(C) ARTICLE 98: "LEAVE IT TO US"

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 001662 SIPDIS STATE FOR T, L/T, D, PM/B:AMB. BODINE AND JPMURRAY, NEA/ARP E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/25/2014 TAGS: PREL MARR KJUS KU SUBJECT: (C) ARTICLE 98: "LEAVE IT TO US" REF: KUWAIT 1635 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: CDA FRANK URBANCIC; REASON 1.4 (B, D). ¶1. (C) MFA Acting Undersecretary Amb. Khaled al-Babtain told CDA May 25 that the Cabinet's Legal Committee (the Ministers of Justice, Information, and Commerce) would meet May 26 to consider what is needed according to Kuwaiti law to bring the Article 98 agreement into force. He said MFA would send a representative to that meeting with a mandate to press for "a clearcut answer" so as to bring the agreement into force. He added that MFA wanted to avoid having to seek parliamentary ratification. ¶2. (C) CDA stressed that we do not just want an answer, "we want yes." He noted that 89 countries have now signed Article 98 agreements with us, and 77 of those agreements have entered into force. Babtain, whose full-time job is Director of the Americas Dept., insisted there is no debate within GOK about whether to bring the agreement into force, it is just a matter of determining what legal mechanism to use. "Leave it to us," he concluded. ¶3. (C) COMMENT: At this stage, we are not prepared to take Babtain's assurance at face value. We will keep pressing the GOK to reach closure. URBANCIC