US embassy cable - 05PARIS3191

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 003191 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR ECA/PE/V/R/E (CAROL GRABAUSKAS; STEVE TAYLOR); 
EUR/PPD (LILLIAN DEVALCOURT) 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OEXC, SCUL, FR 
SUBJECT: FY 2006 IVLP- NOMINATION AND PART I BIODATA FOR MR. 
ABDELHAQ NABAOUI - PRINCIPAL CANDIDATE FOR INDIVIDUAL 
PROGRAM. 
 
REF: 
 
START FIXED-FORMAT TEXT (PLEASE DO NOT EDIT): 
: The following data is in a fixed format which enables 
: automated processing in Washington and should not be 
: edited except by means of the Post-EVDB software. 
EXPORT-SOURCE: POST-EVDB 
VERSION: 3.0.7 
POST-EMAIL: PaillardS@state.gov 
TRANSMITTING-POST: PAS Paris 
TRANSMITTING-POST-ID: 14544 
EXPORT-TYPE: BIO DATA 
START NOMINATION: 
ECA-OFFICE: E/VGE 
PROG-AGENCY-NAME: 
POST-PROJ-ID: 284 
ECA-PROJ-NO: 
PROJ-NAME: FY 2006 - INDIVIDUAL Program - Abdelhaq Nabaoui 
START MEMO PROJ-DESC: 
 
END MEMO PROJ-DESC: 
PROJ-TYPE: Individual 
PROG-TYPE: IV Grant Visitor 
FY: 2006 
DEPART-POST: 
SESSION-DATE: 
RETURN-POST: 
NO-OF-PART: 1 
RANK-ORDER: 12 
START MEMO POST-OBJ: 
 
END MEMO POST-OBJ: 
START MEMO POST-RCMD: 
 
END MEMO POST-RCMD: 
ECA-OFFICE-ID: 1047 
PROG-AGENCY-ID: 
PROJ-TYPE-ID: IND 
PROG-TYPE-ID: 29 
NOMINATING-POST-ID: 14544 
FUNDING-CNTRY-ID: 
STATUS: N 
ORIGINATOR: P 
SUBJ-DISC: Immigration 
START BIO: 
PREFIX: Mr. 
F-NAME: Abdelhaq 
M-NAME: 
L-NAME: Nabaoui 
SUFFIX: 
POSITION-CODE: 0 
PRINCIPAL?: Yes 
M-ADDR1: Universite Louis Pasteur 
M-ADDR2: UFR de Sciences Physiques 
M-ADDR3: 3-5, rue de l'Universite 
M-CITY: Strasbourg 
M-STATE: 
M-CNTRY: France 
M-ZONE: 67084 cedex 
M-ZIP: 
M-PHONE: + (33) 3.90.24.06.91 
M-FAX: + (33) 3.90.24.06.69 
M-EMAIL: 
M-CNTRY-ID: FR 
M-ADDRTYPE: B 
GENDER: M 
DOB: 07/15/1964 
MAR-STAT: M 
BIRTH-CITY: Safi 
BIRTH-CNTRY: Morocco 
CITIZ-CNTRY: Morocco 
RES-CNTRY: France 
START MEMO POSITION: 
President of the Regional Council of Muslim Faith of Alsace, 
since June 2003 
END MEMO POSITION: 
START MEMO OTHER-POSITIONS: 
Regional Representative of the Union of Muslim Organizations 
of France 
END MEMO OTHER-POSITIONS: 
START MEMO PREV-POSITIONS: 
1998-2003 - Full time professor of physics at the University 
of Strasbourg 
END MEMO PREV-POSITIONS: 
START MEMO US-TRAVEL: 
None 
END MEMO US-TRAVEL: 
START MEMO OTHER-TRAVEL: 
 
END MEMO OTHER-TRAVEL: 
START MEMO EDUCATION: 
- PhD in Physical Science, University Louis Pasteur, 
Strasbourg 
END MEMO EDUCATION: 
START MEMO MEMBERSHIPS: 
 
