ENGAGING THE SAUDIS ON GWOT EFFORTS IN THE

S E C R E T MANILA 002016 SIPDIS NOFORN E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2015 TAGS: PTER EFIN PREL SA RP XC XF SUBJECT: ENGAGING THE SAUDIS ON GWOT EFFORTS IN THE PHILIPPINES REF: A. MANILA 1614 ¶B. TD-314/20397-05 (5 APRIL 05) ¶C. TD-314/26225-05 (2 MAY 05) Classified By: Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone, reasons 1.4 (b)(c) an d (d) ¶1. (S/NF) In a meeting on May 2, Ambassador told Foreign Secretary Romulo of our concern about the role Saudi-based SIPDIS financiers appear to be playing in Mindanao by channeling money to terrorists linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). He noted that there has been at least one case in which the Saudi Ambassador here had successfully intervened with the Bureau of Immigration to secure the release of a suspected terrorist financier. He warned of an ongoing case in which a Saudi national with apparent terrorist links had been captured by the Philippine National Police (PNP) recently. He urged that the GRP register its concerns about these cases frankly with the Saudi Ambassador, and urge that all assistance from Saudi Arabia be handled in an open and transparent manner at all levels of the GRP, including the city and provincial levels, as the USG and other economic donors do. He told Romulo that he had proposed to the Saudi Ambassador a collaborative approach to development assistance in Mindanao, and that the Saudi Ambassador had expressed warm interest. ¶2. (S) Secretary Romulo expressed concern at these reports, and asked for more details about the latest case. Ambassador referred him to the PNP. Romulo said that he had understood that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) itself was not involved with the JI and ASG, although some "renegades" within the MILF might be. Ambassador confirmed that the MILF leadership was at least aware of the support to the ASG and JI some of its factions were providing. ¶3. (S) Action request: In ref a (repeated to GCC),Mission urged that we impress more fully on the Saudi government the importance of information-sharing with governments in the region, and highlighted the "ambiguous" role of both official and unofficial Saudis in aiding suspected terrorists here in the Philippines. We reported that there have been no discernible Saudi efforts to guard against private Saudi funding to extremist Islamic groups here. We recommend greater attention to this issue across intra-USG regional bureaucratic lines and a serious and candid discussion with the Saudis and other Gulf Arabs about countering terrorist financing from the Gulf to Mindanao, and to Southeast Asia generally, if the problem is as evident elsewhere in the region. Ricciardone