Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04ABUDHABI1831
2004-06-02 13:43:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

UAE - Talk of reform in advance of the G8

Tags:  PREL KDEM PGOV ECON NATO KMPI TC 
pdf how-to read a cable
null
Diana T Fritz 02/06/2007 05:44:40 PM From DB/Inbox: Search Results

Cable 
Text: 
 
 
CONFIDENTIAL

SIPDIS
TELEGRAM June 02, 2004


To: No Action Addressee 

Action: Unknown 

From: AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI (ABU DHABI 1831 - UNKNOWN) 

TAGS: PREL, PGOV, ECON, KDEM 

Captions: None 

Subject: UAE - TALK OF REFORM IN ADVANCE OF THE G8 SUMMIT 

Ref: None 
_________________________________________________________________
C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 01831

SIPDIS
CXABU:
 ACTION: POL 
 INFO: PAO RSO AMB DCM P/M ECON 
Laser1:
 INFO: PAO 

DISSEMINATION: POL
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB:MMWAHBA
DRAFTED: POL:JFMAYBURY
CLEARED: A/DCM:HOLSIN-WINDECKER ECON:OJOHN

VZCZCADI756
OO RUEHC RHEHNSC RUEHZM RUEHZG RUCAACC
DE RUEHAD #1831/01 1541343
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 021343Z JUN 04
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4618
INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/ALL NATO POST COLLECTIVE
RUCAACC/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 001831 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/02/2009
TAGS: PREL KDEM PGOV ECON NATO KMPI TC
SUBJECT: UAE - Talk of reform in advance of the G8
Summit

Ref: (A) Lisbon 817, (B) State 106755, (C) Abu Dhabi

1515, (D) State 103166, (E) State 86312, (F) Abu Dhabi
923, (G) Abu Dhabi 906

Classified by Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba, reasons
1.5 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 001831

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/02/2009
TAGS: PREL KDEM PGOV ECON NATO KMPI TC
SUBJECT: UAE - Talk of reform in advance of the G8
Summit

Ref: (A) Lisbon 817, (B) State 106755, (C) Abu Dhabi

1515, (D) State 103166, (E) State 86312, (F) Abu Dhabi
923, (G) Abu Dhabi 906

Classified by Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba, reasons
1.5 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: There is a lively dialogue about the
need for political, economic, and educational reforms
in the UAE. We read about it in the local press, hear
about it from our contacts, and we may be contributing
to it by sending Emiratis on Middle East Partnership
Initiative (MEPI) programs. In private meetings with
A/S Burns during his visit to Abu Dhabi last March for
the U.S.-UAE Strategic Partnership dialogue, the UAE's
leadership commented favorably about the need for
reforms. Publicly, Dubai Crown Prince Shaykh Mohammed
bin Rashid told the World Economic Forum in Amman in
May that reform is the key to economic problems the
Arab world faces. Regardless of whether reform is
Arab-inspired or U.S.-inspired, and regardless of
whether reform comes sooner or later, it is a concept
that is very much on people's minds here in the UAE.


2. (C) We have shared the G8 Greater Middle East
documents with our government, business, and civil
society contacts per Department and NEA Bureau
instructions, urging our interlocutors to contribute
to the dialogue and telling them that we valued their
input. For whatever reasons, the response has been
very limited. Nevertheless, we have tried to capture
what some Emiratis have been saying about reforms in
advance of the G8 Summit next week. We also have only
limited information about the separate, but
complementary proposal for a NATO cooperative security
initiative with the region. End Summary.

Reform: Privately and publicly, leaders are for it
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Emiratis got their first glimpse of the Greater
Middle East Initiative on February 29 when the local
press published a draft of the GME that had been
carried by the London-based Arabic daily "Al Hayat" on

its Web site. Information and Culture Minister Shaykh
Abdullah bin Zayed told A/S Burns during the latter's
visit to Abu Dhabi for the Strategic Partnership
dialogue on March 21 that the UAE would prefer to have
an exchange of views on reforms earlier in the
consultative process rather than reading about them in
the press (ref F). Shaykh Abdullah went on to
acknowledge that the region was in need of reform, but
"it is not a thing we can do overnight." Abu Dhabi
Crown Prince Shaykh Khalifa told A/S Burns later that
day that each country can begin to evaluate its
circumstances and priorities gradually, and added that
the UAE welcomes any friend who wants to demonstrate
how reform will benefit UAE society (ref G). The most
public call for reform (though he did not specifically
mention the UAE) came from Shaykh Mohamed bin Rashid
Al-Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of
Defense, who told the World Economic Forum in Amman on
May 16 that administrative and political reform is the
key to economic problems in the Arab world. Shaykh
Mohamed added that young officials must take an active
part in modernization and administrative reform. None
of our regular contacts within the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs offered any comment on GME-related documents
that the Department asked us to share, including the
various drafts of the "G8 Plan of Support for Reform"
(refs B and E).

