QATAR'S REACTION TO ETHIOPIAN ANNOUNCED BREAK IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000332

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/24/2018
TAGS: PREL QA ET
SUBJECT: QATAR'S REACTION TO ETHIOPIAN ANNOUNCED BREAK IN
DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael A. Ratney,
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Indications are that critical Al Jazeera
coverage of Ethiopia in recent weeks may have been the final
straw in Ethiopia's decision, announced April 21, to break
diplomatic ties with Qatar. The MFA official responsible for
African Affairs told us the decision came as a complete
surprise, and he acknowledged that Qatar's good relations
with Eritrea played a big role in the worsening relations
between Ethiopia and Qatar. He said Ethiopia's decision
would change little on the ground, since neither country
posted diplomatic personnel to the other's capital. The
diplomatic community in Doha was equally surprised by the
Ethiopian announcement. According to the Eritrean
Ambassador, Qatar's involvement in Somalia was a big factor
in Ethiopia's decision. He, other diplomats, and our MFA
interlocutor acknowledged to varying degrees recent Al
Jazeera reports as factors contributing to the Ethiopian
Government's decision. End Summary.


2. (U) Following April 21 press reports announcing Ethiopia's
breaking of diplomatic ties with Qatar, in which the
Government of Ethiopia named Qatar as "a major source of
instability in the Horn of Africa and more widely," an
unnamed Qatari official, who briefed the press April 22,
publicly denied the Ethiopian characterization of Qatar's
role in Africa. Further, Qatar's MFA took the unusual step
April 23 of sending to diplomatic missions in Doha a
statement on the Ethiopian Government's accusations, citing
"an official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."


3. (SBU) Below is MFA's unofficial translation into English
of the statement, a copy of which the Ministry provided to
Embassy Doha.

"An official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has
expressed surprise at the decision -- in the statement by the
Ethiopian Foreign Ministry -- to sever diplomatic ties with
the State of Qatar and the baseless and unfounded allegations
leveled against it.

The official source affirmed that the policy of the State of
Qatar is based on a clear and firm vision with a desire to
promote security, stability and non-interference in the
affairs of other States as well as combating terrorism in all
its manifestations and forms. The official source underlined
that the Ethiopian allegations are dangerous and that what
the Ethiopian Government should have done was to seek
precision as regard to such dangerous statements.

The official source further said that the misleading
Ethiopian claims and the allegations leveled against the
State of Qatar in the Ethiopian statement represent a blatant
attempt to justify the wrong policies of the Ethiopian
Government.

The official source called on the Ethiopian Government to
refrain from involving the State of Qatar in its rifts,
recalling that the Ethiopian Government has previously made
similar claims but the State of Qatar preferred not to reply
out of the hope that the Ethiopian Government would stop such
wrong behaviors." (End unofficial translation.)


4. (C) Eritrea's Ambassador to Qatar told a number of
diplomats on the margins of an April 22 state lunch in honor
of visiting Algerian President Bouteflika that Ethiopia had
been very critical of Qatar's decision "some years ago" to
grant asylum to a former leader of the Somalia Union of
Islamic Courts, and relations between Qatar and Ethiopia had
been tense over Somalia for some time. He said that
Ethiopia's decision to break relations was primarily based on
Qatar's perceived actions in Somalia and not on any border
disputes between Eritrea and Ethiopia, adding that reports
aired on Arabic and English broadcasts of Doha-based Al
Jazeera television the week of April 15 also contributed to
the Ethiopian announcement. These reports (which Embassy
Doha has reviewed) portrayed the Ethiopian Government's role
in the Ogaden conflict in an unfavorable light.


5. (C) In an April 24 meeting, Qatar's MFA Director for
African and Asian Affairs, Abdul Rahman Al-Khulaifi, told P/E
Chief and PolOff that Qatar was shocked by the Ethiopian
announcement to break off relations and had not seen it
coming. Without prompting, he noted that Al Jazeera had in
recent weeks aired a live discussion program in which an

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Eritrean official was a participant. He also cited as an
example reporting on the Ogaden conflict. Without saying so
explicitly, Al-Khulaifi left the clear impression that he
suspected Al Jazeera's coverage caused the Ethiopian
Government to announce the breaking of relations. He added
that states more important than Ethiopia had expressed ire at
Al Jazeera's reporting without effect, and that Ethiopia
would not succeed in changing Al Jazeera's coverage by taking
this action, which he predicted Ethiopia would eventually
regret.


6. (C) Citing Ethiopian Government statements that Qatar
played an unhelpful military role in the Horn of Africa,
Al-Khulaifi laughed, commenting that it was absurd to suggest
that Qatar's small military could destabilize anything. On
the contrary, Al-Khulaifi stressed Qatar's commitment to
stabilizing the situation in the Horn of Africa. He said it
was unfortunate that Ethiopia distanced itself from Qatar
because of Qatar's good relations with Eritrea. Qatar
desires good relations with Ethiopia, he continued, and does
not believe that bad relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea
should mean that Qatar has to choose sides.


7. (C) Pointing to Qatar's mediation in the Horn of Africa,
Al-Khulaifi recounted how Thailand in recent weeks had asked
Qatar to approach Eritrea about releasing the crew of a
Yemeni fishing boat, whose crew consisted of a number of Thai
nationals. Qatar intervened and, according to Al-Khulaifi,
Eritrea released the vessel's crew from jail. Asked what
role, if any, Qatar's involvement in Somalia may have played
in the Ethiopian announcement, Al-Khulaifi declined to
speculate or comment. He concluded that the Ethiopian
decision ultimately would not change much, since no Qatari
diplomats are posted in Ethiopia, and Ethiopia's Ambassador
to Kuwait, who ostensibly represents his government in Doha,
had never sought to present his credentials to the Amir.


8. (C) Comment: The diplomats assembled at the April 22
lunch, like our MFA interlocutor, expressed genuine surprise
at Ethiopia's sudden rupture of diplomatic relations with
Qatar. It has been common knowledge that relations between
Ethiopia and Qatar were not good, in large part because Qatar
has developed warm relations with Eritrea. Nonetheless,
diplomats with whom we have spoken offered no compelling
explanation for Ethiopia's sudden decision to break relations
at this time. While only the Ethiopian Government (and
possibly the GOQ) knows for sure, diplomats in Qatar cite Al
Jazeera reports leading up to Ethiopia's announcement as the
most likely final straw in Ethiopian eyes.
RATNEY