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