IRAQI REGIONAL ENGAGEMENT: UPWARD TREND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002905

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/07/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL IZ BA AE
SUBJECT: IRAQI REGIONAL ENGAGEMENT: UPWARD TREND

REF: BAGHDAD 2699

Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Robert Ford for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: The arrival of the UAE Ambassador to Iraq
on September 4 - the first Arab Ambassador to return to
Iraq in several years - and the apparently imminent posting
of a Bahraini ambassador later this month provide a concrete
demonstration that Iraq's engagement with its Arab neighbors
-- on the uptick since early June -- is picking up pace.
Other positive indicators: an Egyptian technical team visited
August 18-21 to inspect prospective diplomatic sites, and
reports that Kuwaiti PM Nasr Muhammad Ahmed al-Jabber plans
to
visit Baghdad in the next few weeks. End Summary.

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UAE Ambassador Arrives
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2. (C) UAE Ambassador-designate Abdullah al-Shihi arrived
in Baghdad September 4 with little advance notice or
fanfare, becoming the first Arab ambassador to return to
Iraq in recent years. Al-Shihi's surprise arrival was
low-key: he traveled on commercial air accompanied only by
a UAE security officer and an Iraqi national staffer, and
was met at the airport by one working-level MFA Protocol
officer. He presented his credentials to FM Zebari later
the same day. Temporarily based at Al-Rasheed Hotel,
al-Shihi told us September 8 that he plans to depart
Baghdad on September 9 and return after Ramadan.


3. (C) Al-Shihi's first order of business was to finalize
agreement with the GOI on the location of the UAE's new
Embassy. On September 6, Al-Shihi and Iraqi MFA officials
visited several villas in the Diplomatic Zone, just west of
the USG's New Embassy Compound (NEC),some of which
currently house USG personnel. According to senior MFA
contacts, Al-Shihi and the MFA agreed on a specific
property for the UAE Embassy (which is in good physical
shape thanks to renovations performed by its USG-occupant).
The MFA has requested that the U.S. vacate that property
by October 1 so that it can become the UAE Embassy when
Al-Shihi returns to Baghdad after Ramadan. (Note: A UAE
technical team inspected the villas on August 31. End Note.)

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Bahrainis Not Far Behind
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4. (C) Virtually at the same time as Al-Shihi's visit,
Bahrain dispatched a seven-person technical team to Baghdad
September 2-5 to view prospective Diplomatic Zone embassy
sites as well. These included the same group of villas
provisionally designated by the MFA for future embassies of
key countries (reftel). Despite some logistical snafus
that highlighted the Iraqi MFA's need to improve its
operational capabilities, our understanding from both sides
is that the visit went well. Given recent reporting from
Manama that Bahrain's newly named Ambassador-designate,
Saleh Al-Maliki, intends to travel to Baghdad perhaps as
soon as the week of September 14, we expect GOI-GOB
negotiations on an embassy site to progress quickly.

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And Kuwaitis as Well
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5. (C) Finally, recent press reports indicate that Kuwaiti
PM Nasr Muhammed Ahmad al-Jabber intends to visit Baghdad
after Ramadan. When queried on September 8, MFA contacts
claimed no knowledge. (Note: In a sign that the MFA's
record keeping on such matters still leaves room for
improvement, one MFA contact said he would rifle through a
pile of dipnotes to double check if they had missed
something.)
Bureaucratic confusion aside, the Iraqi-Kuwaiti agenda will
be
a bit more charged than that of the UAE or Bahrain.
Parliament
Speaker Mashadani complained at length to PolMinCouns on the
evening of September 5 about alleged Kuwaiti condescension
towards
Iraq, claiming that Iraq had protected the Kuwaitis during
the long war against Iran. The Iraqis want Kuwait to cancel
their debt and resolve a long-standing dispute involving
Iraqi
Airways (IA) that recently led a Canadian court to approve
seizure of interests in a new Bombardier aircraft
commissioned

BAGHDAD 00002905 002 OF 002


by IA. (Conversely, the press reports Kuwait may raise
compensation issues dating back to the 1990-1991 war.)

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Comment
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6. (C) While the recent high-profile visits of UAE FM
Abdullah bin Zaid (June 5),Turkish PM Erdogan (July 10),
Lebanese Parliamentary bloc leader Sa'ad Hariri (July 17),
Jordan's King Abdullah (August 12),and Lebanese PM Siniora
(August 21) garnered more press attention, the UAE and
Bahraini visits represent concrete as opposed to symbolic
progress on Iraq's regional reintegration. Returning
ambassadors to Baghdad and standing up embassies in the
near future, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan are taking
steps to establish more steady and normal relations with
Iraq in the months ahead. As the MFA moves forward on
assigning Diplomatic Zone villas, we will continue to try
to encourage the Iraqis to play the central role, with the
Embassy providing limited, temporary logistical help and
other assistance to facilitate similar efforts by other key
countries seeking to move in the same direction. The new
(Sunni Arab) Minister of State for Foreign Affairs told us
September 8 that he will focus his efforts after Ramadan on
expanding ties with Arab countries, targeting Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.

CROCKER