US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD2476

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 002476 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/12/2025 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, EAID, PTER, PREF, JO, IZ, UN 
SUBJECT: PROGRESS ON REMOTE MANAGEMENT OF IRAQ REFUGEE 
PROGRAMS 
 
REF: A. BAGHDAD 01875 
     B. BAGHDAD 02123 
     C. BAGHDAD 01649 
 
Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Henry S. Ensher. 
Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) 
 
1.  (C) Summary. Officers in charge of UNAMI, IOM, and 
UNHCR's Iraq refugee and IDP programs told visiting 
PRM PDAS Rich Greene May 17-18 in Amman that the UN is 
attempting to shift its focus from security to 
humanitarian related activities in Iraq, but that 
remote-control program management is likely to remain 
a necessity in 2005, despite the UN's recent return to 
Erbil and Basra.  Utilizing former UN employees to 
evaluate their local implementing partners, UNHCR and 
IOM believe that the MODM has established its 
credibility in Iraq in the last six months.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) PDAS Greene met with UNAMI rep John Pace May 
17. Responding to Greene's questions on effectiveness 
of the UN's 'remote management' of operations in Iraq, 
Pace said UN presence is already increasing in Erbil 
and Basra branch offices, and international non- 
logistics staff will begin short-term visits soon. 
Accommodations, transportation, and security continue 
to constrain major progress in UN activities in Iraq 
as a whole. (Note: Additional personnel will focus on 
constitution development, rather than humanitarian 
work.  END NOTE.)  Pace explained that the UN in Iraq 
is working extensively through implementing partners, 
both international and national NGOs, to provide 
humanitarian assistance. Amman-based capacity building 
workshops support MoDM in its efforts to coordinate 
and participate more effectively in these programs. 
 
3.  (C) Pace added that it's often a challenge to make 
a distinction between Iraq "humanitarian" and 
"reconstruction" activities.  He noted that the UN is 
developing a web site to provide hard information on 
its humanitarian and other field projects; for 
security reasons this will not disclose specific 
information on the UN's local implementing partners. 
Greene noted that housing construction initiatives 
would require reliable domestic partners, information 
that UN agencies have developed through their work in 
Iraq. 
 
4.  (C) Greene pushed back on the UN's current 
staffing posture because of the security situation. 
He encouraged the UN to look hard at ways to meet its 
staffing requirements, while maintaining good security 
practices.  He added that the UN should do more to 
make others aware of the fairly extensive work it is 
carrying out in country.  Like it or not, the UN is 
"the canary in the coal mine" when it comes to 
signaling to other donors and NGOs the possibility of 
effectively carrying out humanitarian and related work 
in country. 
 
5.  (C) May 18 PDAS Greene took part in a joint 
ProCare/IOM/UNHCR briefing on MODM capacity building. 
Attendees were: (USG) Rich Greene, PDAS PRM; Poloff, 
Notetaker; and (International Groups) Yacoub El Hillo, 
Chief of Mission UNHCR; James Lynch, Officer in Charge 
UNHCR Amman; Ghassan Shafiq Soufran, ProCare Managing 
Director; Ghada Shafiq Soufan, ProCare Managing 
Director; Rasha Abdel-Majeed, IOM Programme Officer 
Capacity Building; Michael Stanisich, IOM Programme 
Officer Capacity Building. 
 