Civil society speaks out on reform
--------------


4. (C) UAE University political science professor
Ebtisam Al-Kitbi did have some comments about the
draft "G8 Plan of Support" and reform in general. At
a GME conference hosted by the Portuguese and the
Moroccans on May 19 in Lisbon (ref A),Al-Kitbi said
that reforms are limited by Arab states because of
strict controls, and that the response to
globalization has been mostly from the radical fringe.
She observed further that the events on 9/11 prompted
the USG to use military might, but also to recognize
the need to push for internal Arab reforms. Al-Kitbi
said U.S. credibility is diminished in the Arab world.


5. (C) After reviewing the draft "G8 Plan of Support"
Al-Kitbi wrote to us on May 26 saying that the plan
generally was excellent and satisfied the basic
requirements for reform. However, she asked what
mechanisms (e.g. carrot and stick approach) would be
used to persuade GME countries to adopt reforms. Al-
Kitbi was skeptical that leaders in the region would
act on reforms unless pressured by the outside to do
so. She said the G8 need to demonstrate that it is
serious about adopting this plan of reforms. Al-Kitbi
further recommended that the GME reform plan be
supervised by international organizations. This way,
she said, those in power would not be as inclined to
oppose the reform plan as something coming from the
U.S. or the West.


6. (C) Al-Kitbi also urged greater dialogue between
Islamic groups and Arab governments or "neutral"
Western organizations as a way to better understand
what these groups want and why they turn to political
violence. She said that excluding these groups from
dialogue and dealing with them only from a security
perspective would lead to more violence. Finally, Al-
Kitbi sought clarification on the issue of assistance
to civil society groups in the region (section 2.7 in
the draft "G8 Plan of Support"). In her view, the
plan should explain what type of assistance would be
available for people in the region whose human rights
are being violated.


7. (C) UAE University education professor Khalifa Al-
Suweidi also offered comment on the "G8 Plan of
Support." He said that the UAE is in a better
position than many other Arab countries in terms of
progress made on educational and economic reforms.
"There have been small steps taken in the right
direction," he said. Al-Suweidi added that the
challenge will be how to implement the plan's
recommendations according to the particular
characteristics of each country.


8. (U) Aicha Sultan, a Dubai columnist for the Arabic
"Al-Bayan" newspaper, wrote in her June 2 column that
reform is an issue that has to be discussed and people
should not create excuses for not pursuing reforms.
Everyone in the Arab street knows about reform, there
is no way to ignore it, she wrote. The attack at Al-
Khobar in Saudi Arabia demonstrates among other things
that Arab youth are very lost, she added, and the best
way to counter violence is through educational and
political reform.

NATO initiative: A complementary piece of GME
--------------


9. (C) The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Under
Secretary Abdullah Rashid and NATO Deputy Secretary

SIPDIS
General Alessandro Minuto Rizzo met in Brussels on May
17 on the margins of the EU-GCC annual consultative
gathering. We understand from a readout of that
meeting that the UAE and other GCC states were
interested in NATO's proposal for a cooperative
security initiative with countries in the region.
Abdullah Rashid raised the possibility of a NATO-GCC
relationship and said he considered a bilateral
dialogue with NATO on security issues as a useful
starting point. We had earlier communicated points in
ref D with the UAEG, including the possibility of a
visit by NATO Deputy SYG Rizzo to the region (ref C).
We have heard nothing further from either NATO or the
UAEG about further consultations.

Comment
--------------


10. (C) We have continued our dialogue on reform with
senior host government officials, business, and civil
society using the papers and instructions sent to us
by the Department and NEA Bureau. Government
officials have attended the World Economic Forum, the
EU-GCC gathering, and the Arab League, and in each
case discussed or heard about reform. The UAE press
publishes stories daily about the reform debate, and
UAE academics are going to international conferences
to address the issue. We will continue to encourage
Emiratis to participate in MEPI programs just as they
have done already by going to the Campaign School in
Doha and the Women and the Law forum in Amman earlier
this year.
WAHBA