(C) ORAL MESSAGE FROM SECRETARY TO ARAB LEAGUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 003563

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA, NEA/ARP, NEA/NGA, NEA/IPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2013
TAGS: PREL KPAL IZ AL KU
SUBJECT: (C) ORAL MESSAGE FROM SECRETARY TO ARAB LEAGUE
FOREIGN MINISTERS DELIVERED

REF: STATE 224109

Classified By: AMB. RICHARD H. JONES; REASONS 1.5 (B, D).


1. (U) Action Request - see paragraph 4.


2. (C) Pol Chief delivered reftel oral message to Shaykh Dr.
Ahmed Nasser Mohammed al-Sabah, the Foreign Minister's Office
Director, August 4. Shaykh Ahmed replied that Kuwait and all
other GCC states endorse the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC)
and support Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu
Mazen). However, before giving money to the Palestinian
Authority, the GOK wants assurances that Israel will not
seize or freeze such funds, and that it will move swiftly and
predictably to release PA funds already seized/frozen.


3. (C) Anticipating that Abu Mazen will visit Kuwait within
the next two weeks, he asked that the USG impress upon him
that his visit will go much better if he speaks out against
Saddam's regime and the mass graves before he gets here, as
well as in the joint communique the GOK is preparing. In
fact, Shaykh Ahmed added, Abu Mazen's relations with Kuwait
will go better "the more he distances himself from Arafat."
He stressed that Kuwaitis still feel betrayed by the
Palestinians who supported Saddam during the Iraqi occupation
after "living among us" for so long. (NOTE: it is becoming
painfully clear to Kuwaitis that their fellow-citizens
missing since the Iraqi occupation are buried somewhere in
those mass graves; there are about 600 missing Kuwaitis, a
huge number for this small population, proportionally
equivalent to about 180,000 missing Americans. END NOTE.)


4. (C) ACTION REQUEST: We request that the State Department
ensure that Abu Mazen is aware of the GOK's sentiments before
he visits here.


5. (C) Shaykh Ahmed stated that Kuwait will not participate
in the August 5-6 meeting of the Arab League Sharm el-Sheikh
Summit "Follow Up and Steering Committee," as it is not a
member of the Committee. Regarding the Arab League itself,
he said Kuwait will present a reform proposal in September,
intended to move away from "the empty slogans of the last
fifty years" towards a more meaningful, constructive role.
He said the GOK is pressing Egypt to rein in Arab League
SecGen Amr Musa, who behaved "unacceptably" by meeting with
"some of the most extremist factions in Iraq" while refusing
to meet with the IGC.
JONES