Torture video hits UAE nuclear deal

Torture video hits UAE nuclear deal
By Daniel Dombey in Washington and Andrew England in Abu Dhabi
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: May 4 2009 20:05 | Last updated: May 4 2009 20:05
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cede205a-38ce-11de-8cfe-00144feabdc0.html


Torture allegations against a member the United Arab Emirates’ ruling family threaten to complicate a nuclear deal between the US and the Gulf state.

The Obama administration had been expected to send the civil nuclear deal to Congress in recent weeks. However, it already faced some US resistance because of the UAE’s role as a regional entrepôt and previous incidents in which US products that cannot legally be exported to Iran reached the Islamic republic via the UAE.

The emergence two weeks ago of a video showing a man alleged to be Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan – a half-brother of the UAE’s president – torturing an Afghan now deepens the problem of implementing the deal, which the two houses of Congress could block by passing a joint motion of disapproval.

The video – first broadcast by ABC – has been widely circulated to members of Congress and been condemned by Democrats and Republicans.

The allegations were made by Bassam Nabulsi, a US citizen and former business associate of the sheikh, who is suing him in the US over a separate business deal.

James McGovern, a Democratic Congressman, has already written to Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, asking the administration to “express the outrage of our nation” over the torture scenes. Mr McGovern also called for a “temporary hold ... on transfers of technology, including nuclear, to the UAE” until the matter was resolved.

Although legislative rules make it hard for Congress to block a deal if the administration is determined to push it through, the domestic debate on torture in the US has meant the allegations have surfaced at a sensitive time.

“You don’t want to look like you’re so agitated about waterboarding and then insensitive to this,” said one Congressional aide.

Congressional aides say the video has hardened resistance to the deal while not yet creating an overwhelming groundswell of opposition to it.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House foreign affairs committee, said she was “greatly disturbed” by the alleged torture, adding: “There is much to be done before [the] UAE can be considered a model partner for a nuclear co-operation agreement with the US.”

Last week, authorities in Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital, said they would conduct a “comprehensive review” of the incident.

Sheikh Issa has held no government office, but the incident has embarrassed officials in Abu Dhabi as they seek to transform the emirate into a model international city.

US administration officials insist the issues surrounding the nuclear agreement and the video are separate. They add the Obama team had placed the accord under review – like other foreign policy issues – before the video was circulated.

The agreement, which was negotiated by the Bush administration and signed by Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state, days before leaving office, is at the heart of US efforts to deter Middle East countries from developing wholly indigenous nuclear programmes.