VZCZCXRO8578
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHMK #0450/01 1371518
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 171518Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANAMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6823
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHBVAKS/COMUSNAVCENT  PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 000450 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PREL BA BILAT POL
SUBJECT: NDI STAFF VISIT OUTLINES WAY FORWARD FOR 
PROGRAMMING IN BAHRAIN 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
. 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (C) Two representatives from the National Democratic 
Institute (NDI) visited Bahrain May 10-15 and met with a wide 
range of government officials, parliamentarians, and civil 
society representatives to discuss the resumption of NDI 
activities in Bahrain.  NDI staff outlined their intention to 
focus their work on the institutions of parliament.  The 
overarching message from the GOB to NDI was that the door was 
open to NDI's return, but there needs to be cooperation with 
the Bahrain Institute for Political Development (BIPD) and 
its leadership.  BIPD officials agreed to move forward in 
collaboration on a fall program, and chose to defer on 
whether the development of a formal MOU between the two 
organizations was necessary.  NDI also conveyed to the 
Minister of Social Development a desire to work with youth 
societies on activities related to civic responsibility in a 
democracy.  Post is cautiously optimistic about NDI's plan to 
move forward, but NDI will need to guard against being 
subsumed by BIPD, thereby losing independence, and 
potentially credibility, in the eyes of NDI's long-time 
supporters.  In the coming weeks, the Ambassador will stress 
to senior leadership the importance of taking advantage of 
this very reasonable NDI plan of action (in a way that allows 
NDI to operate without compromising its independence), 
thereby removing a negative element that has been hanging 
over an otherwise very positive bilateral relationship.  End 
summary. 
 
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Focus on Parliament 
------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) NDI country project director Scott Bates and regional 
program director Leigh Catherine Miles visited Bahrain May 
10-15 to discuss NDI resuming its work in Bahrain.  Meeting 
with three government ministers (Minister of State for 
Foreign Affairs, Justice and Islamic Affairs, and Social 
Development), the heads of the two chambers of parliament 
(the elected Council of Representatives (COR) and the 
appointed Shura Council), individual MPs, and leadership of 
BIPD, NDI outlined its intent to focus its work on the two 
chambers of parliament as institutions, rather than on 
political party development, as NDI had done prior to its 
departure in May 2006.  NDI proposed programming on topics 
such as executive/legislative branch relations, MP 
interactions with the media, building the capacity of COR and 
Shura technical staff, and legislative drafting, among other 
areas.  Per a conversation on May 10 with Minister of Justice 
and Islamic Affairs Shaikh Khalid Bin Ali Al Khalifa, since 
NDI would not target political societies in its programming, 
legal restrictions preventing political societies from 
receiving "benefits" from outside organizations would not 
apply to NDI's work with members of parliament. 
 
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Cooperation with BIPD, UNDP 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) In discussions May 14, BIPD Secretary General Lulwa 
Al Awadhi and Executive Director Dr. Abdulla Al Asha'al 
welcomed NDI collaboration with BIPD on programs for the 
parliament.  They were quick to raise the issue of 
establishing an MOU, but Bates suggested that the two 
organizations conduct a joint activity in October or November 
to build goodwill, and then they could sit down to discuss 
the possibility of drafting an MOU.  This idea was agreeable 
to Al Awadhi and Al Asha'al.  They also suggested that NDI 
help build the capacity of BIPD staff and support a 
certificate program in political studies BIPD is developing 
that will commence in September.  The importance of 
cooperation with BIPD was echoed clearly by both heads of the 
parliamentary chambers May 15, saying that the institutions 
would work with NDI as long as programming was conducted with 
BIPD. 
 
¶4.  (C) In a follow up discussion May 15 on BIPD programming, 
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) program analyst 
Mohamed Al Sharif outlined the extent of UNDP's involvement 
with BIPD.  UNDP, under an MOU with BIPD, has become BIPD's 
primary partner and provider of content for BIPD activities. 
Al Sharif mentioned that other countries, such as France and 
the UK, had approached UNDP with offers to provide 
programming for the parliament.  Al Sharif suggested that NDI 
and UNDP share work plans and maintain close collaboration so 
 
MANAMA 00000450  002 OF 002 
 
 
that programming was not duplicated and would be 
complementary.  Bates described a successful model he had 
seen in Kosovo in which a committee of content providers met 
regularly with an Organization for Security and Cooperation 
in Europe (OSCE) official, who coordinated parliamentary 
programs conducted by various partners. 
 
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Work with Youth 
--------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) In their meeting May 14 with Minister of Social 
Development Dr. Fatima Al Balushi, Bates and Miles outlined 
NDI's plans to work with youth organizations through a series 
of "dialogues" on various subjects related to civic 
responsibility in a democracy.  (Note:  In addition to the 
MEPI grant that will fund the parliamentary activities, NDI 
has a second National Endowment for Democracy grant that it 
will use for its programs with youth.)  Al Balushi indicated 
that the Ministry welcomed cooperation and would be happy "to 
have its lawyers sit down with NDI officials to work out an 
MOU."  Following the meeting, Bates commented on the 
bureaucratic hurdles, saying it might be preferable to 
maintain the status quo in their activities with youth, 
whereby NDI reimburses program costs as the organizations 
conduct activities. 
 
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Comment 
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¶6.  (C) This visit by NDI representatives may have resulted 
in a reasonable framework in which NDI programming can return 
to Bahrain.  NDI's strategy to focus its efforts on 
parliamentary institutions and its members through periodic 
visits and programs, rather than establishing a permanent 
presence and working with political societies, has seemingly 
relieved some Bahraini officials and has received a positive 
welcome.  At the same time, it was striking that both heads 
of parliamentary chambers stressed the importance of working 
in conjunction with BIPD.  The outstanding question is 
whether BIPD will be content to have NDI work "with" it, or 
insist that it work "through" it.  We are cautiously 
optimistic that NDI, in initiating new programming with the 
parliament will be able to work "with" BIPD in a way that 
does not compromise its independence and its ability to work 
directly with parliamentarians.  In upcoming meetings with 
senior leadership, the Ambassador will stress that NDI has 
come up with a reasonable plan of action to resume operation 
in Bahrain, and that the government should seize the 
opportunity to support this plan, allow NDI to come back, and 
remove a negative element that has been hanging over the 
otherwise very positive bilateral relationship. 
 
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Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/manama/ 
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MONROE