VZCZCXRO3308
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #2305 2071447
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 261447Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6290
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 0043
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS CAIRO 002305 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC STAFF FOR WATERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EG KN
SUBJECT: EGYPTIAN GOVT WIRE SERVICE MISTAKENLY REPORTS 
RULING PARTY TO ELECT NEW PRESIDENT 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Egypt's official wire service, the Middle East 
News Agency (MENA), created brief confusion on 7/26 when it 
disseminated a text message to mobile phone subscribers which 
reported that National Democratic Party (NDP) Secretary 
General Safwat El-Sherif had announced that "The coming 
conference of the National Party will witness for the first 
time the election of a new party president." 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  According to Mohamed Kamal, NDP spokesman, whom we 
contacted immediately, Sherif had been misquoted.  In fact, 
said Kamal, the party will be using a new electoral system 
for its November party elections.  The fact that "there will 
be a new election for the party president doesn't mean the 
election of a new president." 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Comment:  Had the MENA announcement been 
correct--which it was not--it would have meant that President 
Hosni Mubarak was stepping down from his party leadership 
position, a development which have jump-started the 
succession rumor mill.  MENA has already issued a correction 
(e-mailed to desk), which describes the new party election 
process.  MENA is not having a good day:  earlier on 7/26, 
MENA announced that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il would be 
making his first ever visit to Egypt.  In fact, the North 
Korean visitor is envoy Kim Jong Nam.  MENA has also 
corrected its mistaken report about the Korean visitor. 
RICCIARDONE