US embassy cable - 04MANAMA485

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000485 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/RA, NEA/ARP, DRL/MLA, AND IO/SH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/06/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, BA, UNHRC-1 
SUBJECT: BAHRAIN NON-COMMITTAL ON CUBA AND CHINA UNCHR 
RESOLUTIONS 
 
REF: STATE 74060 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Robert Ford, reason 1.5 (d) 
 
1.  (U)  Foreign Affairs MinState Muhammad Abdulghaffar 
responded to Charge's April 3 delivery of reftel demarche 
with a promise to refer the matter to his staff and Geneva 
mission for study.  On April 6, MFA Director for 
International Organization Affairs said he had of no new 
instructions and would relay our latest request for 
abstentions on the Cuba and China UNCHR resolutions to his 
superiors. 
 
2.  (C) Comment:  So far, we sense little traction in Manama 
for our efforts to bring Bahrain to abstain on these two 
votes.  The MFA is aware of Assistant Secretary Holmes' 
demarche to the Bahraini Ambassador in Washington last week, 
but we can perceive no change in Bahraini tone yet.  It looks 
like it will be an uphill battle to secure these Bahraini 
voting abstentions; the Bahrainis don't like to make waves 
and they don't like to break Arab ranks.  We should be 
prepared to make continued passes at the Bahrainis here and 
in Washington.  If there are other Arab states that are going 
to be helpful on these resolutions, that be a useful argument 
with the GoB. 
FORD