6.  (C) During this briefing, Greene met with 
ProCare's Ghada and Ghassan Shafiq Soufran, 
consultants for IOM and UNHCR's capacity building 
program with MoDM.  Representatives from ProCare 
focused on organizational improvements in MoDM in the 
last six months: developing the structure of the 
Ministry, drafting of basic laws, and human resource 
improvements.  Ghada Soufran said ProCare is still 
finalizing job descriptions for Ministry jobs and 
evluaing current employees.  She said Ministry 
employees did not until recently know their functions 
in detail, and this improvement is a direct result 
capacity building. Ghada added many of the 300 
employees at the MoDM work in security.  The PDAS 
asked if downsizing MoDM was discussed, and the group 
said laid off employees could seek retribution against 
the Ministry.  Many stressed that the Ministry's 
enabling legislation is still awaiting approval. 
7.  (C) Yacoub El Hillo stressed MoDM's positive role 
in Iraq.  He said the Ministry is now well known by 
both Iraqis and NGOs and is especially important to 
NGOs because of the security situation in Iraq.  MoDM 
visits refugees detained in prisons and follows up 
with other Iraqi Ministries.  Hillo said that internal 
and external recognition began with the November 2004 
Fallujah campaign.  According to Hillo, MoDM had 10 
staff members on the ground assisting returning 
families by supplying them with basic items.  NGOs now 
call on MoDM to respond to refugee crises because they 
can quickly react and are perceived as neutral, as 
opposed to being an outside invading force. 
 
8.  (C) IOM Representative for Iraq Tschannen, who is 
based in Amman, stressed that IOM is ready to assist 
more returns in northern Iraq but noted that most 
European nations have agreed to continue refugees' 
continuing residence in those nations because of 
insecurity in Iraq.  The UK has 5,000 potential 
returnees, and IOM is waiting for the availability of 
charter flights to process the group.  Tschannen added 
that the Dutch had indicated they had about 12,000 
potential returnees.  Sweden had also been in recent 
contact with IOM.  The Germans were handling their own 
return program without IOM assistance. 
 
9.  (C) Concerning refugees in Iraq's neighboring 
countries, El Hillo noted that UNHCR had 30,000 
registered in Jordan under its 1998 agreement (which 
requires UNHCR to secure third-country resettlement 
within 6 months). He added that about 3,000 new 
arrivals from Mosul had entered Syria this year. 
While el Hillo thought there was a real danger that 
setting criteria to determine which Iraqis would 
qualify for legal refugee status would cause more 
Iraqis to seek refuge in other countries than would 
otherwise be the case.  El Hillo noted that UNHCR 
decreased its budget for next year by $8 million 
because it was confident that most Iraqis can 
eventually return to Iraq. 
 
10.  (C) On remote management, UNHCR argued the 
establishment of new, integrated UN centers in Basra 
and Erbil was a step forward but affirmed that they 
were using independent contractors who were former UN 
employees to evaluate its partners in Iraq.  UNHCR 
released a comprehensive review of all its programs in 
the north and had developed, in early May, its first 
evaluation report.  He said UNHCR's website includes 
an interactive map documenting its Iraq programs. 
While discrimination, lack of documentation, language 
barriers for Iraqis who had grown up in neighboring 
Iran, and unemployment remained key factors, El Hillo 
said the biggest problem with resettlement in the 
north was the skyrocketing cost of housing.  A house 
that used to cost $6,000 now costs $10,000.  El Hillo 
noted that UNHCR is carefully monitoring its partners 
and the effectiveness and sustainability of housing 
projects. 
 
11.  (C) UNHCR's Jordan OIC stressed the need to press 
the Iraqi Transitional Government (ITG) to move 
forward with relocation of refugees currently in the 
Anbar desert camp of Al Tash to Sulaimaniya as soon as 
possible to stem the outflow of Al Tash residents 
towards Jordan; Lynch noted that additional arrivals 
could impact the GOJ agreement to consolidate the No 
Man's Land population in Ruwaishid (reftel). 
Although Jordan placed no explicit conditions on 
UNHCR, Lynch said that UNHCR had agreed to look 
"vigorously" for third-country solutions to ensure the 
remaining ex-Iraqi caseload. (Note:  Iraq's PM has 
approved closing al Tash camp and transferring the 
refugees to Sulaimaniya.) 
 
12.  (C) COMMENT:  PDAS Greene's visit encouraged 
UNHCR and IOM to take more direct action on the ground 
in Iraq.  Post welcomes this effort to increase UN 
presence in Iraq and effective humanitarian action. 
END COMMENT 
 
13.  (U) REO HILLA, REO BASRA, REO MOSUL, and REO 
KIRKUK minimize considered. 
 
 
Jeffrey