AL JAZEERA PETITIONS IRAQI GOVERNMENT TO RETURN TO

UNCLAS DOHA 000923

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/PD, NEA/ARP
BAGHDAD FOR PAO WILLIAM CAVNESS
INFO NSC FOR ABRAMS, DOD/OSD FOR SCHENKER AND MATHENY
LONDON FOR ARAB MEDIA OFFICE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: IZ KPAO PREL QA ALJAZEERA
SUBJECT: AL JAZEERA PETITIONS IRAQI GOVERNMENT TO RETURN TO
IRAQ


1. (SBU) Summary: Wadah Khanfar, Director-General of the Al
Jazeera Network, told PAO that Al Jazeera has asked the Iraqi
government for permission to return to Baghdad and is
awaiting a response. He said the decision to replace him as
head of Al Jazeera Arabic is unlikely to occur before the end
of this year and estimated that Al Jazeera English will
launch about September. End summary.


2. (SBU) During a June 8 meeting with PAO and visiting
Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Kenneth
Tomlinson, Wadah Khanfar, Director-General of the Al Jazeera
Network (AJN),said Al Jazeera has asked the Iraqi government
(GOI) for permission to return to Baghdad and is awaiting a
response. Khanfar said the request had been made in the
context of "ongoing talks" approximately four weeks ago. He
said talks between Al Jazeera and the Iraqi government have
been going on sporadically for at least the last year, if not
longer. Khanfar said the GOI is afraid Al Jazeera will
strengthen the "voice of the Sunni only" if allowed back into
Baghdad. Asked if that was not an accurate apprehension,
Khanfar said "it may be true now, because all the Iraqi Shia
are boycotting us." He said Al Jazeera is unable to give
proper weight to the Iraqi Shia voice because of the GOI
boycott on Al Jazeera. If the channel is allowed to return
and relations are "normalized", Al Jazeera would have access
to more influential Shia voices and would be able to present
a more balanced picture, Khanfar said.

Khanfar's replacement at AJ Arabic & AJ English launch date
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3. (U) Khanfar said that although he personally would like to
see a replacement named for himself at Al Jazeera Arabic
sooner rather than later, he doubted whether any decision
would be taken by the AJN board "before the end of the year."
He said the decision will probably occur after the launch of
the Al Jazeera English channel. Asked about the launch date
for the English channel, Khanfar said he expected to receive
the technical all-clear on June 15, and after that "a month
or two of pilots." He said he thought September is probably a
realistic estimate.

Khanfar the family man
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4. (U) In response to questions from Chairman Tomlinson,
Khanfar said he has four children, with the oldest twelve
years old. He described his work week as a six-day work week,
with Fridays off. He said he worked from 9am until 3pm, then
went home until 5pm "to eat with the kids and spend time with
them" before returning to work until 7, 8 or 10pm, depending
on what is going on. Noting that "there is not too much to do
in Doha," he said on Fridays he often takes his family out to
the desert, to have an evening picnic meal and enjoy the
desert night.
UNTERMEYER