Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06RIYADH4627
2006-06-11 06:44:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Riyadh
Cable title:  

COORDINATED MOVES: FOUR BROTHERS PLAY LOCAL EP

Tags:  PGOV SA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4637
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHRH #4627/01 1620644
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 110644Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8454
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 2647
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0585
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 004627 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DHAHRAN SENDS
PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2016
TAGS: PGOV SA
SUBJECT: COORDINATED MOVES: FOUR BROTHERS PLAY LOCAL EP
POLITICS

REF: A. 2005 RIYADH 9394

B. 2005 RIYADH 8323

Classified by Consul General John Kincannon for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 004627

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DHAHRAN SENDS
PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2016
TAGS: PGOV SA
SUBJECT: COORDINATED MOVES: FOUR BROTHERS PLAY LOCAL EP
POLITICS

REF: A. 2005 RIYADH 9394

B. 2005 RIYADH 8323

Classified by Consul General John Kincannon for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: At a lunch with Consulate staff on June 6,
Yousef, Khalifa, Khalid, and Mohammed Al-Dossary, brothers
with a variety of business interests and political activities
(ref A),described several aspects of the Eastern Province
(EP) political situation. Yousef said that EP Emir Prince
Mohammed bin Fahd has "lost interest in his job" because "he
knows he will be leaving soon" and complimented the
management style of the vice Emir, Prince Bin Jiluwi.
Khalifa expressed frustration with the Greater Dammam
Municipal Council, with several of the brothers suggesting
that government appointees, led by the Mayor of Dammam, were
conspiring to maintain the status quo in the face of more
activist elected members like Khalifa. Yousef, recently
elected to the board of the EP Chamber of Commerce & Industry
(EPCCI),said that his two biggest priorities as board member
were relaxing Saudization (discussion reported septel) and
improving infrastructure, particularly at the ports. End
summary.


2. (C) Discussing the state of affairs at the EP Emirate,
Yousef said that Prince Mohammed bin Fahd (MbF) "has lost
interest in the job: he knows he is leaving and only tends
to his private business interests now." He described vice
Emir Prince Bin Jiluwi as "clean, trained for his job, and
serious - if you tell him something, he'll look into it."
Yousef alleged that Bin Jiluwi had effectively removed
several top staff members at the Emirate, including Saad
Al-Othman, the deputy Emir (No. 3) for corruption and
nepotism. (Note and comment: Rumors that King Abdullah
would ask MbF to leave his job were at a fever pitch in the
fall of 2005; they subsequently subsided, but have not
disappeared. Bin Jiluwi has always seemed to us to be
completely subservient to MbF (ref B); if Yousef's
characterization is accurate, he may be playing a larger and
more assertive role at the Emirate. End note and comment.)


3. (C) Khalifa, Yousef, and Khalid all separately discussed
the Greater Dammam Municipal Council, of which Khalifa is an
elected member, and the council's relation with the Mayor of
Dammam, Dhaifallah Al-Otaibi. Khalid said that Al-Otaibi and
the other appointed council members had orchestrated the
election of Khalid Al-Falih, a senior vice president at Saudi
Aramco and one of the council's appointed members, as
president of the council. Yousef expanded on this theme,
arguing that Al-Falih's election allowed Al-Otaibi, a former
Aramcon himself, to effectively manage the council. Khalifa
expressed his frustration with the council's governance
structure and its apparent lack of support for his major
initiative, a complete renovation of the al-Khobar and Dammam
coastline through some sort of public-private partnership.


4. (C) Yousef explained his strategy for a two-pronged
Dossary attack on Al-Otaibi: "I'm making him come to the
EPCCI to present his plan for Dammam's development. We're
going to blast him, both at the meeting and later in the
press. Khalifa will hit him from the municipal council side,
and me from the business side." In addition to his attack on
Al-Otaibi, Yousef said that during his tenure on the EPCCI he
hoped to accomplish a relaxation in Saudization (reported
septel) and an improvement in Dammam's infrastructure,
particularly at the port. According to Yousef, there is just
one X-ray scanner at the Dammam port, and only 60 percent of
incoming containers are screened. "They need to buy several
more scanners; we're worried that the one scanner will break
down and nothing will move for three weeks until they get the
parts."


5. (C) Comment: The Dossary brothers continue to impress us
as younger and more dynamic counterparts to some of the EP's
more established business families. They contested the
area's only two significant elections, for the municipal
council (where Khalifa was the highest vote-getter for the
Greater Dammam Municipal Council) and for the EPCCI (where
Yousef led a slate that wrested two out of 12 seats from the
incumbent group). The brothers clearly see a close
relationship between their political activities and their
business interests: we suspect that Khalifa's desire to
renovate Dammam's corniche is rooted as much in the potential
for real estate deals (in which the family is a big local
player) as in his constituents' desires. The brothers'
description of municipal council dynamics do not surprise us:

RIYADH 00004627 002 OF 002


Al-Otaibi has privately indicated to us his contempt for the
council's elected members, and the council's composition and
by-laws would allow the mayor to effectively manage the
council if he had the support of the appointed members and if
the elected members were not unified. End comment.

(APPROVED: KINCANNON)
OBERWETTER