US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3547

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 003547 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EFIN, PREL, ETRD, EINV, EAID, ELAB, IZ, KCRS, UN, Reconstruction 
SUBJECT: UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME'S IRAQ DIRECTOR LAYS OUT 
HIS PRIORITIES FOR IRAQ 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED GOVERNMENT DISTRIBUTION ONLY 
NOT FOR INTERNET DISRIBUTION 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Paolo Lembo, Country Director of the 
United Nations Development Programme Iraq, met with IRMO 
Director Daniel Speckhard on August 14 to discuss UNDP 
priorities in Iraq after having recently opened its liaison 
office in Baghdad.  He stressed UNDP's focus on building 
Iraq's weak government capacity and expressed support for 
IRMO's participation in the August 18th southern 
reconstruction conference, especially if the message is "we 
are here to listen and want to work with you."  He wants to 
support the creation of a Committee for the Implementation 
of the Constitution to maintain momentum on key contentious 
issues, such as human rights and decentralization, and to 
promote civil service reform as well.  Lembo requested 
discreet US assistance in pressing UN headquarters in New 
York to establish more quickly a permanent UNDP mission in 
Iraq. 
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BUILDING LOCAL GOVERNMENT CAPACITY 
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2. (SBU) Paolo Lembo, Country Director for the United 
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) met with IRMO Director 
Daniel Speckhard on August 14 to discuss UNDP's priorities 
for Iraq after having recently established a liaison office 
in Baghdad.  Lembo stressed the need to build the capacity 
of Iraq's local government, which he described as "in worse 
shape than in the countries emerging immediately after the 
collapse of the Soviet Union."  He characterized local 
government as "a fragmented mixture of parties, tribes and 
mafias" and bemoaned their lack of skills in basic 
organization, budgeting, project preparation and 
implementation.  He expects power will be gradually 
decentralized in the post-Constitutional period and, 
therefore, sees a supportive role for donors to play in 
facilitating this process. 
 
3. (SBU) Lembo said the Prime Minister intends to allocate 
$50 million to support small-scale rehabilitation.  For its 
part, the UNDP, Lembo averred, will try to match those 
funds and use this partnership initiative as a vehicle to 
build local capacity.  Lembo admitted that he sees an "us 
versus them" attitude between the Prime Minister's Office 
and Planning Minister Barham Salih but couched it by 
saying, "I would not want to over-dramatize it." 
 
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SOUTHERN RECONSTRUCTION CONFERENCE IN NASIRIYAH 
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4. (SBU) Lembo said he and an aide to the Prime Minister's 
Higher Reconstruction Council will participate in 
the Southern Iraq Reconstruction and Development Co- 
ordination Group (SIRDCG) monthly meeting in Nasiriyah, in 
which Planning Minister Salih will lead a ministerial 
delegation, and send a message of international support for 
more local/regional ownership of the rebuilding process. 
Though the SIRDCG has functioned poorly in the past, Lembo 
expressed confidence that this time the Group will be 
better organized (NOTE: The SIRDCG is an emerging Iraqi-led 
donor coordination institution composed of leaders from the 
four southern governorates and launched earlier this year 
through British mentoring.  Recently, the United Nations 
became its co-Chair END NOTE).  Lembo plans to use the 
occasion to announce eight UN-funded projects worth $15 
million.  He suggested that the US also use the occasion to 
announce its projects in the region.  These eight UN 
projects are part of a larger $60 million UNDP initiative 
to promote community development in Iraq. 
 
5. (SBU) As to suggestions that IRMO attend the Nasiriyah 
meeting, Lembo agreed that high level US support for more 
regional ownership of the rebuilding process would be well 
received in the south, especially if the message is "we are 
there to listen and we want to work with you."  As for 
Provincial Reconstruction Development Councils (PRDCs) and 
Provincial Support Teams (PSTs), Lembo regards them 
favorably and thought the PST system could include capacity 
building as well as program delivery support.  IRMO Daniel 
Speckhard explained to Lembo that though American 
initiated, over time some PSTs could be led by other donors 
interested in supporting local and regional initiatives 
(NOTE: Due to a conflicting Council of Ministers meeting on 
that day, Salih instructed his deputy to lead an Iraqi 
delegation of two Assembly Members and the Prime Minister's 
Reconstruction Advisor to attend the Nasiriyah conference. 
The Iraqis were joined by senior donor officials led by AMB 
Dan Speckhard END NOTE). 
 
6. (SBU) As for the National Development Strategy, Lembo 
described it as "a document that remains alien to most 
people."  He said he would propose to the Planning Ministry 
that it launch a program of local roundtables to spur 
discussion about key elements of the document. Lembo hopes 
Minister Salih will raise the NDS at the conference in 
Nasiriyah. 
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SEEKS CREATION OF NEW IRAQI-LED INSTITUTIONS 
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7. (SBU) Lembo expressed a desire to spur the establishment 
of a Committee for the Implementation of the Constitution, 
a new and independent Iraqi institution that would maintain 
momentum on contentious constitutional issues, such as 
decentralization and human rights.  This Commission could 
sustain a sense of continuing progress within the Iraqi 
public in the post-referendum period.  UNDP is ready to 
provide financial and technical support to this new body. 
In addition, he also wants the UNDP to offer Iraq technical 
expertise in the area of civil service reform. 
8. (SBU) Lembo lauded Planning Minister Salih's effort to 
promote investment in Iraq but thought this work is better 
suited for USAID, which is already supporting the 
establishment of an investment promotion agency.  Lembo 
hoped, though, that Salih would focus more on making 
practical changes to the country's unattractive legal 
structure. IRMO Director Speckhard noted the focus of US 
reconstruction on private sector development and need for 
Iraq to prepare itself for looking to private capital 
markets to help finance its reconstruction. 
 
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UN-NEW YORK DELAYS SETTING UP PERMANENT UNDP OFFICE IN IRAQ 
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9. (SBU) Lembo shared his frustration with his headquarters 
in New York, which he described as negative to the idea of 
establishing a more fully-staffed permanent UNDP office 
within the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).  He 
requested from IRMO Director Speckhard discreet US 
assistance in encouraging UN headquarters to move forward 
more quickly on a permanent UNDP presence in Iraq.  As to 
the upcoming visit of World Bank Country Director Joseph 
Sabah, Lembo mentioned that he had worked with him in the 
past.  He recounted his offer to Sabah to form a joint 
UNDP-World Bank office within UNAMI in which UNDP would 
offer the Bank security, administrative support and 
transportation. 
 
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COMMENT 
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10.  (SBU) The assigning of a UNDP Country Director in Iraq 
signals the multilateral organization's increasing 
commitment to engage more seriously in the rebuilding of 
Iraq.  This includes opening UN regional offices in Erbil 
and Basrah.  However, other UN officials working in Iraq 
routinely echo Lembo's complaint that the UN bureaucracy in 
New York City is delaying a fuller UN presence.  END 
COMMENT 
 
KHALILZAD