VZCZCXRO0425
RR RUEHAT
DE RUEHGV #0637/01 2131208
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 311208Z JUL 08
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6907
INFO RUEHZJ/HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 5153
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 0869
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0339
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 1727
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 2231
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1767
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2794

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 000637 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR IO-RHS, DRL-MLGA, L-HRR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KIRF AF MY ID SG TU
SUBJECT: SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE OIC LAYS OUT PLANS FOR 
EXPANDED COOPERATION 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of 
the Islamic Conference (OIC) Sada Cumber used his July 22 
meetings with representatives of various OIC missions 
represented in Geneva to highlight his plans for greater 
USG-OIC dialogue.  All his interlocutors expressed enthusiasm 
for the idea and urged better engagement on a wide range of 
issues.  Cumber laid out his hopes for agreement on a 
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the OIC and the 
USG; his interlocutors welcomed the MOU, stressing the 
importance of broader cooperation on development, good 
governance and other elements of that proposed agreement. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
S/E CUMBER LAYS OUT PLANS 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic 
Conference (OIC) Sada Cumber met June 22 with ambassadors and 
other officials of Pakistan (which serves as OIC coordinator 
on human rights), Malaysia, Indonesia, Senegal, Turkey, 
Afghanistan and the OIC delegation.  In all his meetings, 
Cumber explained his role and plans as Special Envoy, 
introduced the USG proposal for an MOU with the OIC, and laid 
the groundwork for broader USG-OIC dialogue, with a special 
focus on both expanded contacts with OIC Secretary General 
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and with Geneva human rights delegations. 
 
PAKISTAN 
-------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Pakistani Ambassador Masood Khan welcomed the 
appointment of a special envoy to the OIC and favored 
dialogue as the best way to avoid working at cross purposes 
"deliberately or inadvertently."  He noted that SecGen 
Ihsanoglu served as a helpful bridge between OIC and European 
mindsets.  Although many countries seek broader ties with the 
OIC, the U.S. was in a particularly strong position given the 
inclusiveness of U.S. society.  Welcoming the MOU between the 
USG and the OIC on socio-economic issues, Khan said the OIC 
was working constructively to address many concerns, 
including human rights in OIC countries.  He spoke of making 
room to reframe the defamation of religion debate in less 
contentious terms.  Khan welcomed the call of the previous 
High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, for more 
dialogue this year on freedom of expression.  Khan offered to 
help coordinate further meetings with OIC missions in Geneva 
on Cumber's future visits. 
 
MALAYSIA AND INDONESIA 
---------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Meetings with the ambassadors of Malaysia and 
Indonesia also focused on the need for improved dialogue on 
contentious issues.  Malaysian Ambassador Hsu King Bee said 
defamation of religion was a key issue in Geneva human rights 
fora and called for balanced attention to freedom and to 
responsibilities and for acknowledgment of anti-Muslim 
prejudice in the world.  Indonesian Ambassador I Gusti Agung 
Wesaka Puja called for interfaith dialogue to address these 
issues. 
 
SENEGAL AND THE OIC 
------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) In a meeting with Senegalese Ambassador Babacar 
Carlos Mbaye, Cumber stressed the need for strong moderate 
leaders among the 27 OIC members from Africa, and expressed 
hope that Senegal would play a leadership role among moderate 
African delegations.  Mbaye responded by noting that 
Senegal's president relies on the OIC to encourage progress 
in the Islamic world, including at a recent OIC conference 
held in Dakar.  Mbaye lauded the draft MOU and favored 
engagement with all stakeholders, especially moderate Muslims. 
 
¶6. (SBU) In a meeting with the Ambassador of the OIC in 
Geneva, Babacar Ba (from Senegal), Cumber discussed the broad 
range of initiatives that fall under the MOU he was crafting 
and urged USG coordination with the OIC's own ten-year plan. 
They discussed the need for better educational institutions 
in Islamic countries and the OIC's initiatives to address 
such problems as polio eradication and economic development. 
 
GENEVA 00000637  002 OF 002 
 
 
Commenting that he had worried that establishing a U.S. 
Special Envoy to the OIC would be a perfunctory gesture of 
engagement, Ba said he now recognized that dialogue with 
Cumber could bear fruit and looked forward to him continuing 
in his active consultations. 
 
TURKEY 
------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) In a meeting with Turkish charge Asligul Ugdul and 
Political Counselor Yonca Ozceri, Cumber stressed the pivotal 
role that Turkey could play in pushing other countries to 
learn from their example as a secular Islamic state and 
called for inclusive interfaith dialogue.  Commenting that 
the new U.S. approach was "better late than never," Ugdul 
noted the idiosyncrasies of Turkey's position between the OIC 
and Europe.  Ozceri pointed out that Turkey had always 
supported both sides of the defamation question: the EU's 
desire to prevent incitement to hatred and violence and the 
OIC's desire to stop all defamation of Islam.  Cumber said 
that stronger civil society structures in Muslim societies 
would offer a healthier response to religious intolerance 
than does the fight over defamation of religion.  Ozceri 
replied that the international community must find a way to 
address religion-based phobias; the UN was the only place to 
openly discuss the question, and Geneva's Human Rights 
Council was the place to address the technicalities of that 
discussion. 
 
AFGHANISTAN 
----------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Afghan Ambassador Nangayulai Tarzi saw the need to 
empower what he and Cumber both termed a "silent majority" in 
the OIC; many OIC members disagree with the organization's 
more vocal bullies but were constrained by domestic public 
opinion and other factors from blocking those bullies from 
pursuing their more strident and harmful objectives.  Tarzi 
noted that closed and open votes produced very different 
results among OIC states and said moderates should use 
procedural maneuvering to pursue their goals.  Muslim 
countries also need to continue using education and other 
means to counter radical interpretations of Islam, Tarzi 
argued, pointing to huge increases in child enrollment in 
education since the fall of the Taliban as a positive trend. 
Tarzi also said that to be truly effective, the OIC would 
need a real budget, more political will from its members, and 
a staff of permanent personnel. 
 
¶9. (U) Cleared by Sada Cumber. 
TICHENOR