END MEMO MEMBERSHIPS: 
START MEMO PUBLICATIONS: 
April to October 2004 - 4 articles on the website "oumma.com" 
- "L'Incendie d'un lieu de culte Musulman" 
- "Profanation de 50 tombes Musulmanes a Strasbourg" 
- "L'Islamophobie se dechaine a Strasbourg" 
- "Inquietant climat islamophobe a Strasbourg" 
articles written after the profanation of Muslim tombs in 
Strasbourg, and the climate of phobia against Islam 
END MEMO PUBLICATIONS: 
START MEMO SPEC-CONSID: 
No pork 
END MEMO SPEC-CONSID: 
FIRST-LANG: Arabic 
ENGL-READ: 1 
ENGL-SPEAK: 1 
ENGL-COMP: 1 
START OTHER-LANGS: 
OTHER-LANG: French 
OTHER-LANG-ID: FR 
READ: 5 
SPEAK: 5 
COMP: 5 
END OTHER-LANGS: 
START MEMO NOM-POST-OBJ: 
Outreach to the Islamic community is a major facet of 
Mission's MPP. 
END MEMO NOM-POST-OBJ: 
START MEMO NOM-POST-RCMD: 
We would recommend that Abdelhaq Nabaoui meet with experts on 
Islamic integration, such as 
 Jack Miles, Senior Adviser to the President of the Paul 
Getty Trust Foundation Supporting Arts and Scholarship, 
California; 
 Peter Mandaville, Director, Center for Global Studies, 
George Mason University, Virginia; 
 Catherine Cosman, Senior Policy Analyst, U.S. Commission on 
International Religious Freedom, Washington, D.C.; 
 Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Professor of History of Islam and 
Christian-Muslim Relations, Georgetown University, Washington, 
D.C. 
 Amir Hussain, Department of Religious Studies, California 
State University, Northridge; 
 Jonathan Friedlander, Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA; 
UCLA; 
 Mustafa Ahmed, Director, Foundation for Islamic Education, 
Villanova, Pennsylvania; 
 Faheen Schuaibe, Imam, Oakland, California. 
 
END MEMO NOM-POST-RCMD: 
START MEMO VIS-OBJ: 
 
END MEMO VIS-OBJ: 
START MEMO VIS-REC: 
 
END MEMO VIS-REC: 
NOMINATING-OFFICER: Christopher Davis; Genevieve Thomassin 
START MEMO NOMINATING-JUSTIFICATION: 
Abdelhaq Nabaoui has the delicate task of being the first ever 
president of the Alsace Muslim Regional Council (Conseil 
Regional du Culte Musulman, CRCM), established in 2003. 
Islamic tendencies in Alsace reflect those elsewhere in 
France, with the added feature of stronger Turkish 
representation, given the proximity to the large Turkish 
immigrant population in Germany.  Nabaoui and his UOIF list 
joined forces with the Turkish Milli Gorus list to win nine of 
21 seats in the CRCM board.  Nabaoui himself emerged as the 
strongest consensual candidate for president. 
With such diversity, even rivalry, among tendencies obliged to 
o 
cohabitate in artificial constructs such as the CRCM, all is 
not sweetness and light within the CRCM.  Nabaoui contends, 
however, that the cooperation within the Alsace CRCM is better 
than that at the national level (Conseil Francais du Culte 
Musulman, CFCM). 
In fact, Abdelhaq Nabaoui has won the respect of regional 
officials, regional representatives of the GOF, and academics 
for his outreach (more than 200 visits) to the Islamic 
community in Alsace, and to local and regional authorities, 
raising their awareness on issues facing local Muslim 
populations.  And vice versa.  For example, Nabaoui was 
instrumental in getting the regional Muslim community to 
support the GOF's position on headscarf legislation during the 
Chesnot-Malbrunot hostage crisis, from August to December 
2004.  He nonetheless feels that the GOF, which created the 
CRCMs, is not doing enough to provide office space and 
accoutrements to them. 
Nabaoui has assumed his responsibilities at some sacrifice, 
taking a cut in pay in his teaching profession of about 500 
euros per month to give himself the time for his outreach 
activities. 
Abdelhaq Nabaoui is now one of the prominent Islamic leaders 
in Alsace. While it is too early to tell who will emerge as 
president of the next CRCM after elections in June, Nabaoui 
should continue to be an influential moderate in the Muslim 
community. 
END MEMO NOMINATING-JUSTIFICATION: 
NOM-OFF: AmConGen Strasbourg, France 
SPEAKER?: No 
NOTIFY-EMB: No 
MEDIA?: No 
HOME-STAY: No 
HOME-HOSP?: No 
E-I-TYPE: INTERPRETER 
NOMINEE-ID: 571 
PERSON-ID: 470 
BIRTH-CNTRY-ID: MO 
CITIZ-CNTRY-ID: MO 
RES-CNTRY-ID: FR 
FIRST-LANG-ID: AR 
E-I-TYPE-ID: I 
NOM-POST-ID: 14544 
NOM-FUNDING-CNTRY-ID: 0 
NOM-STATUS: N 
DS2019-ACTION: 1 
DS2019-SUBJECT: 
SPONS-FUNDS: 0 
SPONS-AGENCY1: 
USGOVT-AGENCY1: 
US-AGENCY-AMT1: 0 
USGOVT-AGENCY2: 
US-AGENCY-AMT2: 0 
INTL-ORG1: 
INTL-ORG-AMOUNT1: 0 
INTL-ORG2: 
INTL-ORG-AMOUNT2: 0 
VIS-GOVT-AMT: 0 
COMMISSION: 0 
OTHER-AMOUNT: 0 
VIS-AMOUNT: 0 
VIS-CAT: 
END BIO: 
END NOMINATION: 
END FIXED-FORMAT TEXT: 
 
  WOLFF