IRAQI EMBASSY IN UAE CONFUSED BY IRAQ COMPACT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 003337 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/FO AMB JEFFREY AND NEA/ARP E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/16/2016 TAGS: PREL EAID IZ AE SUBJECT: IRAQI EMBASSY IN UAE CONFUSED BY IRAQ COMPACT COORDINATION REF: A) JEDDAH 543, B) ABU DHABI 3257, C) STATE 124125, D) ABU DHABI 3097 Classified by Charge Martin Quinn, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) PolOff spoke with Iraqi DCM Mustafa Aboud August 16 to assess planning for an anticipated September 7 Iraq Compact preparatory meeting in Abu Dhabi. Aboud, conversely, sought information on the meeting. He shared the content of a message from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in Baghdad, which advised him of the September 7 meeting and implied that coordination with the UAE had already been completed. The note listed about 20 countries and international organizations which were to participate and reportedly said to anticipate 200 participants. He said the note did not clarify who would represent Iraq at the meetings and gave him no instruction to approach the UAEG. Aboud was unclear whether the UAE had even been asked to host. ¶2. (C) Adding to Aboud's concern, he said his Ambassador, a political appointee (and brother of former interim Iraqi President Ghazi Alyawar),was seeking to take leave beginning the following week and may not be available to help coordinate the conference (but was asking Aboud for clarification of the proposal before beginning his leave). He also noted that the UAE had no Embassy in Baghdad (also noted in Ref B),and he was unclear what channel might have been used, if any, to request that the UAE host. Aboud sought USG assistance in clarifying the status of the September 7 proposal. PolOff agreed to keep in contact as preparations for the conference, and indications of UAE willingness to host, become more clear. ¶3. (C) Comment: The Iraqi Embassy's previous approaches to the UAEG on the topic of the Iraq Compact appear to have focused on the dispatch of diplomatic notes requesting MFA views on the Compact. The MFA had reportedly not responded to those approaches. (Ref B notes our most recent senior-level encounter with MFA on the subject -- a conversation which did not clarify the UAEG's position.) Aboud made it clear that he had no instruction from Baghdad to intervene in requesting that the UAE act as host, although he was confident that the UAEG would be an excellent host if indeed the senior leadership committed to do so. Post would appreciate Washington readouts from USG meetings in Paris with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed on the topic of hosting the conference. End comment. QUINN