EGYPT NOT AFFECTED BY SAUDI RECOGNITION OF KOSOVO

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000936 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, EUR/SCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2019 TAGS: PREL KO AL EG SUBJECT: EGYPT NOT AFFECTED BY SAUDI RECOGNITION OF KOSOVO REF: A. STATE 41665 ¶B. STATE 24186 ¶C. 08 CAIRO 2497 ¶D. STATE 29385 Classified By: Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs Catherine Hill-Herndon for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Key Points: -- The Government of Egypt (GOE) was not influenced by the Saudi decision to recognize Kosovo. The Saudi decision will have more impact on Gulf countries. -- Egypt and other Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) countries oppose Albania's OIC resolution to recognize Kosovo. Libya will take the lead against the resolution, but Egypt will be active behind the scenes. -- Egypt voted in favor of Kosovo's IMF membership on economic grounds. Egypt is accepting Kosovo passports, but this is the farthest the GOE will go for now. -- Egypt will await an International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision before taking any further action on Kosovo. ¶2. (C) Comment: The GOE has recently changed its position with respect to the Kosovar passport. In December 2008, Egypt refused entry to Kosovar Deputy FM Vlora Citaku because she was traveling on a Kosovar passport (reftel C). Now, the GOE is allowing students and others to enter the country using the passport. While the GOE opposes unilateral declarations of independence, it places a high value on the opinion of the international community and would most likely support an ICJ decision in favor of Kosovo by recognizing the country. End Comment. -------------- Egypt Not Impacted by Saudi Decision -------------- ¶3. (C) Mohamed Moneer, Second Secretary in the Egyptian MFA's South and East Europe office, told us on May 19 that Egyptian policy was not influenced by Saudi Arabia's decision to recognize Kosovo (reftel A). He said that the GOE would make its own choices and did not recognize unilateral declarations of independence. Egypt's policy is applied to all states including Kosovo, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia (reftels B-C). Moneer said that Russia has not asked the GOE to recognize the Abkhazia or South Ossetia. Other Gulf States such as Kuwait may recognize Kosovo, but he said most other Arab states would not soon recognize Kosovo. Moneer stated that there still was a lack of EU consensus on the Kosovo issue, pointing out that Greece and Spain have not yet recognized Kosovo. -------------- Egypt Opposed to Albanian OIC Resolution -------------- ¶4. (C) Moneer said that the Albanian resolution to recognize Kosovo, at the May 23-25 OIC Council of Foreign Ministers meeting, was rough and not useful. He told us that there was little support for the resolution among the OIC states, and he opined that Kosovo's recognition by the OIC will be "delayed." Moneer said that the GOE expects Libya to take the lead in opposing recognition and Algeria to play a supporting role. He told us that Libyan President Ghaddafi had promised Serbian President Tadic that Libya would oppose recognition of Kosovo for a couple of years to give Serbia time to meet its "urgent interests." Moneer said that Egypt also opposes the resolution and "will be active behind the scenes." -------------- Some Small Steps Toward Recognition -------------- ¶5. (C) Moneer confirmed that Egypt voted in favor of Kosovo joining the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said Finance Minister Yusuf Boutrous-Ghali made this decision because "Kosovo needs financial and economic support." Moneer also said that the GOE recognized Kosovar passports, which allowed some students to return to Egypt to continue their studies. He said that this was the maximum that Egypt will do. -------------- Waiting on the ICJ -------------- ¶6. (C) Moneer told us that Egypt is waiting the decision from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) before it acts on Kosovo (reftel D). He said that if the ICJ finds in Kosovo's favor that recognition will be a "fait accompli." SCOBEY