US embassy cable - 04AMMAN5395

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005395 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, SY, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN ARGUES LIMITING REFORM DIALOGUE SCOPE COULD 
DRAW IN EGYPT AND SAUDI ARABIA 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Edward W. Gnehm for Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) 
 
 ------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1.  (C)  King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Muasher argued to 
A/S Burns in separate meetings June 27 that the best way for 
the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) initiative 
to succeed is to draw in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  The best 
way to do this, the King and Muasher argued, is to view G-8 
engagement with Arab countries as a subset of a wider effort, 
and as a first step organize a Ministerial meeting of G-8 
plus Arabs only in the fall.  They argued strongly that this 
was the best way to get a workable process off the ground. 
Insisting on a wider geographic scope for an initial 
Ministerial meeting would lead to a stalemate, and isolate 
the smaller Arab states.  END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------------ 
KING:  ENGAGE EGYPT AND SAUDI ARABIA 
------------------------------------ 
 
2.  (C)  NEA A/S Burns met with King Abdullah June 27 in at 
his palace in Aqaba.  Burns thanked the King for his 
participation in the Sea Island summit and his support for 
reform in the region.  The King said that the Arab leaders at 
the summit "felt much better" about U.S. reform efforts after 
hearing President Bush discuss current thinking on the BMENA, 
but that it was still critical that the U.S. more actively 
engage both Egypt and Saudi Arabia on the subject.  The King 
noted that he had recently tried calling Egyptian President 
Mubarak, but had been unable to reach him. 
 
------------------------------------- 
MUASHER:  LIMITING BMENA SCOPE IS KEY 
------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (S)  Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher told A/S Burns and 
the Ambassador June 27 that the participation of Egypt and 
Saudi Arabia in the (BMENA) initiative was important to its 
success.  If you keep the regional reform effort focused on 
Jordan, Bahrain, and Yemen, he continued, it will have less 
legitimacy and will put great political pressure on those 
governments.  The best way to draw Egypt and Saudi Arabia 
into the dialogue, Muasher argued, is to limit the 
geographical scope of an initial BMENA Ministerial meeting to 
Arab countries -- at least at the outset.  "Get Egypt and 
Saudi Arabia in the door, then make your move" to expand the 
initiative.  He argued that the G-8 can include whatever 
countries it wants in the BMENA initiative, "but don't put 
them all in the same room" at first. 
 
4.  (C)  Muasher asked about the size of the U.S. financial 
commitments behind the various proposals put forward at Sea 
Island, especially the microfinance initiative which Jordan 
has offered to lead.  It is important for the G-8 to support 
its proposals in a concrete way. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
PALACE OFFICIAL:  REFORM NEEDS THE BIG ARAB STATES 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
5.  (S)  In a separate meeting June 27, the Director of the 
newly established Royal Palace Office of Policy Coordination, 
Abdullah Woreikat, echoed Muasher's comments to PolCouns. 
Woreikat said that King Abdullah was very pleased with the 
Sea Island event, but felt that the reform effort would have 
more weight and legitimacy in the region if other, larger 
Arab states -- particularly Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- 
participated actively.  The King, according to Woreikat, is 
enthusiastic about the Forum for the Future, but fears that 
Saudi Arabia and Egypt will not participate if it includes 
non-Arab regional partners. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
6.  (C)  Following the King's participation at Sea Island, 
Jordan has a real stake in BMENA's success and in drawing in 
larger and more influential Arab states.  The Jordanians have 
consistently argued that regional reform efforts will have 
greater credibility in the Arab world if they do not appear 
to be Western attacks on Islam and continue to believe firmly 
that limiting the main BMENA participation to Arab states -- 
at least at the start -- offers the best chance of success. 
 
 
7.  (U)  A/S Burns has cleared this message. 
 
Visit Embassy Amman's classified website at 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ 
or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET 
home page. 
GNEHM