US embassy cable - 05ROME3107

UNCLAS  ROME 003107 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
FROM U.S. MISSION TO THE UN AGENCIES 
STATE FOR U/S P NBURNS, U/S R KAREN HUGHES, A/S PA SMCCORMACK 
STATE FOR IO A/S KSILVERBERG, DAS PDIBBLE, DAS RMILLER, DAS 
MLAGON, IO/EDA, IO/PPC, PRM A/S ADEWEY 
USDA/FAS FOR U/S JPENN, JBUTLER, MCHAMBLISS AND LREICH 
USAID FOR DAA/DCHA WGARVELINK, DCHA/OFDA, DCHA/FFP, AID/LPA 
AF/E, AF/PDPA, R, IIP, PA 
NSC FOR EABRAMS, JMELINE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP, KPAO, OPRC, EAGR, AORC, PHUM, EAID, PREF, XA, FAO, WFP 
SUBJECT: USUN ROME HITS THE GROUND SPRINTING: A LOOK BACK ON OUR 
FIRST YEAR WITH PUBLIC DIPLOMACY SHOP 
 
REF:(A) Rome 2049 (B) Rome 2194 (C) Rome 4673 
 
1. Summary. Confronted by a world media environment that takes 
daily shots at U.S. foreign policy, USUN Rome pulled no punches 
during its first year with a Public Diplomacy office. The 
Ambassador's trips to Africa brought journalists face-to-face 
with U.S. assistance in action. Combined with creative outreach 
to Rome-based international media, USUN Rome put American 
generosity and our commitment to millions of people in Africa in 
headlines around the world. 
 
2. With the UN General Assembly in session, critics have been 
spouting the usual rhetoric about U.S. policy towards Africa. In 
the face of this, USUN Rome has found ways to bring the message 
of U.S. generosity to the headlines. During our first year with a 
PD shop, media outreach has been coupled with efforts to 
institutionalize tried-and-true State Department Public Diplomacy 
programs, including Speakers and International Visitors. Given 
our modest office size and budget, we found ways to partner with 
other missions on common themes. Looking ahead, we hope to 
convince Public Affairs colleagues worldwide that U.S. 
humanitarian generosity is a PD theme that we all share, and seek 
out ways to link information that passes through Rome with 
audiences around the world. End Summary. 
 
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POSITIVE MESSAGES TO A GLOBAL AUDIENCE 
-------------------------------------- 
 
3. The U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome launched a full- 
time public diplomacy office in July 2004 with the arrival of our 
first PD officer. With a message that could put us on the public 
diplomacy offensive as we highlighted America's great 
humanitarian commitment, the first thrust of our PD effort was to 
reach out to international press, targeting Muslim media as often 
as possible. From the beginning, we found journalists open and 
interested in our themes. We took advantage of the Ambassador's 
fact-finding trips to some of the world's worst humanitarian 
crisis areas to invite press to accompany him and our PD officer. 
The result was worldwide coverage of the Unites States' efforts 
to help these disadvantaged people. A few examples: 
 
ZIMBABWE  "FOOD KNOWS NO POLITICS" 
----------------------------------- 
 
4. In August 2005, Ambassador Tony Hall led a visit to Zimbabwe 
to observe the plight of the country's chronically food insecure 
and the fallout from the GOZ's Operation Murambatsvina or "Throw 
Out Trash." Overwhelming interest among local and wire 
journalists produced more than 120 headlines worldwide that 
spotlighted U.S. concerns about the growing food emergency and 
the need for immediate action by the GOZ. New York Times, The 
Independent, Guardian and BBC led with U.S. concerns about the 
food security situation. Several highlighted the USG's desire to 
not play politics with food, focusing on Ambassador Hall's 
announcement of a $51.8 million injection of funds through World 
Food Program to Southern Africa. Newswire photos taken of a U.S. 
food aid distribution continue to be used to illustrate articles 
on Zimbabwe. 
 
"HUNGER BANQUET" STIRS UP NEWS AROUND THE WORLD 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
5. Thanksgiving Eve 2004 Ambassador Hall hosted a reception that 
caught global attention. The event was for guests associated with 
an FAO Council meeting. To underline the plight of the hungry and 
poor, USUN Rome took the format used by Oxfam America to host a 
"hunger banquet." Guests chose color-coded cards that separated 
them into three categories of wealth. The largest group  60 
percent  stayed outside beneath a tent eating rice. A second 
group of about 25 percent ate rice and beans, and just a handful 
was served a full meal, complete with wine. After about 30 
minutes, Ambassador Hall (who was with the group eating rice) 
gathered everyone inside to talk about the event and its impetus 
and then opened a traditional buffet. 
 
6. International media picked up an Agence France-Presse wire 
story written by a reporter in attendance. The piece ran on page 
three in the International Herald Tribune and the front page of 
London's Daily Telegraph, and was repeated from India to 
Australia. The Ambassador spoke with several local and national 
BBC radio stations. The event portrayed the U.S. widely as 
innovative and compassionate and showed the media potential for 
creatively packaged "good news" stories. 
 
