KUWAIT'S HOLD ON LDI NOT SANCTIONED BY MFA

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000284 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EB/ESC/ESP (GLASS),S/CT, IO/PHO (PEREZ) TREASURY FOR TREASURY GENERAL COUNSEL (AUFHAUSER),OFAC DIRECTOR (NEWCOMB),TREASURY DAS FOR TERRORISM (ZARATE), TREASURY TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST FINANCING E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2013 TAGS: PTER PREL EFIN ETTC FR KU UN SUBJECT: KUWAIT'S HOLD ON LDI NOT SANCTIONED BY MFA LEADERSHIP? REF: A. USUN 137 ¶B. KANESHIRO/JONES 1/22/03 E-MAIL ¶C. PARIS 551 Classified By: AMBASSADOR RICHARD H. JONES, REASONS 1.5 B AND D. ¶1. (C) The Ambassador raised Kuwait's request (refs A and B) for a hold on the French proposal to include the Kuwaiti-based organization Lajnat ad-Da'wa al-Islamiya (LDI) on UN freeze orders with Kuwaiti Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Shaykh Mohammed al-Sabah in a one-on-one meeting on the morning of January 22. Stressing that U.S. information corroborated and went beyond what the French had given the UN, the Ambassador told Shaykh Mohammed that we wanted the GOK to lift its hold. ¶2. (C) Dr. Mohammed replied candidly that he had no idea what was behind the Kuwaiti request for a delay; neither he nor Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaykh Sabah al-Sabah had been consulted on this issue. When the Ambassador posited that perhaps somebody was trying to spare LDI's parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood's (MB) Social Reform Society, embarrassment, Dr. Mohammed recalled that when the US gave the GOK troubling information on branch offices of the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, another Kuwaiti charity, last year, the GOK took action on it immediately. This showed the GOK was not afraid to make waves with Islamists. In fact, if an MB affiliate got put in the docket now it would help show Salafi supporters of the RIHS that it was not being singled out. If anything, taking on the LDI would be a political plus for the GOK. ¶3. (C) Dr. Mohammed assured the Ambassador that he would do his best to "get to the bottom of this." He asked the Ambassador if the Kuwaiti hold would prevent the LDI from ultimately being listed. The Ambassador replied that his understanding was that the GOK could delay the listing but it was unlikely that they could prevent it, particularly since Pakistan had now lifted its hold. In that case, Dr. Mohammed said, it made absolutely no sense for Kuwait to risk damaging its international reputation as an opponent of terrorism. He would speak to Shaykh Sabah. ¶4. (C) The Ambassador also discussed the LDI case separately with his French counterpart, Ambassador Claude Losguardis, on January 22. Losguardis said that he had discussed the issue only with the MFA's Ambassador al-Awadi (IO A/S equivalent). He added that the Kuwaiti embassy in Paris had presented a dip note to the Quai d'Orsay requesting that France withdraw its proposed listing but that the GOF had found the note's arguments "pas convaicante" (ref C). JONES JONES