NEGATIVE TIP COVERAGE SHOWS SIGNS OF A COORDINATED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000480

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2018
TAGS: PHUM PREL KCRM KWMN KPAO OIIP SMIG ELAB MU
SUBJECT: NEGATIVE TIP COVERAGE SHOWS SIGNS OF A COORDINATED
STRATEGY

REF: A. MUSCAT 444

B. MUSCAT 464

C. MUSCAT 426

D. MUSCAT 469

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Alfred Fonteneau, reasons 1.4 b/d.


1. (C) Summary: Coverage in both the Arabic and
English-language local press of Oman's Tier 3 ranking in the
2008 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report has gone through
several distinct stages, with an increasing number of
official and civil society actors criticizing the report and
the USG. Contacts state that this is part of a coordinated
strategy, in which the government is using a compliant media
to discredit the report and pressure the USG to revise Oman's
status. Post expects the current tenor of local media
coverage to continue, with the government attempting to
expand its campaign regionally, until Oman is either removed
from Tier 3 or finds a face-saving way out of the current
impasse. End Summary.

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STAGE 1: Setting the Official Message
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2. (C) On June 11, Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi, the Secretary
General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA),issued a
strongly-worded press statement that established the
terminology and themes of the government's criticism of the
2008 TIP Report to date. He rejected the report's
"misleading information" and "incorrect allegations" by
calling attention to Oman's "serious cooperation with the
international community" in defending human rights and "the
tradition, morals and culture of Omani society" that "reject
violations of human dignity." In the same message, Badr
stressed Oman's "good historical relations with the United
States" and stated his hope that "officials at the U.S. State
Department would revise the report," implicitly calling for
Oman's removal from Tier 3.

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STAGE 2: Shifting to Populist Themes
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3. (C) Sayyid Badr's statement set the stage for additional
criticism from other government officials and civil society
actors, which contacts suggest represents a coordinated media
strategy to achieve the government's objectives. By June 15,
when the Majlis al-Shura issued its public statement
denouncing the TIP report, Oman's message began to assume a
more populist tone (ref A). Rhetoric in editorials and
statements from civil society organizations like the Oman
Journalists Association (OJA) increasingly tied displeasure
over Oman's Tier 3 ranking with criticism of the USG's
regional policies (ref B). Despite their increased
intensity, these statements continued to hue closely to the
main points of Sayyid Badr's original message - rejection of
the report yet reaffirmation of good bilateral relations.
While government officials generally remained silent during
this stage, on June 16, Sayyid Badr made an exclusive
statement to the Arabic-language daily "Al-Azzamn" to call
for "a response from the U.S. administration" to a written
rebuttal to specific points in TIP report that he had
provided the Ambassador on June 10 (ref C).


4. (C) While coverage of the TIP Report slowed down over the
June 19-20 Omani weekend, it picked up again on June 21 with
expanded input from different segments of civil society.
Local press carried statements from individual Western
businessmen - including one American executive based in Oman
- questioning the basis of the report (ref D). On June 23,
the Acting Chairman of the General Federation of Oman's
Laborers (GF) - Oman's national-level worker representative
body - issued a statement in Arabic and English papers
criticizing the report and supporting the "clear measures"
that the government has taken over the past year to combat
all forms of labor exploitation and abuse. (Note: The Acting
Chairman informed poloff previously that he was considering
releasing a statement about TIP, but admitted that he had not
read the report. End note.) The June 23 edition of the
Arabic-daily "al-Shabiba" carried an article written by the
chairwoman of an Oman Women's Association (OWA) chapter near
Muscat, which both criticized the report and expressed doubt
that Oman could do anything to combat trafficking, including
passing anti-TIP legislation, that would "satisfy the
arrogance of the U.S. State Department." Criticism of the
TIP Report even received coverage in the biweekly
entertainment supplement "al-Hayati," which contacts
attributed to the government's effort to reach Omanis who do
not normally read political commentary.

MUSCAT 00000480 002 OF 002



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STAGE 3: Expanding Regionally
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5. (C) In a sign of government efforts to bring its message
before a broader regional audience, Reuters carried a June 23
statement by Sayyid Badr reasserting the government's
official message that "the (USG's) human trafficking claim is
unfounded" because of Oman's strong record of protecting
human rights. In addition, Minister of Information Hamad bin
Muhammad al-Rashdi made a statement to the Egyptian Daily
"al-Akhbar" again rejecting the TIP report while claiming
that "the U.S. Administration (has) promised to review the
report." Both statements were picked up by the Kuwait News
Agency, Arabic Reuters, the UAE News Agency, and Radio Sawa.
(Note: The Reuters report blunted Sayyid Badr's comments,
however, by combining them with the fact that the United Arab
Emirates and Bahrain had taken concrete steps this year to
avoid Tier 3, indicating that Oman's tightly-controlled
message does not resonate outside the Sultanate. End note.)

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Comment
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6. (C) The regularity and conformity of the statements by
Omani officials, NGOs, and individuals hint strongly at a
calculated campaign directed by the government, most likely
the Office of the Secretary General of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, to win Oman's removal from Tier 3. Post
expects Oman's Tier 3 ranking will continue to receive daily
coverage in local media - cycling through the stages
mentioned above with more government and civil society actors
denouncing the report as baseless and inaccurate - until the
Sultanate either achieves its goal or finds a face-saving way
out of the current impasse. End comment.
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