US embassy cable - 05MAPUTO1112

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 001112 
 
SIPDIS 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/PD; AF/S (HTREGER) 
PARIS FOR ARS 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP, PINR, KPAO, MZ, International Visitors, Islam 
SUBJECT: MUSLIM IV HITS HOME RUN TELLING AMERICA'S 
STORY 
 
1. SUMMARY. Speaking to large audiences of Mozambican 
Muslims, Abdul Carimo Sau told America's story better 
than any American could have done. Sau, the Vice 
President of the Islamic Council of Mozambique, 
recently returned from the three-week International 
Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on Religion and the 
Community, and on August 22 appeared on a much- 
discussed local Islamic radio call-in talk show with 
the PAO. Two days later, he led a PAS-hosted 
roundtable on his visit to the U.S., a program attended 
by the leadership of the Islamic community and Muslim 
students and broadcast live from start to finish on the 
same radio station. Sau has demonstrated compellingly 
the immediate impact that the IVLP can have and how the 
program's long-term goals dovetail nicely with a post's 
short-term agenda. END SUMMARY 
 
ACCEPTS PAO INVITATION TO GO ON AIR 
2. On August 18, the PAO and PAS staff debriefed Sau 
upon his return from the IVLP. Sau spoke warmly and 
openly about the program, underscoring that he 
witnessed a highly religious nation, pluralistic and 
respectful of faiths, regardless of tradition or 
practice. Pressed to cite a criticism, he averred that 
the sometimes hectic schedule did not adapt well to the 
African sensibility of extended meetings and meals. He 
would have preferred more time to talk. He immediately 
accepted the PAO's invitation to appear jointly on a 
previously arranged call-in talk show on Radio Imane (a 
station for the Maputo Muslim community of perhaps 
100,000). 
 
3. On August 22 at 9:00 AM, Sau and the PAO went on the 
air. What was intended as a one-hour interview with 
call-in questions lasted two hours and won an 
invitation for a follow-up program. Sau described his 
trip, emphasizing again the religious nature of the 
American public in general and the thriving condition 
of Islam in the U.S. in particular. He said that it 
was his first trip to the U.S. and that Americans were 
in reality much different from the preconceived 
stereotype he had derived from mass media. Islam in 
fact is thriving in America, he declared, in part 
thanks to the separation of religion and state, 
evidence that freedom of religion in a pluralistic 
society can only benefit Muslims. In response to a 
question, he noted that concerns of Islam in 
Mozambique, such as fear of wearing the veil in public, 
are non-issues in an America where tolerance for 
differences and respect for religiosity prevail. 
 
TAKING THE HARD QUESTIONS 
4. On August 24, PAS hosted Sau for a roundtable. Some 
40 leaders of the Islamic community attended with a 
handful of Muslim students. Radio Imane, in close 
coordination with PAS, aired the entire two-hour 
roundtable live, including several call-in questions 
from radio listeners. Sau went into depth about his 
trip. Reiterating his earlier theme about the 
religiosity of Americans, he cited figures to this 
effect, but his anecdotes brought home the point. His 
meals with Americans, he said, all opened with a 
blessing. He described the vast role that religion 
plays in supporting social services at the local level, 
taking San Diego's "Father Joe" (Carroll) as an 
example. (Carroll is a Catholic priest who runs a 
large, self-supporting homeless center.) He was most 
impressed by the giving nature of Americans, the 
immense amounts they donate to charities. 
 
THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR 
5. Sau skillfully addressed questions about U.S. policy 
in the Middle East. He emphasized that the U.S. was 
the only party trusted by both the Palestinians and the 
Israelis, and this occupied a necessary role as go- 
between. Their dispute resembles more a family feud 
that has raged for generations in that both sides have 
almost forgotten the original issues of land; but don't 
think of it as a war of faiths. Similarly, the 
conflict in Iraq goes back centuries, long before the 
U.S. ever arrived. It is not a war about religion, but 
power and injustice, that only a fair apportionment of 
power and justice will resolve. He also addressed the 
War on Terror and the extent that September 11 as well 
as the acts of terror that have taken place in Madrid, 
London, and elsewhere have impacted the America 
populace. 
 
6. American is not monolithic, he reiterated. An 
intense debate about the Iraq War is going on in the 
U.S. Congress and in the media every day. Democrats 
have criticized the war from the beginning, with 
Republicans generally supporting President Bush. He 
called attention to the protest taking place near the 
President's Texas ranch, and another one that he 
witnessed in front of the White House. Where in pre- 
war Iraq, or even Mozambique, would a leader tolerate a 
protest almost on his doorstep? 
 
SHATTERING THE MYTH OF AN EMBATTLED ISLAM IN AMERICA 
7. The audience at the roundtable asked several 
questions about the state of Islam in the U.S. Here, 
Sau noted that every medium-sized city now has a 
mosque, and that Islam claims as many adherents as 
Judaism. Wearing traditional Muslim garb, he 
experienced no discrimination; to the contrary, he 
observed that many of the issues that face Muslims in 
other parts of the world do not exist in the U.S. He 
spoke about the role of pressure groups in U.S. 
politics, in response to a question about the domestic 
sources of U.S. foreign policy and the perceived 
failure of Muslims to organize as Jews and Christians 
have. The simple fact is, he argued, that most Muslims 
are recent immigrants or children of immigrants and 
have not yet sunk the political roots of longer- 
established faiths. 
 
UTAH IMPRESSES 
8. Utah provided the biggest and best surprise. He had 
never before envisioned an America where religion was 
dominant in daily life to the extent that an entire 
university (Brigham Young) could ban smoking and 
drinking, among other things. He assured the audience 
that if he were to send his children to study in the 
U.S., he would send them to Brigham Young University 
and recommended that other Muslims think accordingly. 
What is important, he added, is that religion be 
respected. In the U.S., he saw evidence of that general 
respect. 
 
9. COMMENT. Sau hit a home run. He's a far better 
spokesman for our message than any American, because 
he's Mozambican, Muslim, and influential within his own 
community. His low-key, articulate style underscores a 
truism in public diplomacy, that getting others to tell 
America's story is often the most effective technique. 
The ability and willingness to criticize us from time 
to time gives him credibility, lending even more weight 
to his positive views about the U.S. As in this case, 
we will use mass media when available, the PAO and 
other Americans when appropriate, and influential 
locals when possible. Hats off to ECA for a signal 
success. 
La Lime