DR. MOHAMMED ON VARIOUS AND SUNDRY: PA FUNDS,

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000865 DEPT FOR NEA/I, NEA/ARP, NEA/IPA, S/WCI DEFENSE FOR OSD LONG E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/05/2018 TAGS: PREL PINR PHUM PGOV PTER KPAL KU BG SUBJECT: DR. MOHAMMED ON VARIOUS AND SUNDRY: PA FUNDS, IRAN, PM TRAVEL, BANGLADESHI DEPORTATIONS, GITMO REF: KUWAIT 0864 Classified By: The Ambassador for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Ambassador requested a meeting with Deputy PM and FM Dr. Mohammed Al Sabah to review a number of issues prior to both taking summer holidays. During an hour long exchange August 3, the following topics were addressed: -- PA Funding: Ambassador stressed the urgency of the situation and the PA,s deadline for making payments. Dr. Mohammed said the GoK had approved the funding and had attempted to deposit it into the World Bank,s trust fund, but discovered there first needed to be a technical agreement with the Bank. Asked where the action stood, Dr. Mohammed said the Bank had to produce the agreement and that Washington ambassador Shaykh Salem was empowered to sign. Department may wish to clarify this understanding directly with the Bank. -- Iran: Ambassador asked Dr. Mohammed about his recent visit to Tehran, noting that the Iranians seemed to assess that current U.S. military commitments and Israeli political disarray gave them leeway to continue to obfuscate and avoid taking necessary decisions. Dr. Mohammed agreed that Iran had to &find its way out of the box it has constructed for itself.8 In Tehran Dr. Mohammed said he had made his hosts unhappy with his &very undiplomatic8 observation in response to a question posed by the press concerning the potential for Iran to sit on the Security Council that he thought it would be very difficult for a country currently under Article 7 sanctions to serve on the enforcing council for such sanctions. -- PM,s September 19 Visit to Washington: Ambassador reviewed possible agenda items with the Deputy PM/FM, suggesting that counter terrorism cooperation would likely be in the forefront, together with energy and sovereign wealth fund issues. Ambassador said we would be prepared to review our information and the concerns leading to the designation of Kuwait's Revival Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS),which has been a sore point in the relationship. Ambassador urged the GoK to subject RIHS to the same standards of external accountability and transparency that applied to its successful Development Fund, noting that a number of Kuwaiti political observers had openly challenged the government on this account. Dr. Mohammed replied that Price-Waterhouse serves as the independent accountant for RIHS and reasserted his familiar line that shutting down legitimate charities only provides an open field for AQ recruiters and others (including Iran) who exploit the impoverished conditions of young Muslim men. Ambassador acknowledged we were aware of Kuwait's ongoing interest in obtaining the release of its GITMO detainees and observed the President,s long-standing interest in creating the conditions for the closure of Guantanamo, which included the ability of governments to mitigate the likelihood that former detainees would return to the field of battle. The Mosul episode underscored the need for Kuwait to do more in that regard. Ambassador noted that the MNF-I currently held some nine Kuwaiti detainees accused of supporting the insurgency and asked the Deputy PM/FM what Kuwait,s actions would likely be in the event of their return; Dr. Mohammed asserted categorically that any Kuwaiti found to have been fighting with the insurgency in Iraq was ipso facto guilty of a crime and would be &put behind bars,8 but distinguished between these individuals and the &possibly innocent8 young men in Afghanistan caught up in events and jailed at GITMO. Nonetheless, he restated his government,s desire, as earlier communicated to the Secretary, to be &part of the solution8 to GITMO. Ambassador said we recognized the constraints Kuwait,s legal and political systems placed on dealing with these individuals, but again urged greater timeliness and transparency between our liaison services, noting she discussed this with the Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Shaykh Jaber as well. Both sides agreed it will be important during the PM,s visit to showcase the positives in the relationship, including Kuwait,s support for Iraqi Freedom, their democracy, liberalizing economic trends, and significant deals between Dow Chemical and Flour and KPC and the Fourth Refinery project. -- Bangladeshi Laborers, Deportations and Riots: Ambassador noted ongoing reports of detention and deportations of demonstrating laborers and urged that any punitive measures be based on individual actions and not used as collective punishment. Dr. Mohammed said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MOSAL) would be proposing as early as Monday, August 4, some guidelines and regulatory changes to address the problems of labor exploitation, not only of workers ) who are covered by the Labor Law ) but also domestic employees, who are not. The Deputy PM/FM said this would be a &real solution, not cosmetic.8 (Reftel) -- Abdaly-Safwan Crossing vice Bucca: Ambassador mentioned that we had dropped our request for a new opening in the border at Bucca (to enable the provision of MNF-I forces staffing the prison facility there) and replaced it with a request to utilize the Abdaly-Safwan crossing, as currently done by the British. Dr. Mohammed said they would study the new request, acknowledging they would never have opened another crossing at Bucca: &We don,t want a border like a Swiss cheese,8 he said, &and if it were up to many of us, we would build a high concrete wall instead.8 Ambassador noted that Senior Advisor Gordon Gray had productive meetings in Kuwait, had observed first hand some of the border concerns with Ambassador by helicopter, and was now in dialog with his Iraqi counterparts. Dr. Mohammed was pleased with this development. ¶2. (C) Comment: The GoK, challenged by an obstreperous and increasingly tribal parliament, clearly would like nothing better than for the PM to return home from his Washington visit triumphant, with their remaining GITMO detainees in tow. Whether they can demonstrate the ability to establish the parameters for making this possible is another question altogether. End comment. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * JONES