MUBARAK AND QADHAFI CONFER ON AL SUMMIT PLANNING, VISAS FOR EGYPTIANS

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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TRIPOLI 000110

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/3/2020

TAGS: PREL, AL-1, KPAL, KSUM, EG, LY

SUBJECT: MUBARAK AND QADHAFI CONFER ON AL SUMMIT PLANNING, VISAS FOR

EGYPTIANS

REF: A) TRIPOLI 53; B) TRIPOLI 95

TRIPOLI 00000110 001.2 OF 002

CLASSIFIED BY: Gene A. Cretz, Ambassador, US Embassy Tripoli,

Department of State.

REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak flew to Libya

on February 3 for a three-hour meeting with Muammar al-Qadhafi

to discuss the upcoming Arab League Summit and growing

differences over requirements for Egyptians entering Libya.

Qadhafi reportedly also expressed interest in trying to mediate

between Egypt and Qatar. Mubarak was expected to counsel Qadhafi

that Libya needed to do more to assure Saudi Arabia that the

summit would not lead to any new tensions between the two

countries. The Egyptian Embassy expects that Iran will be

invited to the summit at the ministerial level but noted that

several Arab countries -- including Egypt -- would boycott the

summit if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended. The Egyptian Embassy

chalked up recent visits by Hamas Political Chief Khaled Meshaal

to "independent" rather than official GOL initiatives to broker

a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation in advance of the March 27 summit.

Engagement with Qadhafi in the run-up to the Arab League Summit,

strongly advocated by the Arab diplomatic community here, could

help manage his notorious unpredictability. End Summary.

2. (C) Muammar al-Qadhafi held private talks with Egyptian

President Hosni Mubarak in Sirte on February 3 to discuss

Libya's upcoming presidency of the Arab League (AL) and

continuing differences over entry requirements for Egyptian

nationals coming to Libya. Egyptian poloff said the three-hour

visit would help the two countries coordinate in advance of the

March 28 Arab League Summit scheduled to take place in Tripoli.

Mubarak planned to counsel Qadhafi that Libya needed to better

assure the Saudis that the Libyan-hosted summit would not serve

as a platform to embarrass the royal family but instead move

forward in a spirit of reconciliation between the two leaders.

IRAN EXPECTED TO PARTICIPATE AT THE FM LEVEL

3. (C) The Egyptian poloff expected that Arab-Iranian relations

>and Palestinian issues would dominate the summit, and he noted

that Libya had made recent, high profile contact on both issues.

The Egyptian ambassador also told the Ambassador that Sudan and

upcoming non-proliferation events in the U.S., as well as

Qadhafi's possible proposals to create new high-level political

and military positions in the Arab League along the lines of

NATO and the EU, would also figure prominently. Arabs, he said,

would not tolerate surprises like Libya's management of the July

2009 African Union Summit in Sirte, where Qadhafi's rumored,

last-minute invitation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

had caused Mubarak to cancel his attendance at that summit at

the eleventh hour. (Note: While Iranian diplomats were at the

venue to advance Ahmadinejad's visit to the AU Summit, his visit

was cancelled on the day he was supposed to arrive.) Should

Ahmadinejad attend, he said, several heads of state -- including

Egypt's -- would boycott the summit. He expected Iranian FM

Manuchehr Motaki, who visited Tripoli on January 14, to

represent Iran as an observer. The Iranian outreach by Libya is

reportedly consistent with Qadhafi's new vision of being able to

serve as a bridge between Tehran and the Arab world.

PALESTINIAN UNITY TO FIGURE LARGE ON AGENDA

4. (C) Recalling the yet-unfulfilled January 2009 pledge by

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to provide $1.5 billion in

reconstruction assistance to Gaza, the Egyptian poloff assessed

that Palestinian issues would provide plenty of opportunities to

weaken fragile Arab unity and that Arab leaders would be

"holding their breath" and hoping to avoid unwelcome surprises

by the unpredictable Qadhafi. Although Libya has played host to

Hamas' Khaled Meshaal twice in as many months, the Egyptian

poloff did not expect any major initiatives by the Libyan

government to force Hamas-Fatah resolution before the March 28

summit. In his view, "independent" initiatives like those of

Khalid al-Humeidi -- son of long-time Qadhafi insider al-Khweldi

al-Humeidi -- would intensify on the outside chance a Libyan

could reach a breakthrough. Humeidi reportedly visited Ramallah

and Gaza earlier this year to meet with Mahmoud Abbas and

Meshaal and has organized humanitarian assistance to Gaza

through his quasi-independent International Organization for

Peace, Care, and Relief (septel).

5. (C) While MFA A/S-equivalent Omran Abu Kraa and Deputy

Foreign Minister-equivalent Muhammed Siala have been named to

lead Libya's preparations for the summit, the organizing

TRIPOLI 00000110 002.2 OF 002

committee has not communicated with member states on logistics

or the agenda. A purpose-built site for the conference is

rumored to be under construction on the sprawling grounds of the

new Libyan Protocol office, though guest palaces nearer public

view at that site appear to require more than seven weeks to

complete. The Egyptian poloff commented that Arab leaders would

be less forgiving than the African delegations in Sirte -- some

of whom slept on the beach as they awaited proper room

assignments from their Libyan hosts.

EGYPT SEEKS EASING OF LIBYA VISA REQUIREMENTS

6. (C) During his February 3 meeting with Qadhafi, Mubarak was

expected to push for resolution of increasingly serious problems

regarding Libyan entry requirements for Egyptian nationals.

According to the Egyptian poloff, Egyptians are still subject to

new requirements for visas or valid work contracts begun earlier

this year (ref a) while Algerians and Tunisians have reverted to

earlier rules allowing entry without a visa upon demonstrating

financial self-sufficiency (in the form of $800 cash). Recent

bilateral agreements with countries providing significant labor

to Libya, including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, include 500 dinar

(USD 420) commissions for Libyan sponsors of guest workers from

those countries. In the Egyptian poloff's view, officials

taking advantage of the financial inducements for sponsoring

workers from those countries bore part of the blame for Egypt's

continued troubles. Libya recently began a crackdown on illegal

Egyptian workers. The Egyptian ambassador told the Ambassador

that the Libyan crackdown resulted initially from European

pressure on Libya to stem illegal traffic to Europe, and

intensified after the extensive and embarrassing Egyptian press

coverage given to Mutassim al-Qadhafi's New Year's partying in

the Caribbean (ref b).

COMMENT

7. (C) In the wake of his failed attempt to extend his

leadership of the African Union, Qadhafi undoubtedly is looking

to the March 27 Arab League summit and beyond as a way to

bolster his international standing. His massive ego and

notoriously erratic behavior have generated much concern among

the Arab diplomatic community here about the summit and its

outcomes. The Arabs here have been very insistent that the U.S.

has a role to play in influencing the outcome by engaging

Qadhafi in the lead-up to the summit.

CRETZ

MUBARAK AND QADHAFI CONFER ON AL SUMMIT PLANNING, VISAS FOR EGYPTIANS

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