US embassy cable - 03AMMAN2072

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002072 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/06/2013 
TAGS: AEMR, AMGT, PREL, ASEC, CASC, CVIS, EFIN, ETRD, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: TFIZO1: AMMAN SITREP 29 (4/06 1730 LOCAL) 
 
REF: (A) FBIS GMP 20030405000201 
 
Classified By: DCM Gregory L. Berry for reasons 1.5 (B)(D). 
 
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General Overview 
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1. (C)  The Embassy is operating on a normal schedule April 
6.  Consular services are open.  Activities at the American 
Language Center remain suspended, and there is only 
restricted activity by FSN's at the Peace Corps office. 
Movements of American staff remain restricted. 
 
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Consular Issues 
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2. (U)  No new issues. 
 
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GOJ Actions/Statements 
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3. (U)  According to Amman Al-Dustur daily on 5 April, 
"prominent" Jordanian figures have expressed appreciation for 
Prime Minister Ali Abu-al-Raghib's move of summoning the U.S. 
ambassador on 3 April and informing him of Jordan's 
categorical rejection of the "U.S. aggression against Iraq 
and the massacres the American and British soldiers have 
perpetrated against the brotherly Iraqi people." 
 
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Security 
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4. (U)  The situation in Jordan was calm April 5.  No 
demonstrations were reported in Amman.  A demonstration of 
400-500 people took place in Irbid without incident.  There 
was also a candlelight march scheduled in Irbid at 1930, but 
it was not expected to become violent. 
 
5. (U)  As of 1545 hrs local April 6, the situation in Jordan 
was calm.  A demonstration of 200 was held at a religious 
university in Amman without incident.  A group of lawyers 
were denied permission to march from the court to the Prime 
Ministry and instead held a 45 minute "strike" within the 
courthouse.  Speeches are planned at a Union Complex in the 
evening. 
 
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Economic and Trade Developments 
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6. (SBU)  Embassy interlocutors representing American fast 
food and soft drink companies report that business is down, 
but not as much as it was the week beginning March 30 . 
While to date there has been no indication of an organized 
boycott, some sermons in the mosques over this past weekend 
called for boycotts of American and British products.   In 
addition, franchise owners said there has been no violence or 
vandalism against their shops or infrastructure but are 
worried that the bombing yesterday of a McDonald's near 
Beirut may spawn copycats in Amman. 
 
7.  (SBU)  The Amman Stock Exchange continued its trend of 
heavier-than-normal volume from last week and closed up by 1% 
on Sunday. 
 
8.  (SBU)  Local newspapers quoted the Middle East Economic 
Survey as saying that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will supply 
Jordan with free crude oil for three months to replace Iraqi 
oil.  According to MEES, Kuwait will give Jordan 25,000 
barrels of crude oil and Saudi Arabia 50,000 on a daily basis. 
 
9. (C)  The PM told the Ambassador April 6 that an increasing 
number of reports were surfacing of canceled QIZ orders and 
reduced volumes of new orders.  The Ambassador noted that we 
have received a few reports of order cancellations, but that 
the volumes were not yet unexpectedly high.  He told the PM 
that the greater concern among QIZ exporters, as we 
understood it, was the continued closure of the Sheikh 
Hussein Bridge due to an ongoing Israeli customs strike, 
which was restricting access to Israeli inputs for QIZ goods. 
 The Ambassador assured the PM that we are keeping close, 
regular tabs on QIZ developments, and have already met in 
Washington with U.S. garment importers to impress upon them 
our continued support for the initiative.  He added that both 
Washington agencies and the Embassy have offered to talk to 
any U.S. importers who have concerns or questions about the 
QIZ's. 
 
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Refugee/Humanitarian Issues 
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10. (U)  The Jordan-Iraq border remains open with the Iraqi 
side still controlled and staffed by Iraqi government 
officials.  IOM reports that three TCNs entered Jordan from 
Iraq overnight (April 5-6); still no sign of any Iraqi 
refugees or asylum seekers. 
 
11.  (SBU)  Refcoord and DART-West member visited Ruweished's 
TCN transit and refugee camps on April 5.  The Jordan Red 
Crescent-run TCN transit camp, initially planned to 
accommodate short-term residents, is struggling to 
accommodate a longer-term population of approximately 100 
Somalis and Sudanese who refuse to return home.  (Total 
transit camp population is currently 249.)  As long as the 
numbers of longer-term residents remain low, minor water & 
sanitation problems in the camp should remain manageable. 
UNHCR's still-empty refugee camp is well-organized and able 
to accommodate an immediate influx of up to 5,000 refugees. 
UNHCR reports that it is spending USD 1,000 per day to keep 
the empty camp open & ready to accommodate refugees.  Further 
details will be reported septel. 
 
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Press 
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12. (SBU)  PA contacts reported that a group of journalists, 
including representatives from CBS and Sky television, 
arrived safely on Saturday in Baghdad.  The safe arrival of 
this group has prompted other journalists to show interest in 
crossing the border from Jordan into Iraq. 
 
GNEHM