JORDAN STILL IN HOLDING PATTERN ON KOSOVO

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000434 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2019 TAGS: PREL ICJ KV JO SUBJECT: JORDAN STILL IN HOLDING PATTERN ON KOSOVO RECOGNITION REF: A. STATE 11928 ¶B. 08 AMMAN 1486 Classified By: AMBASSADOR R. STEPHEN BEECROFT FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) PolOff delivered Ref A demarche and points on February 12 to Daifallah Al-Fayez, First Secretary in the European Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Fayez stated that the GOJ was still studying the matter and did not plan to get ahead of the Arab League. When PolOff noted that the United Arab Emirates had recognized Kosovo and that Jordan was also in a position to be a leader on the issue, Fayez replied that even some European countries had not yet recognized Kosovo, including Spain. He raised the concern that recognizing Kosovo could be a precedent for other national movements to seek independence as well. Fayez noted, however, that Foreign Minister Salah Al-Bashir has already met with senior Kosovo officials and that "in practice we have recognized." ¶2. (C) Ambassador has previously raised the issue with officials here, including most recently with Chief of the Royal Court Nasser Al-Lozi. They indicated that Jordan planned to move forward on recognition some time in the spring. They explained that Jordan was delaying Kosovo recognition while Jordan's International Court of Justice Judge Awn Khasawneh campaigned for the ICJ President's seat. Jordan did not want to take a stance on Kosovo that Khasawneh's opponents might use against him. The election is now over, and the Ambassador will follow up on the issue with Jordanian officials at the next possible opportunity. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ Beecroft