YEMENI FM: POSTPONEMENT OF PLANNED AL SUMMIT IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 000723

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/30/2014
TAGS: PREL YM
SUBJECT: YEMENI FM: POSTPONEMENT OF PLANNED AL SUMMIT IN
TUNIS A "SURPRISE"

REF: A. TUNIS 675


B. TUNIS 673

C. FBIS GMP20040326000139

D. FBIS GMP20040328000016

E. SANAA 671

Classified By: Ambassador Edmund J. Hull for reasons 1.5 (b and d)


1. (c) Summary: Ambassador met with FM Qirbi on 3/31
primarily to discuss the reasons for the postponement of the
Arab League summit planned for March 29-30 in Tunis. Qirbi
characterized the March 27 announcement as a last-minute
"surprise." Citing heated discussions on secondary issues,
debates over semantics and the role of civil society, and the
apparent rejection of undisclosed, proposed Tunisian changes
to Charter documents, he suggested that Tunisia's leadership
canceled the summit to avoid public disagreement. Qirbi
commented favorably on the discussions of the various
initiatives and said there was "60 to 70 percent common
ground" among the proposals. He said that there are on-going
communications between the foreign ministers and country
leaders to address Tunisia's concerns and that he expects
that Tunisia may still host the postponed summit. AID
Representative and Pol/Econ Chief, as notetaker, also
attended the meeting. End summary.

SIGNIFICANT "COMMON GROUND" ON PROPOSALS -- TUNISIA UPSET
OVER REJECTED CHANGES


2. (c) Echoing other Arab leaders (ref b),on 3/31 FM Abu
Bakr al-Qirbi told the Ambassador that postponement of the
Tunis summit was a complete "surprise." He added that no
explanation was offered and that during a recent interview
(ref c) he had debunked a reporter's misconception that the
U.S. pressured Tunisian President Ben Ali to cancel the
meetings. Offering his best guess, Qirbi suggested that "hot
debates" on secondary issues -- a report from the Council on
Economic and Social Affairs, the AL's push to include
materials on Arab language and culture at a Frankfurt book
exhibit, and the role of civil society -- as a source of
concern for Tunisia, despite the fact that a closed FM
meeting had resolved the issues.


3. (c) Qirbi said he thought the review of the different
initiatives went smoothly, noting that "60 to 70 percent" of
the proposals covered "common ground." He explained that
they were close to finalizing the documents when the
postponement announcement was made. He hypothesized that the
Charter of Arab Consolidation proposed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt
and Syria -- approved, with significant changes, by the FMs
at the beginning of March -- may have been a further cause of
concern. He complained that Tunisia wanted to make changes,
but did not provide a paper outlining its request or explain
its ideas to the FMs. His view is that Tunisia possibly may
have been attempting to weaken the Charter, and that the
drafting countries opposed the proposed edits. Qirbi also
noted that bilateral discussions with Saudi Arabia are
continuing. He said that he suggested that Ben Ali, as chair
of the summit, express his point of view in an opening
address and have his ideas considered on that basis.


4. (c) Commenting that most countries have made positive
statements about AL reform, the Ambassador asked about the
differing views among the countries. Qirbi responded by
identifying three positions: Saudi Arabia-Egypt-Syria,
Qatar-Yemen-Oman (and possibly Morocco) and the "silent
group." He explained that press reports on the "Arab
position" were not quite accurate because the articles pulled
mostly from the Yemeni AL papers (ref e),along with the
Sana'a declaration, neither of which were accepted by the
Saudis or the Syrians. He cited the examples of Saudi
Arabian concern about the word "democracy," Egyptian and
Omani concerns about the role of "civil society" in reforms
and debates on "governance" and the empowerment of women, but
added that he believes that all parties have the same
objective and that the differences can be reconciled.

CHALLENGE TO ADDRESS TUNISIAN CONCERNS AND MOVE FORWARD


5. (c) Overall, Qirbi characterized the debates as healthy
and reflective of the concerns of each individual country
which, for example, are different for Somalia than they would
be for Saudi Arabia or Yemen. He also identified resolution
of the Middle East conflict as the paramount issue for the AL
and said that there was extensive discussion of the
relationship of the Arab World with the U.S. and Europe, as
well as their roles in implementing human and economic
reforms. He concluded that the challenge now is to address
Tunisia's particular concerns. Given on-going communications
between the foreign ministers and country leaders for this
purpose, he expects that Tunisia may get a second shot at
hosting. The Ambassador thanked Qirbi for his advance
briefing on the summit (ref e) and requested that he keep us
informed of any developments.


6. (c) Comment: Qirbi's assessment of the reasons for the
postponement overlap in some respects with Tunisia's private
explanations (refs a and b),but notably did not highlight
discord over any statements on the peace process nor the
expected absence of key leaders. The very nature of the
discussions -- various proposals somewhat messily debated and
not perfectly wrapped up with a bow -- indicate that a
democratic process was in play in Tunis. Qirbi's optimism
that these debates will eventually produce a reasonable,
agreed-upon result is clearly reflected in his continued
private and public emphasis on the significant commonalties
between the proposed reform initiatives and the Arab World's
acceptance of the fact that government reforms are needed,
even if the rate of progress toward democracy is slow and
varies from country to country. End comment.
HULL