US embassy cable - 04MANAMA322

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000322 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2014 
TAGS: PREL, KJUS, KTIA, BA, KICC 
SUBJECT: NO SIGN OF MOVEMENT ON ARTICLE 98 RATIFICATION 
 
REF: KANESHIRO - FORD EMAIL OF MARCH 9 
 
Classified By: Charge Robert S. Ford.  Reasons 1.4 (D). 
 
 1.  (C)  Charge asked Bahraini MFA Minister of State on 
March 8 and the Foreign Minister on March 9 whether the GoB 
had determined how it wanted to move forward with 
implementing our signed Article 98 agreement.  The Minister 
of State said the MFA lawyers still have not determined what 
legal means are available.  The MinState said the GoB wanted 
to be very careful not to create unnecessary issues with the 
Parliament.  Charge noted that the MFA's legal team had been 
examining this question since last summer.  He asked when we 
could expect a response given our anxious desire to finish 
the steps to implementing the agreement.  The MinState 
declined to give a date but emphasized that under no 
circumstances would the Bahraini Government ever transfer an 
American servicemember to the International Criminal Court. 
The FM March 9 also declined to give Charge a sense of when 
the GoB would tell us when it would finish its procedures. 
He merely said we would hear back soon. 
 
2. (C) Comment:  It is extremely unlikely that the GoB would 
transfer an American servicemember to the ICC or a third 
party; the bilateral military relationship is absolutely 
essential to Bahrain's security.  That said, it seems 
unlikely that we will, in fact, hear back soon about bringing 
the Article 98 formally into effect.  It is possible that the 
MFA lawyers think the agreement should go to Parliament, and 
the GoB doesn't want to send it given how feisty the 
Parliament has been on other issues.  It also is possible 
that the MFA lawyers are studying the question to death.  In 
any case, we could remain in this holding pattern for a long 
time.  Charge called on the Foreign Minister by coincidence 
on the same day that NEA PDAS Larocco raised this subject 
with the Bahraini Ambassador in Washington.  We will press 
the MFA in a couple weeks to learn if the GOB has made a 
decision to bring the signed Article 98 agreement into force. 
 If they still have not, we would then recommend that (a) we 
provide a letter from the appropriately senior American 
official that we could deliver to the Foreign Minister, or 
(b) a higher level American official convoke the Bahraini 
ambassador in Washington to underline the urgency to the USG. 
FORD