IIG FM ZEBARI PLEASED WITH OUTCOME OF NEIGHBORS

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000185 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2010 TAGS: PREL PGOV JO IZ SUBJECT: IIG FM ZEBARI PLEASED WITH OUTCOME OF NEIGHBORS CONFERENCE Classified By: Charge David Hale, Reasons 1.4 (B) & (D) ¶1. (C) Summary. IIG FM Zebari praised the outcome of the January 8 neighbors conference in Amman. The only point of controversy was a Syrian stab at removing language about federalism, which Zebari parried. Zebari was pleased with Jordan's overall help but dismissed the leadership's analysis here of internal Iraqi political developments as dated and unsubtle. End summary. ¶2. (C) Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari met with Charge on January 8, at Zebari's request, to provide a readout on the January 7 Iraq Neighbors Conference held in Amman. He described the atmosphere and outcome as positive and constructive. This demonstration of unity on the importance of full Iraqi participation in the elections, and of holding them on time, would encourage Sunni candidates to stay the course and could mitigate any threat of a Sunni voter boycott. He praised the Jordanian advance work on the draft statement, and said there were no real controversies in the sessions. ¶3. (C) The one point of contention came from Syrian Foreign Minister Shara, who wanted the stock phrase about transition to "a united, democratic, pluralistic, federal state" removed. No other participant, not even Turkey, joined the Syrians. Zebari accepted a meaningless substitute of "federal structure" instead of "state." ¶4. (C) Zebari said he used the conference to stress the need for Syrian and Iranian help in stopping the flow of insurgents and weapons into Iraq. He said the Syrians said they wanted to cooperate. They claimed to have checked on information provided to them on the whereabouts of FREs, but had come up empty handed. Zebari said he dismissed this response as not credible and encouraged the Syrians to be more aggressive. ¶5. (C) Before the press event began, Zebari said he had a word with Jordanian FM al-Mulki to tone down the Jordanians, recent emphasis on the Arab nature of Iraq. While this was an effort to reverse some of the impact of the King's sectarian "Shia crescent" language, Zebari said it amounted to the same message about a Shia menace encoded in language used by Saddam. Kurds and Shia alike resented it. He claimed Mulki took the point and this shift was reflected in the press discourse. Zebari was bemused by the readiness of the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister )who was amiable throughout ) to emphasize as well Iraq's Arab quality. Overall, Zebari assessed Jordan,s role vis--vis Iraq as positive, although he found Amman,s concerns about the political process and sectarian divides to be dated and unsubtle ) and said he told the Jordanians so. They are not aware of the significance of cross-sectarian alliance building underway, Zebari said, or of the Shia leadership,s own recognition of the need to engage the Sunni community. ¶6. (C) Following encouragement from Baghdad, Zebari said he planned to attend the ambassador-level Sharm follow-up session in Cairo on January 11. He said he intends to obtain a similar expression of constructive support for the election timetable and full participation in it (State 5042 was not available prior to the meeting). As for future neighbors events, Zebari said he looked forward to the next, unscheduled one in Istanbul. However, once a sovereign Iraqi government was in place, Zebari expected the neighbors events to cease ) no one likes having your neighbors tell you how to run your life, he said. HALE