US embassy cable - 05PARIS77

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 000077 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/05/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PROP, PHUM, IZ, FR 
SUBJECT: GOF WON'T BE JOINING INTERNATIONAL MISSION FOR 
IRAQ ELECTIONS, STRESSES SUPPORT VIA OTHER MEANS 
 
REF: A. 04 STATE 274965 
     B. 04 PARIS 9098 
 
Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C) Poloff reviewed reftel points urging French support 
for the International Mission for Iraq Elections (IMIE) with 
MFA Iraq desk officer Bernard Chappedelaine January 5, after 
delivering reftel points to the GoF December 29. 
Chappedelaine reported that the GoF did not plan to 
participate in or offer direct support to the IMIE mission, 
and stressed that France would channel its contributions via 
the EU's 30 million euros donation towards Iraqi elections 
support.  He added that, unlike other countries on the IMIE 
steering committee, France did not have an electoral 
commission or other suitable independent interlocutor for the 
IMIE.  Chappedelaine cited security concerns as another 
reason for lack of French participation in the IMIE, despite 
poloff's emphasis that the IMIE would not be an observer 
mission in the traditional sense and would be Amman-based 
with short visits to Iraq (ref a). 
 
2.  (C) Chappedelaine stressed that, in addition to the EU 
financial contribution, the GoF was offering other forms of 
bilateral support for Iraq's elections.  As France was one of 
14 countries designated for out-of-country (OCV) voting in 
Iraq's elections, the GoF was working with the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM) to select polling stations 
and provide statistics on the Iraqi community in France, 
which numbered in the low thousands.  IOM and French MFA and 
Ministry of Interior officials met for the first time in late 
December to discuss OCV Iraqi voting in France. 
Chappedelaine cited as a further example of French elections 
support a planned GoF program to welcome 14 officials from 
various Iraqi political parties (ref b for further 
background) for a familiarization program on the electoral 
process.  The exchange program, which had been originally 
proposed to last two weeks, had been scaled down to five 
days, and would overlap with the planned visit of Iraqi 
Interim Government President Ghazi al-Yawer to Paris January 
13-14. 
 
3.  (C) Comment: The GoF disinclination to contribute 
personnel to the IMIE is consistent with long-standing GoF 
reticence on sending additional French personnel, military or 
otherwise, into Iraq, even on a short-term basis.  As long as 
the security situation in Iraq remains difficult, we expect 
the GoF to continue to concentrate its modest offers of 
assistance to Iraq on France-based programs, similar to the 
January exchange program for political party representatives. 
 End comment. 
 
4. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
Leach