ISLAMIST ABU SAYYAF POSES CHALLENGE TO GOJ IN MA'AN

S E C R E T AMMAN 006535

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2012
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV JO
SUBJECT: ISLAMIST ABU SAYYAF POSES CHALLENGE TO GOJ IN MA'AN

REF: A. AMMAN 341 B. FBIS GMP20021031000084

Classified By: AMBASSADOR EDWARD W. GNEHM FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D)

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GOJ ENCOUNTERS TROUBLE IN MA'AN...AGAIN
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1. (C) Jordanian Security Forces are currently engaged in a
tense standoff with Islamist activist Mohammad Shalibi aka
Abu Sayyaf, which started when the PSD attempted to take Abu
Sayyaf into custody on October 29, at a road block on the
Desert Highway near Ma'an in Southern Jordan. Abu Sayyaf
(accused of being the local leader of the rejectionist
Islamic group takfir wa hijra) has been wanted by the
Jordanian authorities for his involvement in stirring up
protests in Ma'an--a city with a history of anti-government
unrest--after a January incident involving the death of a
local boy in police custody (see ref A). Abu Sayyaf resisted
arrest and a firefight ensued in which Abu Sayyaf and two PSD
officers were injured. PSD were unable to arrest Abu Sayyaf,
who escaped with the help of heavily armed local tribesmen
and he remains at large in the Ma'an area. According to RSO
contacts in the PSD, the PSD has no evidence linking Abu
Sayyaf with the Foley assasination and Abu Sayyaf has
publicly denied any connection to it (although he was quoted
in al-Quds al-Arabi as saying he was pleased with the
"operation"--Ref B). The current situation poses a difficult
challenge of authority for the King in a city that has
periodically over the past two decades, seen similar tensions
erupt.

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KING PREPARED TO ACT WITH FORCE
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2. (S) British Ambassador Prentice told the Ambassador
November 6 that he had raised the situation in Ma'an during a
dinner conversation with King Abdullah on November 5. The
King was well briefed on the situation, and understood the
actions and statements of Abu Sayyaf and his supporters to be
a direct challenge to government authority in the city. The
King commented that his security officials had tried thus far
to deal with the Ma'an situation with a "light approach"
given the interplay of tribal and religious factors. "But
enough is enough," the King told Prentice. Murderers and
those responsible for public disorder must be brought to
heel, he said.


3. (S) The King said he understood that Abu Sayyaf and his
men were well armed, including with rocket propelled grenades
(RPG's). Possession of RPG's, the King commented, is
illegal, and if the government does not deal with the
situation, it will only get worse. The King told Prentice
that he had ordered security agencies to give Abu Sayyaf
forty eight hours to surrender himself to the police. If he
did not, the King said, he had ordered the security forces to
resolve the standoff with force.

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COMMENT
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4. (S) Ma'an -- an economically depressed area with strong
tribal views and a significant presence of Salafi and Takfiri
adherents -- has long been a center of opposition to the
government. Over the past twenty years, Ma'an has been the
scene of unrest and rioting over bread and gasoline price
increases. We have been watching the current difficulties
brew over the past week, and believe they may soon reach a
crisis point.


5. (S) That said, we do not see any popular reverberation
of recent events in Ma'an in other areas of Jordan, nor do we
feel a groundswell of similar anti-government feeling in
other population centers. Nor should we connect these events
to the tragic murder of USAID Officer Larry Foley (although
some in the press have done so, and may again). In the end,
these latest troubles in Ma'an are a serious, but local,
challenge to government authority from a town that has
periodically challenged the government in the past.

GNEHM