SUDAN AND LIBYA 
--------------- 
 
7. Press accompanying the Ambassador's November 2004 visit to 
Sudan and Libya projected the U.S. image as a leader working to 
help resolve one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The 
Washington Post, Cox News Service, VOA, The Economist, Sunday 
Times of London and Knight-Ridder joined the delegation. Arabic 
news services, such as Bahrain-based Al-Ayam, conveyed Hall's 
message about the worsening shortage of aid and his call to 
continue pressure on all sides of the conflict to cease violence 
and improve security. London-based Middle East Online reports on 
the North Darfur state of emergency, and uses Hall's comments 
about seeing burned out and abandoned villages. 
 
8. An additional group of journalists joined the Ambassador's 
travel to the town of Al Kufrah in the Libyan Desert where they 
witnessed the long caravan of trucks winding through the sands of 
the Libyan desert with 6,540 metric tons of United States food 
aid to refugee camps in Chad. Heralding a landmark agreement with 
the Libyan government for the safe passage of humanitarian aid 
through Libya, the event produced positive international 
headlines on U.S. humanitarian leadership. The Panafrican News 
Agency voiced the story carried widely: "For the first time, the 
UN World Food Programme is sending United States food assistance 
through Libya, along a humanitarian corridor across the Sahara 
desert, to reach nearly 200,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern 
Chad." 
 
OUTREACH GRABS HEADLINES ON AID PACKAGE 
---------------------------------------- 
 
9. USUN Rome put a local spin on an important aid announcement 
that garnered significant coverage. In June 2005, Ambassador Hall 
announced the $674 million in assistance to Africa at the annual 
session of the Executive Board of the United Nations World Food 
Program (WFP). In front of scores of UN delegates, WFP Executive 
Director praised the United States for its gift. Associated Press 
picked up a Mission-generated press release, headlining with, 
"U.S. famine aid package to be given immediately; package wins 
U.N. praise." More than 6 million listeners heard Ambassador Hall 
on BBC Radio Four's flagship "Today" program; another 1.3 million 
watched "Uno Mattina" morning news program. In the windup to 
Gleneagles, USUN Rome helped to focus the media spotlight on 
concrete U.S. efforts to tackle problems in Africa. 
 
----------------------------- 
CULTURAL PROGRAMS RAMPED UP 
----------------------------- 
 
10. With only four International Visitor (IV) slots being shared 
among the six missions in the International Organizations Bureau, 
USUN Rome was able to program two candidates for FY 2005. The 
Mission targeted key and senior officials at Food and Agriculture 
Organization (FAO) who are important players in helping the 
organization improve emergency response mechanisms and program 
and budget issues. They forged new relationships with U.S. 
officials and other contacts and reported new insights to their 
work at FAO. For FY 2006, USUN Rome is again sending two 
participants: a bright up-and-comer from the Colombian Embassy 
and another from WFP who plays a critical role in the 
organization's management review process. 
 
11. Before a Public Diplomacy section was formed, potential 
contacts in the Rome-based media, NGO community and academia were 
unaware of Mission themes, i.e. the U.S. as a leader in the fight 
against hunger. That has greatly changed thanks to outreach 
campaigns among diverse groups, including journalists, academics 
 
and the NGO community. We have engaged new contacts not only on 
the message of U.S. generosity, but also on issues relating to 
biotechnology, UN reform, U.S. goals in the G8, and WTO and food 
aid, to name a few. 
 
------------------------------------ 
EMBASSY PARTNERSHIPS AMPLIFY MESSAGE 
------------------------------------ 
 
12. Given our one-officer PD shop, the Mission sought out 
partnerships with embassies on common themes to propel our 
messages even further. We shared a speaker being hosted by the 
Milan Consulate to program an important biotech session at the 
FAO. While the media spotlight on Sudan was still hot, we 
partnered with USUN Geneva and Embassy Cairo to gather Muslim and 
international media for an on-the-ground report from Ambassador 
Hall, following his trip. A second DVC joined Ambassadors John 
Danforth and Hall with reporters in New York, thus helping to 
broaden stories on Darfur written by New York-based journalists 
who were more likely to focus on the shortcomings of the Security 
Council than the successes of WFP and America's role in promoting 
humanitarian assistance. 
 
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AN EXCITING FIRST YEAR 
---------------------- 
 
13. During our first year with a Public Diplomacy Officer, USUN 
Rome broke new ground on its effort to project an image of the 
United States as a global leader in fighting poverty and hunger. 
Recognizing the value of a strong public diplomacy campaign, 
Ambassador Hall fully integrated PD efforts into his work and 
insured that all agencies at the Mission followed suit. Thanks to 
generous resources from the IO Bureau, USUN Rome was able to 
demonstrate the power of a "good news" story, even without FSNs 
to help with program management. The Mission looks forward to 
topping its first-year success story. 
 
HALL 
 
 
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	2005ROME03107 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED