BASHIR DEFIES ICC, ATTENDS ARAB LEAGUE SUMMIT IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000222 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2019 TAGS: PREL KWBG KPAL QA SU SUBJECT: BASHIR DEFIES ICC, ATTENDS ARAB LEAGUE SUMMIT IN DOHA; 15 HEADS OF STATE ATTEND Classified By: Ambassador Joseph E. LeBaron, for reasons 1.4 (b, d). -------------- (C) KEY POINTS -------------- -- Sudan's President Bashir is attending the Arab League Summit in Doha, his first international meeting since the March 4 arrest warrant was issued against him under an ICC indictment. -- The Amir greeted him at the airport, as he did other visiting heads of state. The Amir also warned in a press interview that the ICC warrant could have a destabilizing effect on Sudan and the African region. -- As testimony to the continuing frigid relations between Qatar and Egypt, President Mubarak did not attend and Cairo did not send even its Foreign Minister to Doha. Representing Egypt is the Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. -- Seventeen heads of state or government, including the host, attended the opening ceremony; four countries were represented at a lower level; coup leader Ould Abdul Aziz represented Mauritania. No Iranian officials attended. HAMAS's Khalid Mish'al was not invited. -------------- (C) COMMENTS -------------- -- The next test of Qatar's diplomacy with Sudan will be whether President Bashir stays on past the current Arab League Summit to participate in the one-day March 31 Arab-South American Summit. MFA sources told us that some South American countries vowed not to attend the meeting if Bashir is present. -- Morocco and Egypt sent representatives, but not their heads of state, a sign that tensions within the Arab League remain. The Sultan of Oman, as is his usual practice, did not attend but sent a representative. -- Also according to press reports, Presidents Mubarak and Bouteflika will hold their own bilateral Egyptian-Algerian Summit in Algiers starting April 2 -- further evidence of the strains within the Arab League. End Key Points and Comments. ¶1. (U) Defying an International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment against him, Sudan's President Bashir arrived in Doha the evening of March 29 to attend the Arab League Summit. Since the ICC issued the arrest warrant against him on March 4, Arab countries have voiced general support for Bashir, and he has visited Eritrea, Egypt, Libya and now Qatar in defiance of the ICC. This is Bashir's first appearance at an international meeting since the announcement of the indictment. International attention on his attendance is heightened by the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, here as a Summit observer. ¶2. (U) The GOQ extended an invitation to Bashir, as it did to all Arab League heads of state, to attend the Summit in Doha. Despite international pressures against receiving Bashir, Qatar's Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani made it clear publicly that Qatar was obligated to invite all heads of state. The Amir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, in an interview appearing in the German daily Der Spiegel March 30, warned that the ICC arrest warrant, if not officially frozen by the ICC, would have a destabilizing effect on Sudan and the wider region in Africa. Al-Qaida, said the Amir, would be "happy to see Sudan become like Iraq." ¶3. (C) Based on Ambassador's conversations with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Al-Mahmoud, who holds the Darfur mediation portfolio for Qatar, exchanges with Sudan over its representation at the Summit out of the public view have been at times heated. The Sudanese proposed moving the Summit from Doha to Khartoum to show Arab support for Bashir -- a proposal that Qatar, as the rotating host, rejected. Taking place March 31 immediately following the Arab League Summit is an Arab League-South America Summit (which Qatar agreed to host after Morocco bowed out). MFA officials have told us that South American countries are reluctant to participate in the latter Summit if Bashir is also present. Hence, the GOQ has long been mindful of the thorny issues, both international and practical, surrounding Bashir's presence. ¶4. (U) Chairman of the Commission of the African Union Jean DOHA 00000222 002 OF 002 Ping, Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, and Speaker of the Arab Parliament Jassem Al Saqr all had speaking roles in the March 30 opening ceremony. ATTENDANCE AT THE SUMMIT -------------- ¶5. (U) Summit Host: Qatari Amir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani ¶6. (U) Heads of state and government from Arab League states: Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa Comoran President Ahmed Abdullah Mohammed Sambi Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki Jordanian King Abdullah II Kuwaiti Amir Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al-Sabah Lebanese President Michel Sleiman Libyan President Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Somalian President Shiekh Cherif Sheikh Ahmed Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh ¶7. (U) Heads of delegation other than heads of state: Egyptian Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mufid Shihab Moroccan Prince Moulay Rashid, brother of the King Omani Deputy Prime Minister for Cabinet Affairs Fahad bin Mahmoud Al Saeed ¶8. (U) Coup leader receiving treatment as head of state: Mauritanian General Mahamed Ould Abd Aziz ¶9. (U) Prominent invited observers in attendance: African Union Commission President Jean Ping Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa General Director Abdulaziz Khlaf Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa Arab Parliament President Mohammed Jassin Al Saqer European Commission Ambassador Klaus Ebermann European Envoy to the Middle East Peace Process Marc Otte Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary General Abdelrahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah Japanese Special Envoy to the Middle East Tatsuo Arima Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Director Nicola Bonucci Organization of the Islamic Conference Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu UNRWA General Commissioner Karen Coning Abu Zeid United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon LeBaron