ARAB LEAGUE ON LEBANON, KOSOVO, IRAQ

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000357

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/24/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PARM PINR UNMIK YI LE IZ EG
SUBJECT: ARAB LEAGUE ON LEBANON, KOSOVO, IRAQ

REF: A. BEIRUT 286


B. CAIRO 246

Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION STUART JONES
REASONS: 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (C) Arab League Chief of Staff Hisham Yousef told us
February 24 that Secretary General Moussa will lead an Arab
League delegation to Beirut later in the day as a "last ditch
effort" to secure an agreement prior to the next scheduled
Lebanese parliamentary session on February 26. Yousef said
that although the majority and opposition had agreed to
address six major points (reftel a),he was not optimistic
that a deal would be struck. He said that that one option on
the table for cabinet formation is a modified "13 plus 10
plus 7" formulation, in which the majority would get 13
seats, the opposition 10, and the president 7. Under this
proposal, the president would be obliged to accept one
minister approved by the majority, and one approved by the
minority, as part of his 7 member cabinet contingent. Yousef
said that this proposal was still on the table. Note:
Egyptian MFA cabinet advisor Nazih Neggary told us February
22 that in his opinion, Yousef had gone out on a limb with
this proposed cabinet formulation, and that it was highly
unlikely to succeed. End note.


2. (C) On Kosovo we reminded Yousef of our position as
delivered by Special Envoy Wisner (reftel b). Yousef said
there are currently no plans to discuss the upcoming March
5-6 Arab League Ministerial Meeting, as no member state has
requested it be on the agenda. He acknowledged that there
are different views among Arab states on recognition of
Kosovo.


3. (C) Yousef confirmed that an Arab League delegation, led
by Deputy Secretary General Ahmed bin Helli, will head to
Baghdad on February 25. He said that the goal of the trip was
to make progress on conciliation, but that this was not a
preparation meeting for the Arab League conciliation
conference expected to be held in April. Iraqi Permanent
Representative to the Arab League Raad Alusi told us February
24 that the Arab League had postponed sending Helli twice
already, and that he had to push SYG Moussa hard to finally
send the delegation. Alusi was pessimistic as to whether the
the Arab League would in fact hold a conciliation conference
in April.
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