AMBASSADOR PITCHES COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER ON

UNCLAS KUWAIT 005099 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS FOR NEA/ARPI AND S/CT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL ANET KU SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR PITCHES COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER ON CUTTING AL MANAR OFF ARABSAT REF: A. KUWAIT 5083 ¶B. KUWAIT 5061 ¶C. STATE 216186 ¶1. (SBU) Ambassador ran into the Kuwait Communications Minister, Shaykh Ahmed Al-Abdullah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, the evening of December 11 and made a strong pitch to pull Al Manar from ARABSAT programming. The Minister replied that ARABSAT is a jointly owned company and therefore others would need to be approached as well. Ambassador noted that we are making the same strong pitch to other owners of ARABSAT, including Saudi Arabia, as well as to satellite owners around the world, and that we have had some success. The Minister inquired about the Saudi reaction; Ambassador replied that he had not seen a response from Riyadh. (We will supply the Minister with a non paper on the topic.) ¶2. (U) Ambassador made a similar pitch to Information Minister Dr. Anas Al-Rasheed on December 7 and NEA DAS Gray conveyed U.S. concerns to Acting Ministry of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Khalid Al-Babtain on December 6. (refs A and B). LEBARON