US embassy cable - 04SANAA1977

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANAA 001977 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE, PASS TO A/S BLOOMFIELD, SECDEF FOR DU/S, LUTI, NEESA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/16/2005 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, YM 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO PRESIDENT SALEH 
 
Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY DCM NABEEL KHOURY, FOR REASONS 
1.5 (a) and (d) 
 
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Summary: 
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1. (SBU) On his second working day in Sanaa, Ambassador 
Krajeski presented his credentials to President Ali Abdallah 
Saleh in a ceremony that included seven other Ambassadors, 
some of whom had waited three months to be invited to present 
their papers. The ceremonies, full of all the appropriate 
pomp and circumstance, included a courtesy meeting with Saleh 
and Foreign Minister Qirbi. Beyond the expected opening 
welcoming remarks, President Saleh did step lightly into a 
couple of substantive remarks on U.S.-Yemeni relations. 
Ambassador used the opportunity to ask Saleh directly to meet 
with A/S Bloomfield as soon as his schedule permitted. End 
Summary. 
 
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Beyond the formalities: 
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2. (C) Ambassador Krajeski expressed his personal delight at 
assuming his responsibiilties in Sanaa and conveyed President 
Bush and Secretary Powell's greetings and good wishes to 
President Saleh. In his turn, President Saleh welcomed 
Ambassador Krajeski and promised him the full cooperation of 
the MFA and other Yemeni ministries and institutions to 
assist him in supporting U.S. interests and in furthering 
U.S.-Yemeni cooperation. President Saleh said, "We have been 
excellent partners in the war against terrorism, now let's do 
the same in the economic and commercial fields to combat 
poverty and create jobs for the young and unemployed." Saleh 
also unexpectedly made a seemingly cryptic comment on how the 
U.S. Embassy sets the tone for other diplomatic missions in 
Yemen and that its sticking closely to proper channels 
encourages others to do so. He added, "Oh we know you will 
have your own sources and that's fine, but please check your 
stories with official channels for the sake of accuracy in 
your understanding and reporting of Yemeni developments to 
Washington." 
 
3. (C) DCM later called FM Qirbi to provide answers on a 
couple of queries the Minister had made earlier in the week 
and used the opportunity to ask the FM for a clarification of 
what the President meant in his remarks about official 
channels. Qirbi said that the President meant to remind us to 
coordinate carefully on any travel outside Sanaa. When 
pressed by the DCM on the political aspect of the remark, 
Qirbi confirmed that the President was referring to remarks 
and opinions we might hear from others and wanted to make 
sure those were properly balanced with the ROYG's official 
point of view. 
 
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The Bloomfield Visit: 
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4. (C) Ambassador raised with Saleh the upcoming A/S 
Bloomfield visit and how important it was for the President 
to see Bloomfield to get our bilateral discussions on MANPADS 
off to a good start. Saleh replied that the 24th of August 
was not possible as he was leaving to the U.K. for an 
official visit. A meeting in London was also not desirable as 
Saleh's schedule is already tight. Saleh recommended instead 
a meeting anytime after August 30th. Post will convey this 
message in separate reporting to ARP and the A/S in order to 
coordinate and fix a date for the visit. 
KRAJESKI