AMRE MOUSSA REAPPOINTMENT AS ARAB LEAGUE SECGEN A

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000748 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS LONDON FOR TSOU; PARIS FOR ZEYA E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2012 TAGS: PREL EG KU XF SUBJECT: AMRE MOUSSA REAPPOINTMENT AS ARAB LEAGUE SECGEN A HARD SELL IN THE GULF Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) The Egyptian Ambassador to Kuwait commented to the Ambassador on March 5 about President Mubarak's recent attempts to convince Gulf leaders to gather support for Amre Moussa's re-appointment as the Arab League's Secretary General. He said that he had not seen any press coverage of this aspect of Mubarak's trip. Ambassador Abdul Rahim Shalaby told Ambassador LeBaron that Mubarak had made the pitch during his one hour visit with the Kuwaiti leadership on 27 February. Although Ambassador Shalaby (protect) had gotten the report second hand, he said that the Kuwaiti reply had been that Kuwait will go along with an Egyptian to fill the slot coming open this year, but it can't be Amre Moussa. Shalaby said that he expected UAE would be equally opposed to Moussa, given his objections to their former leader's proposal to find an exile exit strategy for Saddam Hussein. ¶2. (C) Shalaby speculated that speculation about alternatives centered around veteran diplomat Ali Maher or Chairman of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Mustafa El-Fiqi could be alternate candidates. He opined that French-speaking and more traditional diplomat Maher might be more acceptable to the North Africans. He noted that the North Africans were supporting a rotation by region of the Arab League to guide selection of the Secretary General, but Egypt opposed this for now (and forever we suspect). He said that El-Fiqi would likely be less acceptable to the Gulf states than Maher since Fiqi is known as somewhat of a Nasserist. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * LEBARON