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

UNCLAS CAIRO 009350 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PHUM KDEM EG IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQ:  EGYPT SEES ELECTIONS AS "STEP FORWARD" TO 
COMPLETION OF POLITICAL PROCESS 
 
REF: A. STATE 225860 
     ¶B. CAIRO 9315 
 
¶1.  (U) The Charge delivered foreign policy reftel demarche 
to Presidential Spokesman and Advisor Soliman Awad ahead of 
Iraq's national parliamentary elections, encouraging the GOE 
to publicly support and congratulate the Iraqi people for 
their democratic achievement, once election results had been 
received.  Awad took the message on board and committed to 
sharing the message within the government.  Similarly, post 
shared reftel request with the Minister of Foreign Affair's 
senior staff and with the Arab League Secretariat, requesting 
them to be generous in their public recognition of Iraq's 
democratic process and the further implementation of the 
political process described in UNSCR 1546. 
 
¶2.  (U) Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit provided 
Egypt's official reaction to Iraq's national parliamentary 
elections during a December 17 press conference.  In a 
written press statement shared with Post, Aboul Gheit said 
that Iraq's elections came within the framework of 
implementing the political process spelled out in UNSCR 1546, 
which included a process of consultations among parliamentary 
blocs.  Further, the elections were a basic step to complete 
that process as well as commitments made at the Iraqi 
national reconciliation conference in Cairo to prepare for a 
national conference in Baghdad in February.  All such 
efforts, he said, contributed to serving efforts exerted to 
establish stability and security in Iraq with the aim of 
achieving the aspirations of the Iraqi people.  Aboul Gheit 
called for support of the Iraqi people's complete right of 
territorial sovereignty to maintain national unity in order 
to achieve economic prosperity, a national government, and an 
elected parliament that would help completely implement UNSCR 
1546, including the withdrawal of foreign forces. 
 
¶3.  (U) Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa has been 
publicly quiet on the subject of Iraq since the elections, 
although he was quoted as having said generally constructive 
things in the run-up to the elections during a visit to 
Qatar.  The Arab League's envoy to monitor the elections, 
Farouq Al-Omad, was quoted in local media complimenting the 
Iraqis for their election preparations and wished Iraqis a 
better future via the democratic process. 
 
¶4.  (U) Moussa is currently focused on organizing a national 
reconciliation conference in Iraq in either February or 
March, as agreed to by Iraqis in Cairo in November.  We 
understand that a key piece of that planning includes the 
creation of a "steering group" of roughly 20 Iraqis, 
representing various political forces within the country, 
coordinated by former Sudanese Foreign Minister Ismail.  This 
committee, which we are told was agreed to by the Iraqis in 
Cairo in November, would be tasked with deciding upon both 
the substance and administrative aspects of the Baghdad 
conference.  Moussa intends to coordinate with UN envoy Qazi 
and Iraqi political figures to work out the details of the 
coming planning phase. 
 
 
JONES