This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 RIYADH 009402 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DHAHRAN SENDS 
PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2015 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM SA
SUBJECT: SAG OFFSETS SHI'A STRENGTH IN ITS APPOINTMENTS TO 
EP MUNICIPAL COUNCILS 
 
REF: A. RIYADH 9303 
     ¶B. RIYADH 8323 
     ¶C. RIYADH 1436 (NOTAL) 
     ¶D. RIYADH 1337 
     ¶E. RIYADH 1336 
     ¶F. RIYADH 1335 
     ¶G. RIYADH 1334 
 
Classified by Consul General John Kincannon for reasons 1.4 
(b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  The SAG announced its appointments to 
municipal councils nationwide, including those of the Eastern 
Province (EP), on December 14.  As expected by many 
observers, the government used the appointments to balance 
the Shi'a presence on the councils in Qatif and Al-Hasa: 
elected members on these councils are almost entirely Shi'a, 
whereas appointed ones are almost all Sunni.  The appointees 
to the metropolitan Dammam municipal council are generally 
well-known and respected professionals; the extensive 
commitments of several of them raise questions about their 
ability to participate effectively, however.  Although 
council members are reportedly actively jockeying for the two 
elected positions within each council, EP residents appear to 
have adopted a "wait and see" approach to the councils' 
impact.  End summary. 
 
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Background 
---------- 
 
¶2.  (C) Municipal councils, a newly revivied institution in 
Saudi Arabia, are composed of elected and appointed members 
in equal proportion (ref A).  There are 16 municipal councils 
in the EP, with 118 total members; the number of members per 
council ranges from 14 to 4 and varies roughly according to 
the population of the area represented.  Elections for the 59 
contested seats took place on March 3, 2005.  Shi'a 
candidates took all six of the elected seats in Qatif (ref 
F), where Shi'a comprise the overwhelming majority of the 
population, and five of six seats in Al-Hasa (ref E), where 
Shi'a likely comprise somewhat less than 50 percent of the 
population.  Winners of the seven contested seats in greater 
Dammam (ref G) tended to be well-educated, successful 
professionals and included several religious conservatives, 
whereas winners in the less urban areas of the EP (refs C and 
D) tended to have strong local tribal affiliations. 
 
¶3.  (U) Prince Miteb bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Municipal 
Affairs, announced the SAG's appointments to councils 
nationwide on December 14.  One of the appointees to each 
council holds the senior executive position in the 
corresponding municipality and is appointed in that capacity, 
rather than as an individual.  (For example, the mayor of 
Qatif was appointed to the Qatif municipal council; should a 
new mayor be appointed, he would then assume the mayor's 
position on the council.)  The appointed members are listed 
in the last paragraph of this cable along with a brief 
biographic summary for those individuals with whom post is 
familiar.  Refs C - G list the elected council members. 
 
---------------------------------- 
SAG Appointments:  A Balancing Act 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) The most striking feature of the appointments in the 
EP is the Sunni/Shi'a breakdown in Qatif and Al-Hasa.  Shi'a 
candidates took all five of the elected seats in Qatif and 
five of six in Al-Hasa, but on each council all but one of 
the appointed members are Sunni.  Jafar Al-Shayeb, an elected 
member of the Qatif municipal council, predicted the outcome 
in Qatif to us a week before the official announcement. 
"Although almost all Qatifis are Shi'a," he noted, "the 
government will appoint Sunnis to the Qatif municipal council 
to balance the elected members."  He anticipated a good 
working relationship with two of the appointed members but a 
more difficult relationship with two others.  Tayseer 
Al-Khunaizi, a liberal activist from Qatif, said he was not 
familiar with most of the Sunni appointees to the Qatif 
council:  "They are not real Qatifis, so they cannot be that 
representative of the people." 
 
