US embassy cable - 03ABUDHABI2985

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 002985 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP 
 
NSC FOR PETER THEROUX 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/13 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, TC 
SUBJECT:  ABU DHABI CROWN PRINCE BURNISHES 
LEADERSHIP IMAGE IN HIGH-PROFILE 
VISITS TO UK AND FRANCE 
 
1. (U) Classified by Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba 
for reasons 1.5 (B) and (D). 
 
SUMMARY AND COMMENT 
------------------- 
 
2. (C) Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince (and de facto 
Ruler), Shaykh Khalifa bin Zayid Al-Nahyan, made 
unusually high-profile visits to the U.K. and 
France earlier this month in a move clearly 
intended to establish his credentials as a 
statesman.  The normally quite shy Khalifa, whose 
primary focus heretofore has been on running Abu 
Dhabi emirate and managing its prodigious oil 
wealth, held meetings with Tony Blair, Jacques 
Chirac and others (including Queen Elizabeth), and 
issued generally well-received pronouncements on a 
range of international political issues (Middle 
East Peace, etc.).  Khalifa's European trip 
received exhaustive coverage in the Emirati press; 
frequently shown close at his side was Shaykh 
Muhammad bin Zayid (MBZ), the de facto defense 
minister and future Abu Dhabi Crown Prince hopeful. 
U.K. Embassy sources here (protect) say Khalifa's 
meetings were mostly non-substantive and note that 
the impressive schedule was largely arranged 
through MbZ's connections both with HMG and the 
British Royal Family.  Thus, while showing Khalifa 
as a confident player on a broader international 
stage may have been the primary purpose of the 
European trip, a secondary one would appear to have 
been to demonstrate MBZ's indispensability -- an 
attribute unlikely to hurt his chances of being 
selected as the next Abu Dhabi Crown Prince.  End 
Summary and Comment. 
 
Shaykh Khalifa's European (Working) Vacation 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (C) Abu Dhabi Crown Prince (and de facto ruler) 
Shaykh Khalifa bin Zayid Al-Nahyan spent the first 
two weeks of June in Europe, visiting both the U.K. 
and France.  Yet while he routinely takes off the 
month of June for vacation, the first half of this 
year's break looked suspiciously like work, with 
the local UAE press providing front-page coverage 
of Khalifa's meetings with Princes Andrew and 
Charles, PM Blair and FM Straw, a reception for 
officials and businessmen at the tony Lanesborough 
Hotel (owned by the Abu Dhabi Investment 
Authority), and a meeting with Queen Elizabeth at 
Windsor Castle (followed by attendance at the 
Queen's 50th Coronation Anniversary).  Khalifa's 
Paris schedule appeared to be shorter and less 
hectic, but here too he kept reasonably busy, 
meeting with President Chirac, Defense Minister 
Aliot-Marie, and various government and business 
types. 
 
 
Press reports emphasize engagement on substance 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
4.  (C) In an effort to shape the coverage of his 
trip, Shaykh Khalifa gave a rare interview to the 
pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat at the start of 
his visit to London in which he engaged (for the 
first time in post's collective memory) on a wide 
range of international political issues including 
Iraq, the Middle East Peace Roadmap, and terrorist 
attacks in Riyadh and Casablanca.  He took the even 
more unusual step of also addressing the UAE's 
domestic political structure, saying the current 
set-up provides for the "inclusion of a mechanism 
for consultations in decision-making."  On the role 
of women in the UAE, he observed that "no 
amendments to the Constitution are needed to permit 
women to serve in the Federal National Council." 
The interview (really more of a statement) was 
disseminated broadly by the official government 
Emirates News Agency (WAM).  Khalifa's 
interlocutors appeared equally at pains to give his 
discussions a statesmanlike cast, with Tony Blair's 
spokesperson calling their talks "important," and 
Chirac's media handler noting that Khalifa had 
engaged on "a number of military contracts and the 
quality of the strategic partnership." 
 
 ut appearances can be deceptive 
--------------------------------- 
 
5.  (C) Yet in contrast to press reporting 
suggesting Khalifa's meetings were fraught with 
heavy lifting on the affairs of the day, U.K. 
embassy officials in Abu Dhabi (protect) have told 
us privately that while the atmospherics of the 
Crown Prince's appointments were universally 
positive, they were also largely unencumbered with 
substance.  Indeed, one U.K. diplomat observed that 
Khalifa's schedule had largely been orchestrated by 
younger half-brother Shaykh Muhammad bin Zayid 
(MbZ), the de facto defense minister, whose 
personal ties and policy credentials with the U.K. 
leadership are well established.  MBZ reportedly 
had to push Khalifa to take a more full schedule in 
Britain (including calls on government officials as 
opposed to the more typical, and largely 
ceremonial, meetings with UK royal family members). 
The net result of MBZ's efforts was that Khalifa 
came across as confident and statesmanlike, while 
MbZ once again demonstrated his indispensability. 
 
Wahba