PRESSING THE ARAB LEAGUE TO SUPPORT IRAQI

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 006673 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/29/2015 TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS PTER EG IZ SUBJECT: PRESSING THE ARAB LEAGUE TO SUPPORT IRAQI CONSTITUTION REF: E-MAILS FROM NEA/I Classified by Charge Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa has so far been marginally helpful on building political support for Iraq's new constitution, despite USG and British requests for his assistance in reaching out to key Iraq Sunni figures. In public, so far, Moussa has focused his attention on draft constitution language that deals with Iraq's "Arabness" - language he told reporters August 25 which had "triggered a state of discontent in Arab political circles." Over the past several days, Moussa has been in touch with "a number of Arab officials" as well as Iraqi President Talabani and Prime Minister Jafari. On August 28, following his meeting with permanent representatives to the Arab League to discuss the upcoming September 8 ministerial meeting in Cairo, Moussa told reporters that he was satisfied with "positive" changes to the new Iraqi constitution. ¶2. (C) Our British Embassy colleagues demarched Moussa's Cabinet Chief of Staff Hesham Youssef, August 25, requesting Moussa to make public statements and/or contact influential Iraqi Sunni figures to encourage a successful completion of negotiations over the Iraqi constitution. While the UK DCM told us that the demarche was received positively, it appears that Moussa has so far directed his public remarks on the constitution merely to the subject of Iraq's Arab character. ¶3. (C) Comment: According to our AL contacts, Moussa continues to "keep his door open" to all Iraqis interested in meeting with him. Iraqis that Moussa has met with in the past week include Dr. Hameed Gaood (brother of Talal Gaood), and Muzhir al-Dulaimi, both Iraqi Sunni political activists. Iraq's Ambassador to the Arab League, Raad al-Alusi, assures us that Iraq will feature prominently on the agenda of the coming AL ministerial, but tells us privately that Moussa will not lead with respect to building political support for Iraq's constitution. We will have better luck continuing our efforts to reach out to key Arab leaders such as Egyptian President Mubarak. The Secretary's August 27 call, we hope, will be followed up by GOE activism with key Iraqi Sunnis, as well as a more positive public diplomacy approach vis-a-vis the political process in Iraq. We do not, however, expect Egyptian and Iraqi diplomatic relations to improve dramatically in the short-term, given the strains caused by the kidnapping and murder in Iraq of Egyptian Ambassador to Baghdad, Ihab Sherif, last June and general neuralgia toward Iraq's Shia and Kurdish leadership. Visit Embassy Cairo's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/cairo You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. JONES