¶5.  (C) The SAG appointed technocrats from respected 
professions and institutions to the metropolitan Dammam 
council, including Khalid Al-Falih, a senior vice-president 
at Aramco, and Dr. Abdullah Al-Qadi, Secretary General of the 
EP Benevolence Society.  The appointment of high-powered 
businessmen, such as Al-Falih and SABIC Secretary General 
Hamad Al-Mahdi (in Jubail), raise questions about the ability 
of council members to devote significant time to council 
work.  A senior Aramco employee expressed surprise to the CG 
at Al-Falih's appointment:  "He has an exceptionally busy 
international travel schedule and has a full slate at Aramco. 
 I can't see him attending many council meetings." 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Members Jockey for Position While the Public Waits 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶6.  (C) According to the councils' by-laws, the councils will 
elect a president and vice president at their first meeting. 
Stories in the EP media suggest that jockeying for these 
positions among council members has already begun.  For 
example, Al-Youm, the EP daily, reported on December 18 that 
members of the Qatif council had reached informal consensus 
on electing an elected member as president and an appointed 
member as vice president.  The brother of one of the elected 
Qatif council members confirmed to us that the members (minus 
the mayor) had already met informally.  (Note:  Post would 
not be surprised if Jafar Al-Shayeb is elected president. 
End note.)  EP residents outside the councils whose opinion 
Post has gauged, on the other hand, have taken more of a 
"wait and see" approach to the councils.  "The government can 
do whatever it wants to do," said a retired local 
businessman.  "What we need are more schools and more jobs. 
Let's see if the councils help with that." 
 
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Comment 
------- 
 
¶7.  (C) In post's opinion, a "wait and see" approach is 
certainly justified in gauging the impact of the municipal 
councils in the EP.  The councils' actual governance role 
will only become clear over time, but in a state where the 
power is so centralized and the role of municipalities so 
circumscribed (ref B), it is unlikely that local municipal 
officials will easily yield what little authority they have 
to the councils.  One possible scenario is that the municipal 
councils will play no greater a role than the appointed 
consultative councils (ref B).  In theory, these councils 
advise the province's Emir and local governors, but in 
practice, contacts tell us, they do little more than rubber 
stamp decisions.  A more hopeful scenario for the EP councils 
is that they will force a greater degree of accountability on 
municipal officials and spread quasi-democratic practices 
more broadly in Saudi society.  Achieving greater 
accountability will likely take active, visible participation 
and creative use of the media by the councils' elected 
members.  End comment. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Names or Positions of Appointed EP Council Members 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Individuals appointed to EP councils are listed 
below by council, with brief biographic information where 
available. 
 
Metropolitan Dammam (seven appointed members; includes 
Dammam, Khobar, and Dhahran) 
 
--Mayor of Eastern Province (current mayor is HE Dhaifallah 
Al-Otaibi, a retired Saudi Aramco executive and a Sunni) 
--Abd Al-Jawad, Ehsan Fareed (Sunni; businessman; board 
member of the EP Chamber of Commerce & Industry and chair of 
its marine committee; U.S. educated) 
--Al-Mazyan, Jamal Abdullah (Sunni; prominent lawyer; EP 
magnate Ma'an Al-Sanea is one of his clients) 
--Al-Faleh, Khalid Abdul Aziz (Sunni; Senior VP for 
Industrial Relations, Saudi Aramco) 
--Al-Bayat, Dr. Sameer Alwan (Shi'ite; faculty member at King 
Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM)) 
--Al-Ashban, Dr. Aref Abdullah (Sunni; faculty member at 
KFUPM) 
--Al-Qadhi, Dr. Abdullah Husein (Sunni; Secretary General of 
the EP Benevolence Society, Al-Bir; faculty member, King 
Faisal University (KFU); U.S. educated with a degree in urban 
planning) 
 
Al-Hasa Governorate (six appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Al-Ahsa Governorate (current mayor is Eng. Fahd 
Mohammad al-Jubair, a Sunni) 
--Al-Afaleq, Saleh Hasan Abdullah (Sunni; businessman; nephew 
of leading businessman and Al-Ahsa chamber founding member 
and president Abdul Aziz Al-Afaleq; family is major 
shareholder in Al-Ahsa Intercontinental Hotel) 
--Al Al-Shaikh, Abd Al-Baqi Mohammad Ibrahim (Sunni; judge; 
from the well-known Al-Mubarak family in al-Ahsa, whose 
members follow the Malaki school of Islamic jurisprudence 
rather than the Hanbali/Wahhabi school) 
--Al-Ayyaf, Abdul Aziz Khalid Othman (Sunni; formerly 
Secretary General of Al-Hasa Chamber of Commerce & Industry; 
 
SIPDIS 
recently appointed Secretary General of EP Chamber of 
Commerce & Industry) 
--Al-Bahrani, Abdul Aziz Matouq  Ahmad (Shi'ite; faculty 
member, KFU - Al-Ahsa) 
--Al-Arfaj, Dr. Abd Al-Mohsin bin Husein Mohammad (Sunni; 
Director-General, Al-Ahsa Benevolence Society; faculty 
member, KFU - Al-Ahsa) 
 
