QATIF MUNICIPAL COUNCIL MEMBER ADVOCATES PATIENTLY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 005036 SIPDIS SIPDIS DHAHRAN SENDS PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR SA SUBJECT: QATIF MUNICIPAL COUNCIL MEMBER ADVOCATES PATIENTLY BUT PERSISTENTLY REF: A. RIYADH 4724 ¶B. RIYADH 3974 ¶C. RIYADH 3673 ¶D. RIYADH 1741 ¶E. 2005 RIYADH 8401 ¶F. 2005 RIYADH 8323 Classified by Consul General John Kincannon for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) In a June 29 meeting with PolOff, Dr. Riyadh Al-Mustafa, an elected member of Qatif's municipal council, detailed his and the council's efforts to improve Qatif's services and infrastructure. Al-Mustafa, whose constituency is the town of Qatif itself, said that the council's first priority was to wrest control of Qatif's budget from the Mayor of the Eastern Province (EP),Dhaifallah Al-Otaibi. "Our council is the only one in the Kingdom that doesn't control its own budget," Al-Mustafa noted. "The mayor should give up control. We know what the people of Qatif need and we are ready with projects. If he gives us control, we will make him look good." Al-Mustafa said that he had recently met with Al-Otaibi to persuade him to let Qatif control its budget but had been rebuffed. The next step, according to Al-Mustafa, was Riyadh. "We are planning to visit Prince Miteb (Minister of Municipalities) to ask him to separate Qatif from Greater Dammam. I think he will do it." (Note: In the EP's somewhat opaque municipal system (ref F),the mayors of Qatif, Dammam, Dhahran, and Khobar are directly dependent on the Mayor of the EP for their budgets. The mayors of other municipalities, while they "report administratively" to the Mayor of the EP, receive their budgets directly from the Ministry of Municipalities. End note.) ¶2. (C) Al-Mustafa noted that over the past several years Qatif's leaders had made a strong effort to develop better relations with senior Al Saud princes, and that this effort was paying off. Al-Mustafa mentioned a number of direct lobbying efforts he and others had undertaken. Qatif was not going to have its own municipal council, he claimed, until a group of Qatifis called on then Crown Prince Abdullah and obtained his support for a separate council. Another recent visit to King Abdullah was necessary to put Qatif on the King's schedule during his recent Eastern Province visit (ref A),Al-Mustafa claimed. "I saw him two weeks ago and said we wanted him to come to Qatif. He told us, 'The people of Qatif are part of my heart. Of course I will come.'" Al-Mustafa, who gave the welcoming speech on behalf of Qatifis at the reception for the King, acknowledged that leaders of the Shi'a community viewed the King's visit as a strategic opportunity for communication with SAG leaders. He confirmed that lobbying for a university in Qatif, "as Sheikh Hassan Al-Saffar called for in his press statement before the visit," was one objective (see below). (Note: Based on our reading of Al-Mustafa's speech, posted in full on Rasid News Network, a Shi'a Internet site, two other key messages were that Saudi Shi'a are loyal and that Qatif needed more infrastructure development. End note.) ¶3. (C) Al-Mustafa said that his next trip to Riyadh would include a visit to Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah, the King's son and advisor. "We are trying to get the government to open a university in Qatif for the medical sector, in conjunction with a new specialist hospital. I thought the announcement was ready for the King to make during his visit; I don't know why it was omitted. But still, I'm optimistic. We've talked to many of the senior princes, and they are supportive. Maybe it will take another year, who knows." ¶4. (C) Comment: This meeting with Al-Mustafa, post's first, helps round out our picture of Qatif's municipal council. We have met recently with four of the five elected members, as well as the mayor (refs B - E). The four elected members we know are all professionals with technical backgrounds who run their own businesses (one also works at Aramco). Three of the four have advanced degrees from the U.S., and the fourth is excited to be an International Visitor Leadership Program nominee. As Al-Mustafa noted to us, the elected members have close ties to "informal organizations" in Qatif, including "cultural forums," charitable societies, and clubs. They seem to have a clear set of priorities, to work as a team, and to make savvy use of the media, both the local EP daily newspaper "Al-Youm" and the Rasid News Network. Al-Mustafa's discussion of the budget illustrates their principal initial challenge, to get control over Qatif's budget so they can implement their programs. Our sense is that the RIYADH 00005036 002 OF 002 organizational capabilities and activism of the elected council members would compel Qatif's mayor to adopt their programs if indeed Qatif's budget was separated from Greater Dammam's. The longer this process takes, however, the more convinced Qatif's residents will become that the municipal councils are toothless institutions. End comment. ¶5. (SBU) Bio note: Dr. Al-Mustafa was born on March 26, ¶1952. He received his bachelors degree in civil engineering from the University of Petroleum and Minerals (now King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, or KFUPM) in 1976 and a PhD in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983. He then taught at KFUPM for four years before leaving the university and going into private business as an engineer. He is married to Eftikhar Al-Mustafa, and they have at least two children (one of whom, a son, is studying at Virginia Tech). End bio note. (APPROVED: KINCANNON) OBERWETTER