SUDANESE PRESIDENT TO ATTEND ARAB LEAGUE SUMMIT IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 000403 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR NEA/RA, AF/ASPG E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2018 TAGS: PREL LE SY SU SUBJECT: SUDANESE PRESIDENT TO ATTEND ARAB LEAGUE SUMMIT IN DAMASCUS REF: KHARTOUM 327 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Alberto M. Fernandez, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Presidential Advisor Dr. Mustafa Othman Ismail confirmed on March 17 to CDA Fernandez that President Omar al-Bashir has accepted an invitation to attend the Arab League Summit in Damascus. Dr. Ismail noted that Sudan doesn't much care about internal POLITICAL developments in either Lebanon or Syria but does believe in maintaining cordial RELATIONS with all Arab League member states in pursuit of its own core interests. ¶2. (C) Dr. Ismail, who was formerly Foreign Minister and serves as Al-Bashir's personal envoy on Arab League-related issues such as Palestinian refugees, said that "if Sudan had to chose between pleasing America or Syria by deciding whether or not to Damascus, we would rather have the Americans be happy be with us." But he noted that the bilateral issues of concern to the U.S. and which affect the relationship - Chad/Darfur and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) - have nothing to do with traditional Arab League issues. If our relationship with you was as we would like it to be, and as you have with other Arab states, he added, "we would stay away from Syria, from Iran, even perhaps from China." FERNANDEZ