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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 001866 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL BA BILAT POL REFORM
SUBJECT: KING UNMOVED BY NDI EFFORT TO RETURN TO BAHRAIN 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe.  Reason: 1.4 (B)(D) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary. National Democratic Institute (NDI) Chairman 
Madeleine Albright visited Bahrain October 28 in an effort to 
find a way for NDI to resume its activities in Bahrain.  She 
received a warm welcome -- both officially and unofficially 
-- but was unable to achieve a breakthrough on a return of 
NDI to Bahrain.  She pressed hard in her meeting with the 
King, who gave no ground and said that it was important that 
Bahrain's reform process not be seen as an American project. 
Things were going well, he maintained, and he did not want to 
provoke people and destroy the effort.  He urged that NDI 
find a way to work through the Bahrain Institute for 
Political Development (BIPD).  On the positive side, Dr. 
Albright hosted a well-attended reception for political 
activists and members of political societies, including 
members of a delegation traveling to Washington this week to 
participate in an NDI-funded program to observe the U.S. 
elections.   A well-respected columnist attributed the 
regime's reluctance to welcome NDI back to the link being 
made to the American efforts in Iraq, suggesting that the 
leadership is comparing NDI's efforts with the Shia 
opposition in Bahrain to the U.S. support for Shia in Iraq. 
While the King gave little room for optimism in the short 
run, it is possible that the political temperature in Bahrain 
will cool once the Bahraini elections are over and attention 
turns to the new Parliament in December.  We will continue to 
push the NDI case (Undersecretary Hughes raised it with the 
Crown Prince November 1), but do not expect any positive 
movement -- if it comes -- at least until after the 
elections.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) NDI Chairman Madeleine Albright held a full day of 
meetings in Bahrain October 28 in an effort to find a way for 
NDI to resume its activities in Bahrain after its office was 
closed and its local representative sent home last June.  The 
key meeting was with the King.  After opening pleasantries, 
Dr. Albright got right to the point, stating that she wanted 
to talk frankly about what could be done to bring NDI back to 
Bahrain and restore the strong relationship that had worked 
so well for four years until NDI's abrupt departure in May. 
The King replied that the key for Bahrain's reform process is 
that it be seen as a home-grown model.  Democracy will take 
time to develop in Bahrain.  Bahrain is about to hold its 
second parliamentary elections.  It hopes the elections will 
go well.  But Bahrain has to be careful.  It cannot let the 
reform process be seen as an American project.  Extremists 
will exploit that.  "Having an American institution here at 
this time will cause people to say that I am introducing 
reforms here because of the Americans," he stated. 
 
¶3. (C) The King said that there was a regional context to the 
NDI situation.  Saudi Arabia once had its own "NDI" in 
Bahrain, teaching Wahhabism.  He closed it down.  The 
Iranians would like to teach Khomeini-ism.  If Bahrain had 
institutes from the U.S., Britain, France, Iran, and India, 
all teaching their brand of democracy, it would lead to a 
cutting off of bridges to fellow Gulf states.  And that would 
not be good from a reform point of view, because Bahrain is 
actually influencing reform in the Gulf countries in a 
positive way.  The UAE currently has a team from Bahrain 
helping organize their elections.  Bahrain is helping the 
Qataris. Sultan Qaboos has called Bahrain a model for reform. 
 Bahrain's leadership on women's issues has had an impact in 
the Gulf.  This could all be jeopardized if the Gulf 
countries see that an American institution is leading the 
democracy effort in Bahrain.  They will regard Bahrain as a 
front for the Americans.  "Frankly," he stated, "I don't want 
to provoke people to destroy what we are doing.  Things are 
going well." 
 
¶4. (C) At the same time, the King continued, "we do want to 
work with NDI."  His solution, he stated, was to form his own 
"NDI," the Bahrain Institute for Political Development 
(BIPD), which would have links with many foreign institutes, 
especially NDI.  He urged that NDI work through BIPD.  It is 
a new organization.  "We would like BIPD to be on your side." 
 
