanie scandal. 
 
13.  (C)  It is not swine flu:  The World Health Organization 
(WHO) and the Ministry of Health confirmed that the samples 
taken from the French citizen hospitalized in Nouadhibou with 
swine flu symptoms tested negative to H1N1  (reftel). 
 
14.  (U)  Government is late in paying employee salaries: 
Mauritanian government employees complain that it takes the 
government longer and longer to pay them.  Salary payments 
for the month of June have been delayed up to ten days. 
According to local press, government employees are resentful 
that Aziz is spending so much money in his campaign while 
 
NOUAKCHOTT 00000490  003 OF 003 
 
 
they have to wait weeks to get paid. 
 
15  (U)  Court of Appeals sentences salafists:  The Court of 
Appeals confirmed and increased the sentences of some of the 
salafists who participated in the Lemgheity attack.  The 
Court sentenced Taher Ould Bih and Teyib Ould Saleck for 
forgery and weapons possession.  Ould Bih was sentenced to 
eight years instead of five and Saleck to seven instead of 
three.  The sentences of five other salafists were confirmed 
but not increased. 
 
16.  (U)  Salafist arrested:  An anti-terrorist operation 
resulted in the arrest of Mohamed Ould Abdou a.k.a. 
Souleimane, a salafist suspected of participating in the 
Tourine attacks.  Charges against Souleimane include: illegal 
arms possession leading to the death of Mauritanian military; 
spying on behalf of foreign elements to plan an aggression 
against Mauritania; and receiving military training abroad. 
 
 
17.  (U)  Police arrests alleged Leggett murderers:  On July 
17 in Nouakchott's Ksar neighborhood, police exchanged 
gunfire with three terrorists suspected of killing 
Christopher Leggett.  Two suspects were arrested, including 
one carrying a bomb belt. 
BOULWARE