US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT1813

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001813 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2013 
TAGS: PREL, KU, IZ 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S APRIL 30 MEETING WITH MINSTATE 
 
REF: A. STATE 103736 B. KUWAIT 1759 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard H. Jones for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) Summary: The Ambassador met with Minister of State for 
Foreign Affairs Shaykh Dr. Mohammed Al-Sabah on April 30th. 
Among the issues discussed were Kuwaiti POWs, the future of 
Kuwait's fuel donations to coalition forces and the status of 
ongoing efforts to secure an Article 98 agreement with 
Kuwait.  End Summary. 
 
(C) WAR ISSUES: POWs AND FUEL 
-------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Dr. Mohammed began by raising the issue of Kuwaiti 
POWs, with some of whose families he had met the previous 
night.  Echoing their frustration that coalition forces had 
not encountered any Kuwaiti POWs in Iraq, he relayed the 
concern that coalition forces make every effort to 
interrogate all enemy prisoners of war (EPW's) for possible 
information about Kuwaiti POWs.  He said that such 
interrogations were especially significant to the GOK's 
ongoing efforts to establish war crimes cases against the 
former Iraqi regime. (Note: The GOK has been pursuing the 
cases of 572 Kuwaitis and 33 persons of other nationalities, 
missing since the Iraqi occupation.  This is a highly 
sensitive issue in Kuwait. End Note.) 
 
3. (C) Dr. Mohammed also told the Ambassador that Kuwait 
would soon have to start scaling back its in-kind fuel 
assistance to coalition forces, as the conflict was drawing 
to a close and the GOK was facing budgetary pressures.  He 
noted that coalition fuel requirements were significantly 
less, now that the air campaign is over.  As an aside, he 
also mentioned rumors he had heard that some fuel Kuwait had 
supplied was being sold on the black market in Iraq.  In 
response to the Ambassador's questions, Dr. Mohammed said it 
was unclear to him whether this was fuel supplied to the 
coalition or for humanitarian purposes.  He had no further 
information.  The Ambassador urged him to bring any 
information suggesting diversions from coalition stocks to 
U.S. attention at once. 
 
4. (C) The Ambassador assured the Minister that coalition 
forces were, in fact, doing everything possible to elicit 
information from EPW's, and coordinating very closely with 
GOK bodies charged with Kuwait's POW efforts.  He also asked 
him to give the USG as much advance warning as possible about 
any GOK decision to cut back on fuel assistance. 
 
5. (C) The Ambassador also gave Dr. Mohammed a readout on the 
4/28 Baghdad meeting of Iraqi political figures.  Dr. 
Mohammed listened intently and asked the Ambassador if the US 
would be advising SCIRI's Mohammed Bakr Al-Hakim to be 
present at the group's planned future meeting.  SCIRI, he 
said, had been represented at the 3/28 meeting by a lower 
level representative.  They also discussed the possibility of 
Shi'a cleric Mohammed Bahr al-Oloum's returning to Iraq, with 
the Ambassador pointing out the difficulty of the U.S. 
playing a prominent role. 
 
 
(C) ARTICLE 98 
---------- 
 
6. (C)  The Ambassador delivered Ref A talking points and 
confirmed for Dr. Mohammed that Egypt had concluded an 
Article 98 agreement with the U.S.; the proposed agreement 
with Kuwait extends coverage to all Americans and TCN's while 
in U.S. military service, but not civilian contractors.  Dr. 
Mohammed indicated this might be acceptable to Kuwait, and 
asked whether the agreement would cover Free Iraqi Forces 
(FIF), implying that Kuwait would object to this since the 
GOK was still attempting to bring war crimes charges against 
some officials of the former Iraqi regime.  The Ambassador 
explained that the FIF were not technically part of the U.S. 
military, it was doubtful they would be covered by the 
agreement and in any event, the period of coverage would be 
very limited.  Ambassador Babtain from the America's 
Department suggested that we should receive an MFA response 
very soon on the latest U.S. draft. 
 
(C) TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
---------------------- 
 
7. (C) The Ambassador thanked Ambassador Babtain for having 
provided the embassy with copies of Kuwaiti laws prohibiting 
trafficking in persons (Ref B).  However, he stressed, the 
basis upon which the USG would be preparing its 
congressionally-mandated report would be the actual practices 
in Kuwait, not the legal framework.  The Ambassador suggested 
that an extension of Kuwait's labor laws to include coverage 
for domestic servants would be one way the GOK could show 
progress on the issue of trafficking in persons.  He 
underscored the embassy's desire to continue working urgently 
with the GOK on this issue. 
 
8. (C) Comment: The GOK has provided as Assistance-In-Kind 
nearly $200 million in fuel this year.  The need to increase 
security measures in conjunction with Operation Iraqi Freedom 
and the noncomitant terrorist threat forced the GOK to seek a 
supplemental budget allocation of over $1.6 billion; about 
$2000 per Kuwaiti. 
JONES