BAHRAIN: DEMARCHING INVITEES TO THE U.S.-EU

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000792 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2015 TAGS: PREL ASEC BA IZ EUN SUBJECT: BAHRAIN: DEMARCHING INVITEES TO THE U.S.-EU INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON IRAQ REF: A. STATE 94861 ¶B. STATE 93742 Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) . ¶1. (C) Ambassador June 1 delivered Ref B demarche concerning the invitation to the June 21-22 international conference on Iraq in Brussels to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs/Minister of Information Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar. Abdul Ghaffar, who spends much of his time now at the Ministry of Information, was unaware of the conference but promised to look into it. (Note: Ambassador had spoken earlier with British Ambassador to Bahrain Lamb, who represents the EU in the Kingdom, about a joint delivery of the invitation, but Lamb said he had not received instructions to deliver the invitation. End Note.) ¶2. (C) Pol/Econ chief also delivered Ref B demarche to MFA Assistant Under Secretary for Coordination and Follow Up Shaikh Abdul Aziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa June 1. Shaikh Abdul Aziz noted that Foreign Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa had received an invitation to attend the conference directly from Brussels the previous day. The Foreign Minister planned to attend the conference. He had been scheduled to be in Singapore to attend a meeting of an Asian-Middle East council, but it was more important that he be in Brussels to demonstrate support for the Iraqi Transitional Government. ¶3. (C) Shaikh Abdul Aziz said that the Bahraini Embassy in Baghdad reported that Iraq was on the brink of civil war. He said that the international community needed to do all it could to increase stability in Iraq. If basic human needs were not met, life was not worth living, leading people to join the insurgency. Shaikh Abdul Aziz hoped the Brussels conference would bring a measure of hope to the Iraqi people. MONROE