Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05CAIRO9350
2005-12-19 15:41:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Cairo
Cable title:  

IRAQ: EGYPT SEES ELECTIONS AS "STEP FORWARD" TO

Tags:  PREL PGOV PTER PHUM KDEM EG IZ 
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UNCLAS CAIRO 009350 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PHUM KDEM EG IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQ: EGYPT SEES ELECTIONS AS "STEP FORWARD" TO
COMPLETION OF POLITICAL PROCESS

REF: A. STATE 225860

B. CAIRO 9315

UNCLAS CAIRO 009350

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PHUM KDEM EG IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQ: EGYPT SEES ELECTIONS AS "STEP FORWARD" TO
COMPLETION OF POLITICAL PROCESS

REF: A. STATE 225860

B. CAIRO 9315


1. (U) The Charge delivered foreign policy reftel demarche
to Presidential Spokesman and Advisor Soliman Awad ahead of
Iraq's national parliamentary elections, encouraging the GOE
to publicly support and congratulate the Iraqi people for
their democratic achievement, once election results had been
received. Awad took the message on board and committed to
sharing the message within the government. Similarly, post
shared reftel request with the Minister of Foreign Affair's
senior staff and with the Arab League Secretariat, requesting
them to be generous in their public recognition of Iraq's
democratic process and the further implementation of the
political process described in UNSCR 1546.


2. (U) Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit provided
Egypt's official reaction to Iraq's national parliamentary
elections during a December 17 press conference. In a
written press statement shared with Post, Aboul Gheit said
that Iraq's elections came within the framework of
implementing the political process spelled out in UNSCR 1546,
which included a process of consultations among parliamentary
blocs. Further, the elections were a basic step to complete
that process as well as commitments made at the Iraqi
national reconciliation conference in Cairo to prepare for a
national conference in Baghdad in February. All such
efforts, he said, contributed to serving efforts exerted to
establish stability and security in Iraq with the aim of
achieving the aspirations of the Iraqi people. Aboul Gheit
called for support of the Iraqi people's complete right of
territorial sovereignty to maintain national unity in order
to achieve economic prosperity, a national government, and an
elected parliament that would help completely implement UNSCR
1546, including the withdrawal of foreign forces.


3. (U) Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa has been
publicly quiet on the subject of Iraq since the elections,
although he was quoted as having said generally constructive
things in the run-up to the elections during a visit to
Qatar. The Arab League's envoy to monitor the elections,
Farouq Al-Omad, was quoted in local media complimenting the
Iraqis for their election preparations and wished Iraqis a
better future via the democratic process.


4. (U) Moussa is currently focused on organizing a national
reconciliation conference in Iraq in either February or
March, as agreed to by Iraqis in Cairo in November. We
understand that a key piece of that planning includes the
creation of a "steering group" of roughly 20 Iraqis,
representing various political forces within the country,
coordinated by former Sudanese Foreign Minister Ismail. This
committee, which we are told was agreed to by the Iraqis in
Cairo in November, would be tasked with deciding upon both
the substance and administrative aspects of the Baghdad
conference. Moussa intends to coordinate with UN envoy Qazi
and Iraqi political figures to work out the details of the
coming planning phase.


JONES