IAEA BOG: JORDAN MFA BELIEVES THAT SYRIA HAS ARAB

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002262 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/29/2023 TAGS: PREL IAEA KNNP AORC SY JO SUBJECT: IAEA BOG: JORDAN MFA BELIEVES THAT SYRIA HAS ARAB LEAGUE ENDORSEMENT REF: A. AMMAN 2225 ¶B. CAIRO 1606 ¶C. RIYADH 1153 ¶D. SECSTATE 77758 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Daniel Rubinstein for reasons 1.4(b) a nd (d) ¶1. (C) Jamal Al-Shamayleh, Director of Foreign Minister Bashir's private office, told PolCouns on July 29 that it appeared the Arab League had already endorsed Syria's candidacy for the MESA seat on the IAEA Board of Governors. Reading from a June 28 communique from the Jordanian Embassy in Vienna (responding to the MFA's inquiry as to the state of play (Ref A)),Shamayleh said that, according to the files of the Jordanian Ambassador, the Arab League had unanimously endorsed Syria's candidacy at a March 5, 2008, ministerial. Shamayleh did note a confusing line in the communique that suggested that Egypt might also have been endorsed by the Arab League at an earlier ministerial, on September 5, 2007. ¶2. (C) Given the information provided him by Vienna, i.e. that Syria was the consensus Arab candidate (he could not clarify Egypt's status in the competition for the MESA seat), Shamayleh stressed the difficulty of Jordan's shifting support to Kazakhstan in the absence of a "face-saving" U.S. strategy. He asked that Post share with him anything the USG could uncover as to whether the Arab League had, in fact, endorsed Syria (Ref C). ¶3. (C) PolCouns apprised Shamayleh of the Saudi working-level view that Syria was not qualified to hold the MESA seat (Ref C) and urged that Jordan reach out to like-minded AL members to review options. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman Rubinstein