MA'AN: POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC NEGLECT ON THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 000858

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/05/2019
TAGS: PGOV ECON KISL JO
SUBJECT: MA'AN: POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC NEGLECT ON THE
DUSTY ROAD TO NOWHERE

REF: AMMAN 79

Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: This cable is the first in an occasional
series which will focus on regional political centers in
Jordan. The southern Jordanian city of Ma'an, populated by
tribal leaders of Bedouin East Bank origin, is considered a
bellwether for regime stability. In the past twenty years,
riots have cemented the city's reputation as a security
problem and a center of religious conservatism. Municipal
officials have few resources for local services and hope for
increased central government aid. End Summary.

A Rough City
--------------


2. (SBU) Ma'an is a tribal city of 53,000 located in a
barren desert three hours south of Amman. Once a fairly
prosperous stop on the pilgrimage route to Mecca, the city
has lost its status as a regional hub through a steady
descent into poverty. Today it stands as a dusty truck stop
on the desert highway between Aqaba and Amman -- a rough city
with a reputation for smuggling and religious radicalism.
Ma'an's history of violent protest causes many in Amman to
see it as a bellwether for regime stability.

Tribal Dynamics
--------------


3. (SBU) Ma'an is a city of bedouin East Bankers. No single
tribe dominates the region -- the population is divided
fairly evenly between several smaller families which compete
for political and social dominance. As a consequence,
politics in Ma'an is cutthroat, with tight competition for
political representation both at the local and national
level. In recent years, tribal leaders have held informal
"primaries" to help create consensus candidates for
parliament and local positions. These often go through
several rounds of voting, and the decision is not always
unanimous -- some tribal notables refuse to accept defeat and
split the vote by running against their own kin.

A History of Violence
--------------


4. (C) Ma'an has a long history of civil unrest and
anti-government sentiment. During the past twenty years,
riots have broken out in the city on a regular basis. In
1989, a rise in oil prices made it unprofitable for truckers
to transport goods from Aqaba to Amman. When the truckers
took to the streets, they were joined by the unemployed and
residents who were simply tired of being ignored by the
central government. Then Interior Minister Rajai Dajani
responded harshly, justifying the use of force by claiming
that Islamist radicals had stirred up the crowds. In 1996,
the rising price of bread sparked another round of violent
protests. In 2002, anti-government demonstrations once again
centered on economic issues and the lack of state attention
to rural and bedouin interests. During the recent Gaza
crisis, protesters in Ma'an fired guns in the air in the
presence of Interior Ministry troops, prompting royal concern
about the city's stability.


5. (C) Ma'an Mayor Khaled Al-Shamri, members of the city
council, and local sheikhs all emphatically told poloff that
Ma'an's reputation as a hotbed of discontent and radicalism
was purely a function of the economy. Shamri insisted that
the regular outbursts of popular rage were "economic, far
from politics, far from religion." Contacts blamed the
Amman-based media for focusing on a marginal group of known
Islamists as the source of unrest rather than zeroing in on
the poverty, unemployment, and general neglect that give
Ma'anis few options to make their voices heard effectively.

Religious, Not Politically Religious
--------------


6. (C) Ma'an is by many appearances a religious town. Most
women who venture out in public are swathed in black abayas.
Many of the men have a prominent and permanent bruise on
their forehead that signifies their devotion to prayer. Even
so, contacts noted that the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Islamic
Action Front (IAF),which holds six seats in Parliament, is
not a powerful political force in Ma'an. "Everyone
sympathizes with the political positions of the Islamists,
but those sentiments rarely translate into concrete support
at the ballot box," says Omar Shukur, head of the Ma'an city
council. IAF members are completely absent from Ma'an's
parliamentary delegation and local government, and have been
for some time. Contacts chalked up the failure of the IAF to

AMMAN 00000858 002 OF 002


the intense competition between tribal interests, which
dominate the political life of the city.


7. (C) While hesitant to talk about ongoing Islamist
influence, contacts admitted that there was a recognized
group of Islamist radicals in Ma'an but downplayed their
influence and insisted that their appeal had greatly
diminished in recent years. Carefully toeing the official
line, local sheikhs asserted that there are "fewer than 100"
radicals whose charitable activities are well-known to the
citizens of Ma'an and security organs alike. The mayor of
Ma'an also said that the state had developed a policy of
co-opting troublesome Islamists by giving them government
jobs. ("There's one outside if you want to meet him," he
added.)

Government Neglect
--------------


8. (C) The Ma'an municipality has a meager budget of about
3.6 million dinars (five million dollars),most of which is
spent on expensive infrastructure projects which leave little
extra for local services. The municipality has long sought
to start a recycling program, but has no money for start-up
costs. Ma'an Mayor Khaled Al-Shamri said that financial
support from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs (which
allocates central government support for all municipalities
in Jordan) is "not worth mentioning," leaving the city to
depend only on its minute local tax base. He lauded the King
for his stated interest in empowering municipalities but
faulted officials in the government for failing to implement
the King's vision for decentralization of central government
authority.

Economic Woes
--------------


9. (SBU) Ma'an's small business community sees itself as
caught between two areas of outsized government attention:
the Aqaba Special Economic Zone and the touristic zone of
Wadi Musa/Petra, which is run directly by the central
government. According to Abdullah Salah, who heads the Ma'an
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, local businesses cannot
compete for customers with their counterparts in Aqaba who
enjoy lower taxes and no import duties on their goods.
Rather than shop locally, Ma'an residents preferred to drive
an hour south, where prices are lower and quality higher.
Ma'an's base of qualified laborers is already low, but the
higher wages of Wadi Musa and Aqaba make it even harder to
retain quality personnel.


10. (SBU) In an effort to soothe local concerns and create a
mechanism for attracting economic activity to the city, Ma'an
was granted a special industrial zone in 2004. The zone
offers tax holidays to businesses willing to set up shop in
the city and employ local workers. Up to this point,
however, the Ma'an zone has failed to attract a significant
number of businesses. Employers, hesitant about the supply
of qualified labor in Ma'an and generally unconvinced about
its strategic advantages, continue to prefer Aqaba and
similar zones in the northern part of Jordan which are nearer
to significant sources of qualified labor. In addition, the
global economic slowdown is starting to erase any chance of
financing for new businesses in Ma'an. A 180 million dollar
Qatari-German-Jordanian glass factory (the first large
investment in the Ma'an industrial zone) was recently
canceled due to lack of investment capital.

Comment
--------------


11. (C) While economic problems have traditionally proven to
be the genesis of security problems in Ma'an, the root of
those economic problems can be traced back to political
neglect. Ma'an has few prominent tribal leaders,
politicians, or advocates who operate on the national stage.
As a consequence, the city often slips down the priority list
and loses out in bureaucratic battles over resource
allocation.

Visit Embassy Amman's Website
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/
Beecroft