KOSOVO: JORDAN WAITING ON OIC, AL SUMMITS TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000456 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ELA - RANA AND EUR/SCE - SHIRATORI E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2018 TAGS: PREL UN UNMIK PGOV YI JO SUBJECT: KOSOVO: JORDAN WAITING ON OIC, AL SUMMITS TO DEFINE POSITION REF: A. SECSTATE 13716 ¶B. AMMAN 267 Classified By: Ambassador David Hale, reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) On February 12 Ambassador delivered ref A demarche to Foreign Minister Salah Al-Bashir, and DCM separately delivered the same points to Chief of the ROYAL Court Bassem Awadallah. Both took note of the USG position and were cognizant of USG and EU intentions, but asserted that Jordan needed to consult with counterparts in the Arab League and Organization of Islamic Conferences at upcoming summits, so as to ensure a common position. Despite the demarche points, Bashir expressed concerns that Kosovo might be seen as a precedent, and Awadallah - just back from the King's trip to Mosco - noted that the Russians were also aggressively making their views heard. ¶2. (C) Comment: The GOJ appears to have backed off earlier, informal indications (ref B) that it was leaning toward immediate recognition, although Director of the Foreign Minister's private office Jamal Al-Shamayleh told PolCouns on February 12 that the GOJ saw the logic of the USG and EU position and would take our views "heavily into consideration." In fact, we expect Jordan will not deviate from any Arab League/OIC consensus on this issue. HALE