¶5. (C) Dr. Albright also discussed NDI during a lunch hosted 
by Minister of Information/MFA Minister of State  Mohammed 
Abdul Ghaffar and attended by MFA Assistant Undersecretary 
Shaikh Abdel Aziz bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa.  BIPD head Lulwa 
 
MANAMA 00001866  002 OF 003 
 
 
Al-Awadi was expected to attended, but bowed out at the last 
minute, citing a conflict with a meeting she had with the 
King's wife, Shaikha Sabika.  Abdul Ghaffar and Shaikh Abdel 
Aziz expressed hope that the NDI problem could be resolved, 
and attributed the current difficulties to a perception that 
NDI had become too closely aligned with the opposition 
Al-Wifaq society, as well as dissatisfaction with NDI's 
former Bahrain representative Fawzi Guleid.  Abdul Ghaffar 
also mentioned a program NDI had run on redistricting which, 
he said, had raised sensitive issues, rubbed the leadership 
wrong, and not helped its cause. 
 
¶6. (C) In the meeting with Shaikha Sabika, which was attended 
by BIPD's Lulwa Al-Awadi, the King's wife proposed that the 
Supreme Council for Women sign an MOU with NDI to run 
programs on economic empowerment of women.  Her proposal 
seemed to encompass programs outside of NDI's mandate. 
 
¶7. (SBU) While Dr. Albright made no headway on a return of 
NDI to Bahrain, final arrangements are being concluded for a 
delegation of 15 Bahrainis, both from political societies and 
from the government (including BIPD), to travel to Washington 
to observe the U.S. elections.  (The group departed for the 
U.S. on October 31.)  Dr. Albright hosted a well-attended 
reception for members of the delegation, as well as members 
of political societies, women activists, Shura Council 
members, and representatives from civil society. 
 
¶8. (U) One of the attendees was influential columnist Sawsan 
Sha'er, who recounted in an October 30 column a conversation 
she had with Dr. Albright at the reception.  She said that 
she told Albright that she might not agree with the way the 
regime dealt with NDI, but she also understood the regime's 
fears and suspicions that made it insist not only on 
expelling the institute but ensuring that it not work 
independently.  She told Albright there is a mental link 
connecting everything democratic and American with the Iraq 
situation.  They look at U.S. policy in the region, 
especially in Iraq, with suspicious eyes because of what they 
perceive to be the U.S. policy of excluding and marginalizing 
Sunnis in Iraq.  "Nobody can help but compare your efforts to 
contact and meet with the opposition that is wearing turbans 
in Bahrain with your American guardianship of Al-Hakim, which 
led him to a decision-making position in Iraq," she stated. 
"Your efforts are viewed as a repetition of the Iraqi 
scenario." 
 
¶9. (U) In a second column on October 31, Sha'er expanded on 
this theme, stating: "We have two realities that we cannot 
ignore if we are to decide on the relationship between our 
NGOs and American expertise.  First, there are the 
suspicions about the repetition of the American Iraqi example 
which marginalized Sunnis and generated talk about a Shia 
crescent.  These are suspicions that Bahrain has, and we can 
understand this if we take into consideration the size of the 
Shia bloc (in Bahrain)....   Second, we must admit modestly 
that we need to benefit from the advanced American expertise, 
which an organization like the UN cannot provide, let alone 
Arab institutions (comment: she was no doubt referring to 
BIPD) that some of our organizations try in vain to use as a 
substitute for American expertise....  We were hoping that 
Bahrain would deal with American expertise with 
self-confidence and transparency...." 
 
¶10. (C) Comment: Sha'er's commentaries underscore the 
challenge that NDI faces in Bahrain in the current 
environment: getting the government to accept needed and 
desired American expertise on democratic reform in a country 
whose leadership (Sunni rulers with a Shia majority 
population) is on edge in a turbulent region.  The King gave 
little hope for optimism in the short run.  On the other 
hand, the government has approved participation in an 
NDI-sponsored program to observe election day in the U.S. 
And it is possible that the political temperature in Bahrain 
will cool once the Bahraini elections are concluded and 
attention turns to the new Parliament.  We should continue to 
push NDI's case, but we do not expect any positive movement 
-- if indeed the government is to ease its position -- at 
least until after the elections. 
 
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Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: 
 
MANAMA 00001866  003 OF 003 
 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/manama/ 
********************************************* ******** 
MONROE