Qatif Governorate (five appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Qatif Governorate (current mayor of Qatif is 
Khalid Al-Dossari, a Sunni and KFUPM graduate with extensive 
travel experience and favorable views toward the U.S.) 
--Al-Khaldi, Khalid Abdul Aziz bin Aql (Sunni; employee of 
Saudi Electric Company) 
--Al-Sikairi, Dr. Abdullah Naji Eisa (Shi'ite; faculty 
member, KFUPM) 
--Al-Mulaihi, Faleh bin Zaid Nasser (Sunni; Dammam-based 
businessman with real estate investments in Qatif) 
--Al-Awad, Eng. Murshid Saleh Murshid (Sunni; engineer at 
Saudi Aramco) 
 
Hafr Al-Batn Governorate (five appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Hafr Al-Batn Governorate 
--Al-Khilaiwi, Khalid Saleh Nasser (from prominent business 
family in Hafr Al-Batn) 
--Al-Mutairi, Dr. Adi Husein Adi 
--Al-Turki, Abdul Aziz Abd Al-Rahman Ahmad (owns shopping 
mall in Hafr Al-Batn) 
--Al-Mas'ar, Eng. Nasser Ali Shay'ea 
 
Abqaiq Governorate (four appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Abqaiq Governorate 
--Al-Shammari, Saud Ghudayr Faraj 
--Al-Otaibi, Fayhan Hamoud bin Naqa 
--Al-Hajri, Eng. Mohammad 'Aloush Mohammad 
 
Jubail Governorate (four appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Jubail Governorate 
--Al-Madhi, Hamad Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Aziz (Director General 
of SABIC) 
--Al-Saloum, Khalid Hasan Abdullah 
--Al-Bouainain, Abdul Aziz Yousef Al-Ahmad (from a well-known 
local fishing family) 
 
Khafji Governorate (four appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Khafji Governorate 
--Hilal, Khalid Mohammad Husein 
--Al-Qahtani, Odays Khushain Nasser 
--Al-Dawi, Munaikher Jabber Munaikher 
 
Malija Municipality (three appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Malija Municipality 
--Al-'Ablan, Saud Saad Mubarak 
--Al-Dosari, Mubarak Fayhan Mubarak 
 
Nouairiya Governorate (three appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Nouairiya Governorate 
--Hathlain, Mish'al bin Abdullah Mohammad 
--Al-Mari, Nasser Fuhaid Nasser 
 
Rafi'a Municipality (three appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Al-Rafiya Municipality 
--Al-Duwaish, Abdul Aziz Sa'afaq Hakem 
--Al-Duwaish, Nawaf Sultan Al-Hamidi 
 
Ras Tanura Governorate (three appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Ras Tanura Governorate 
--Al-Zou'abi, Abdul Aziz Abd Al-Rahman Abdul Aziz Al-Zuhairan 
--Al-Ansari, Nasser Husein Ahmad 
 
Yibreen Municipality (three appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Yibreen Municipality 
--Al-'Iraq, Jaber Saleh 'Amr 
--Al-Mari, Zaid Rashed Hiza 
 
Qarya Al-Ulya Governorate (three appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Qarya Al-Ulya Governorate 
--Al-Mutairi, Abdullah Hamoud Iqab Al-Shitaili 
--Al-Duwaish, Faisal Nughaimish Iqab 
--Al-Duwaish, Fawaz Majid Mohammad 
(Note:  One of the latter three individuals was elected, not 
appointed, but we did not report his name in ref D.  We 
believe it was Fawaz Al-Duwaish but are not certain.  End 
note.) 
 
Al-Lahaba Rural Complex (two appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Al-Lahaba Rural Complex 
--Al-Duwaish, Badr Mohammad Mutlaq 
 
Sa'eera Rural Complex (two appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Al-Saeera Rural Complex 
--Al-Mutairi, Khalid Haza'a Mohammad 
 
Sarar Rural Complex (two appointed members) 
 
--Mayor of Al-Sarar Rural Complex 
--Al-Ajmi, Aloush Qamdan Abdullah 
 
(Note:  Post translated this list from a newspaper report. 
Post followed the designations of the geographical units 
given in the newspaper report rather than the designations 
given in refs C - G.  For example, the "rural complexes" were 
designated as "administrative posts" in reftels.  End note.) 
 
(APPROVED:  KINCANNON) 
GFOELLER