US embassy cable - 04ABUDHABI1706

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 001706 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA, EB/IFD/ODF - DEMARCELLUS 
 
E.O. 12958: 05/05/2014 
TAGS: EAID, ECON, PREL, EFIN, TC 
SUBJECT:  DOHA CONFERENCE AND UAE ASSISTANCE TO IRAQ 
 
REF: A) STATE 108776, B) STATE 105224, C) EMAIL 
 
DEMARCELLUS-JOHN, D) ABU DHABI 1229, E) 03 ABU DHABI 3476, 
F) 03 ABU DHABI 2877 AND PREVIOUS 
 
1. This is an action request.  Please see para. 5. 
 
2. (U) EconChief and Polchief discussed UAE plans to attend 
the May 25-26 Doha meeting on the Iraq Trust Fund with MFA 
Director of European and American Affairs Ahmed Al- 
Muqarrab.  Al-Muqarrab said that he thought the UAE would 
attend the conference, since it had hosted the original 
conference, but he did not have details on the delegation. 
Subsequently, Econchief followed up with the MFA and 
learned that the UAE Ambassador to Qatar would represent 
the UAE at the conference. 
 
3. (SBU) Post has also requested a fuller account of UAE 
assistance to Iraq.  We have reported on this extensively, 
but have never been able to get a comprehensive breakdown 
of all assistance (see refs d-f for example).  On April 23, 
the Ambassador asked Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of 
State for Foreign Affairs  Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al- 
Nahyan if the UAE could provide such a breakdown.  Sheikh 
Hamdan promised the Ambassador that he would get her a 
breakdown of UAE assistance to Iraq by the Red Crescent 
Authority (RCA), the UAE Armed Forces, and private 
foundations (Sheikh Zayed Charitable foundation etc.). 
EconChief followed up Khadim Al-Darei, Sheikh Hamdan's 
Deputy Office Director, who said that the office was 
already taking action on this promise and would get back to 
us when they had the numbers.  The UAE had already provided 
a complete accounting of RCA assistance to Iraq to the 
Department through the UAE Embassy in Washington.  This 
assistance amounts to about $32 million.  (Note:  It 
appears from the RCA submission that some of what we 
originally reported as assistance from the UAE military was 
either funded by the RCA or is, at least now being reported 
as RCA funding (i.e., hospital reconstruction).  The 
figures provided by the RCA do not appear to include the 
cost of actual medical treatment (as opposed to supplies) 
for the Iraqis or the costs of salaries for UAE doctors. 
End note.) 
 
4. (SBU) Sheikh Hamdan also told the Ambassador that the 
UAE has 2 used generators in storage ready to be shipped to 
Iraq.  Total value of the generators is $150 million. 
However, he said that the UAE could not cover the cost of 
shipping and installation, but asked whether any other 
donor country would be able to provide shipping and 
installation.  He didn't have shipping figures, but 
suggested that the cost of installation would be about $10 
million each.  Al-Darei  confirmed to Econchief that the 
UAE had talked to the Iraqis about covering shipping and 
handling.  He reiterated Sheikh Hamdan's comments that the 
UAE has the generators and is ready to work with other 
donors to get them shipped to Iraq as quickly as possible. 
 
5. (SBU) Action request:  Please advise if there are other 
donors who are willing to work with the UAE to cover 
shipping and installation costs.  This would appear to be a 
quick/high impact project, given Iraq's pressing power 
needs. 
 
Wahba