US embassy cable - 05SANAA3137

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 003137 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/25/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, PHUM, KDEM, YM, COUNTER TERRORISM, TERFIN, DEMOCRATIC REFORM 
SUBJECT: SALEH ACCEPTS GTMO DETAINEES, DOES NOT BACK DOWN 
ON PRESS FREEDOMS, AND IS UNCLEAR ON SA/LW COMMITMENTS 
 
REF: STATE 195442 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR THOMAS C. KRAJESKI, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND ( 
D). 
 
1.  (C)  SUMMARY: President Saleh told Ambassador on October 
25 that his government would accept all Yemeni detainees from 
Guantanamo Bay, provided the USG passes all relevant 
information on their cases so that they can be charged and 
tried in local courts, as appropriate.  Saleh agreed to 
criminalize arms trading, but only after current, already 
paid-for deals are processed through the Ministry of Defense 
(MOD).  He said he fully supported the MCC process and would 
provide the USG with the ROYG's plans for comprehensive 
economic and other reforms while in Washington on November 8 
- 12.  He rejected the notion that Yemen's growing 
restrictions on press freedom and harassment of journalists 
signaled a slow-down in democratic progress.  Press freedoms 
are an internal affair, Saleh asserted, and the USG should 
not focus on such "small issues." Ambassador disagreed, 
noting that there cannot be democracy without freedom of the 
press, and that the progress we have made on countering 
terrorism could unravel without democratic progress. 
 
2.  (C)  The ROYG has and will continue to use its influence 
with Palestinian groups, including Hamas, to support the 
Palestinian Authority and give up violence.  Saleh reiterated 
his desire to see Mohammed al-Moayyad serve the rest of his 
prison term in Yemen, and encouraged the USG to "stop making 
a hero of Zindani" by continuing to pursue UN sanctions 
against him.  END SUMMARY 
 
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GTMO: We'll Take Them 
--------------------- 
 
3.  (C)  In response to Ambassador's delivery of reftel 
points, President Saleh said he wanted his upcoming visit to 
Washington to consist of discussion and not turn into "an 
interrogation."  To that end, he was prepared to accept all 
Yemeni detainees from Guantanamo Bay, but insisted that the 
USG provide him with "all the files" on each detainee so that 
the ROYG could "charge them for disrupting Yemen's good 
relations with its allies" in local courts.  Asked for 
written assurances, Saleh said as President of the State of 
Yemen, he was making a formal order, so no written assurances 
were required.  (NOTE:  Post will attempt to obtain a 
diplomatic note from the MFA in response to our notes on this 
topic.) 
 
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DEMOCRACY AND PRESS FREEDOM 
--------------------------- 
 
4. (C)  Saleh said he felt that the United States was 
"demeaning itself" by focusing on "small internal affairs" 
such as the mistreatment of journalists, when it should be 
talking about more strategic issues with Yemen, such as how 
to deal with Iraq, Syria and the Palestinian question.  Yemen 
recognized the value of democracy and embarked on that path 
after unification in 1990 on its own; it does not need 
"instructions" from foreign powers on how to continue making 
progress.  The President felt that Ambassador's recent 
comments to the press about the stalling of democratic 
progress in Yemen were "undiplomatic" and should have been 
made in private channels.  The Embassy was becoming an 
"office for receiving complaints from journalists and 
oppositionists," he complained. 
 
5. (C)  Ambassador disagreed, stating that freedom of the 
press was not a "small issue," and that, in fact, there could 
be no democracy without a free press.  The lack of democracy, 
he continued, threatened to unravel all of the progress the 
United States and Yemen had made in combating terrorism and 
reducing poverty.  For these reasons, democracy is of major 
concern to the United States, and Saleh should be prepared to 
explain himself to POTUS and reporters during his visit. 
Ambassador reminded Saleh that he had earned a reputation for 
his stated commitments to democracy and press freedom, but 
that reputation is being harmed by the ROYG's recent actions. 
 
 
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SA/LW: OLD DEALS STILL IN PIPELINE 
---------------------------------- 
 
6. (C)  Asked about information that Yemeni arms brokers are 
still procuring weapons from foreign suppliers despite 
Saleh's commitment to ban such activity, Saleh said these are 
deals that were concluded before his policy change that are 
"still in the pipeline."  He assured Ambassador that MOD was 
"watching closely" to ensure that none of the weapons fell 
into the wrong hands.  Saleh claimed that arms procurements 
by non-government brokers would be criminalized after these 
deals and anyone found violating the law would be brought to 
court because "these people make problems for Yemeni 
society."  Saleh did not offer a response to Ambassador's 
reiteration of the USG's offer to create an inventory control 
system within the MOD. 
 
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REFORM: I HAVE A PLAN 
--------------------- 
 
7. (C)  President Saleh said he planned to unveil a "5-10 
year reform plan" during his visit to Washington, addressing 
judicial, administrative, political, human rights, and 
economic reform.  He said he is looking forward to discussing 
ways the USG can support the plan bilaterally through the MCC 
process, and by using its influence with other donors.  The 
plan will target issues, such as unemployment, that are key 
to reducing poverty and corruption. 
 
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HAMAS/PIJ 
--------- 
 
8. (C)  Asked to voice support for the Palestinian Authority 
(PA), to denounce violent opposition to it, and to tell Hamas 
and other groups that there will be no support for them in 
the Arab world as long as they use violence to oppose the 
Palestinian leadership.  Saleh responded by saying that Yemen 
will use its influence with "all Palestinian groups" to 
convince them to support the PA and give up violence. 
 
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Moayyad and Zindani 
------------------- 
 
9.  (C)  Saleh said he looked forward to positive meetings 
and discussions in Washington with the President and senior 
officials on all of these issues, but that he also hoped to 
raise the issues of Mohammed Moayyad's continued detention in 
the United States and the de-listing of Abdulmajeed 
al-Zindani on UN sanctions lists.  Saleh reiterated his 
desire to see Moayyad transferred to Yemen so that he could 
"serve out the remainder of his jail term here."  He 
encouraged the USG to "share its information on Zindani" if 
it has any, or otherwise to drop the case, as the continued 
public spotlight from the United States and the United 
Nations were "only making a hero" out of him and were 
contributing to his ability to raise money in the region. 
 
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COMMENT 
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10.  (C)  Saleh offered few surprises in this meeting.  He 
was smart enough to recognize that the Guantanamo detainee 
issue was truly a red line for the USG, and that his visit 
could be canceled if he did not accept to take back his own 
citizens.  Saleh unfortunately continues to be tone deaf when 
it comes to press freedom, its importance to democracy, and 
the emphasis the USG places on it.  His continued promises on 
SA/LW control are less and less reliable, but we are 
optimistic that there may be some substance to his reform 
plan, as ROYG officials and Parliament have shown increasing 
boldness on certain economic reforms over the past several 
months.  Under a fair amount of public pressure, Saleh 
appears to hope that the USG will help him find a way to make 
the Moayyad and Zindani issues "go away" but does not 
demonstrate a great deal of understanding for the reasons why 
action has been taken against these two men. 
Krajeski