Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03ABUDHABI2985
2003-06-23 12:12:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

ABU DHABI CROWN PRINCE BURNISHES

Tags:  PGOV PREL TC 
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Cable 
Text: 
 
 
CONFIDENTIAL

SIPDIS
TELEGRAM June 23, 2003


To: No Action Addressee 

Action: Unknown 

From: AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI (ABU DHABI 2985 - PRIORITY) 

TAGS: PGOV, PREL 

Captions: None 

Subject: ABU DHABI CROWN PRINCE BURNISHES LEADERSHIP IMAGE IN 
 HIGH-PROFILE VISITS TO UK AND FRANCE 

Ref: None 
_________________________________________________________________
C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 02985

SIPDIS
CXABU:
 ACTION: POL 
 INFO: AMB DCM P/M ECON RSO 

DISSEMINATION: POL
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB:MMWAHBA
DRAFTED: A/DCM:TEWILLIAMS
CLEARED: POL:STWILLIAMS

VZCZCADI106
PP RUEHC RUEHZM RUEHLO RUEHFR RHEHNSC RUEAIIA
RHEFDIA
DE RUEHAD #2985/01 1741212
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 231212Z JUN 03
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0558
INFO RUEHZM/GCC COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0687
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0733
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 002985 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP

NSC FOR PETER THEROUX

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/13
TAGS: PGOV PREL TC
SUBJECT: ABU DHABI CROWN PRINCE BURNISHES
LEADERSHIP IMAGE IN HIGH-PROFILE
VISITS TO UK AND FRANCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 002985

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP

NSC FOR PETER THEROUX

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/13
TAGS: PGOV PREL TC
SUBJECT: ABU DHABI CROWN PRINCE BURNISHES
LEADERSHIP IMAGE IN HIGH-PROFILE
VISITS TO UK AND FRANCE


1. (U) Classified by Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba
for reasons 1.5 (B) and (D).

SUMMARY AND COMMENT
--------------


2. (C) Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince (and de facto
Ruler),Shaykh Khalifa bin Zayid Al-Nahyan, made
unusually high-profile visits to the U.K. and
France earlier this month in a move clearly
intended to establish his credentials as a
statesman. The normally quite shy Khalifa, whose
primary focus heretofore has been on running Abu
Dhabi emirate and managing its prodigious oil
wealth, held meetings with Tony Blair, Jacques
Chirac and others (including Queen Elizabeth),and
issued generally well-received pronouncements on a
range of international political issues (Middle
East Peace, etc.). Khalifa's European trip
received exhaustive coverage in the Emirati press;
frequently shown close at his side was Shaykh
Muhammad bin Zayid (MBZ),the de facto defense
minister and future Abu Dhabi Crown Prince hopeful.
U.K. Embassy sources here (protect) say Khalifa's
meetings were mostly non-substantive and note that
the impressive schedule was largely arranged
through MbZ's connections both with HMG and the
British Royal Family. Thus, while showing Khalifa
as a confident player on a broader international
stage may have been the primary purpose of the
European trip, a secondary one would appear to have
been to demonstrate MBZ's indispensability -- an
attribute unlikely to hurt his chances of being
selected as the next Abu Dhabi Crown Prince. End
Summary and Comment.

Shaykh Khalifa's European (Working) Vacation
--------------


3. (C) Abu Dhabi Crown Prince (and de facto ruler)
Shaykh Khalifa bin Zayid Al-Nahyan spent the first
two weeks of June in Europe, visiting both the U.K.
and France. Yet while he routinely takes off the
month of June for vacation, the first half of this
year's break looked suspiciously like work, with
the local UAE press providing front-page coverage
of Khalifa's meetings with Princes Andrew and
Charles, PM Blair and FM Straw, a reception for
officials and businessmen at the tony Lanesborough
Hotel (owned by the Abu Dhabi Investment
Authority),and a meeting with Queen Elizabeth at
Windsor Castle (followed by attendance at the
Queen's 50th Coronation Anniversary). Khalifa's
Paris schedule appeared to be shorter and less
hectic, but here too he kept reasonably busy,
meeting with President Chirac, Defense Minister
Aliot-Marie, and various government and business
types.


Press reports emphasize engagement on substance
-------------- --------------


4. (C) In an effort to shape the coverage of his
trip, Shaykh Khalifa gave a rare interview to the
pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat at the start of
his visit to London in which he engaged (for the
first time in post's collective memory) on a wide
range of international political issues including
Iraq, the Middle East Peace Roadmap, and terrorist
attacks in Riyadh and Casablanca. He took the even
more unusual step of also addressing the UAE's
domestic political structure, saying the current
set-up provides for the "inclusion of a mechanism
for consultations in decision-making." On the role
of women in the UAE, he observed that "no
amendments to the Constitution are needed to permit
women to serve in the Federal National Council."
The interview (really more of a statement) was
disseminated broadly by the official government
Emirates News Agency (WAM). Khalifa's
interlocutors appeared equally at pains to give his
discussions a statesmanlike cast, with Tony Blair's
spokesperson calling their talks "important," and
Chirac's media handler noting that Khalifa had
engaged on "a number of military contracts and the
quality of the strategic partnership."

ut appearances can be deceptive
--------------


5. (C) Yet in contrast to press reporting
suggesting Khalifa's meetings were fraught with
heavy lifting on the affairs of the day, U.K.
embassy officials in Abu Dhabi (protect) have told
us privately that while the atmospherics of the
Crown Prince's appointments were universally
positive, they were also largely unencumbered with
substance. Indeed, one U.K. diplomat observed that
Khalifa's schedule had largely been orchestrated by
younger half-brother Shaykh Muhammad bin Zayid
(MbZ),the de facto defense minister, whose
personal ties and policy credentials with the U.K.
leadership are well established. MBZ reportedly
had to push Khalifa to take a more full schedule in
Britain (including calls on government officials as
opposed to the more typical, and largely
ceremonial, meetings with UK royal family members).
The net result of MBZ's efforts was that Khalifa
came across as confident and statesmanlike, while
MbZ once again demonstrated his indispensability.

Wahba