US embassy cable - 04MANAMA528

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000528 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/14/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, BA 
SUBJECT: BAHRAINI FM SAYS REFORM IS STILL ON ARAB LEAGUE 
SUMMIT AGENDA 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Robert Ford, reason 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C)  Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin 
Mubarak told us on April 13 that the next Arab League summit 
would issue a statement supporting domestic reforms inside 
Arab states.  The Minister said that during the last Arab 
League ministerial in Cairo Egypt, Jordan and Yemen had each 
presented a draft text about domestic reforms in Arab 
countries.  The ministers asked the three countries to work 
off-line and come up with a single text.  Sheikh Mohammed 
said that basically this is finished. 
 
2.  (C)  According to the Minister, the statement will not 
hold up any country as a model.  Instead, it will highlight 
principles underpinning a vision of the future of Arab 
societies.  The Minister said democracy and elections, human 
rights, women's rights and transparency figure among the 
principles. 
 
3.  (C)  The Foreign Minister also said that the next summit 
would roll out again the Middle East peace initiative that 
was launched at the Beirut summit.  (He noted that one of the 
reasons for delaying the summit this time was that the Sheikh 
Yassin killing was going to overshadow the summit's roll out 
of its peace initiative.)  In addition, a Saudi Arabian 
document is the basis for reforms to the Arab League itself. 
 
4.  (C)  Neither the King nor the Foreign Minister in their 
conversations with us April 13 would hazard a guess about 
when the summit would be held exactly.  The Foreign Minister 
joked that he hoped it would be soon as it already has been 
enough of a headache for Bahrain. 
FORD