US embassy cable - 03AMMAN1983

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001983 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2013 
TAGS: AEMR, AMGT, PREL, ASEC, CASC, CVIS, EFIN, ETRD, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: TFIZO1: AMMAN SITREP 25 (4/02 2000 LOCAL) 
 
REF: A. (A) AMMAN 1954 
 
     B. (B) AMMAN 1981 
 
Classified By: Pol Couns Doug Silliman for reasons 1.5 (B)(D). 
 
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General Overview 
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1. (C) The Embassy operated on a normal schedule 2 April. 
Consular services were open.  Activities at the American 
Language Center remain suspended, and there was only 
restricted activity by FSN's at the Peace Corps office. 
Movements of American staff remain restricted. 
 
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Consular Issues 
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2. (U)  No new issues. 
 
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GOJ Actions/Statements 
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3. (U)  No new issues. 
 
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Security 
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4. (U)  No new issues. 
 
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Economic and Trade Developments 
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5. (C)  Rumors in the QIZ community allege that a closure of 
the northern border crossing with Israel (Shaykh Hussain 
Bridge) that began 4 days ago is related to war with Iraq. 
The Embassy verified with authorities at the bridge, the 
Trade Ministry, and freight forwarders that the closure is 
not/not security related, but is instead the result of 
strikes by government workers in Israel.  We have been in 
contact with Trade Ministry officials about this issue, and 
they will be contacting QIZ exporters and park managers to 
assure them that the closures are not related in any way to 
the war.  Trade Ministry officials caution, though, that 
their Israeli counterparts predicted the strikes could 
continue for some time, which would negatively impact QIZ 
operations in any case. 
 
6.  (SBU) Although volume was heavy on the Amman Stock 
Exchange Wednesday, the index closed down slightly by .33%. 
 
 
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Refugee/Humanitarian Issues 
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7. (U)  The Jordan-Iraq border remains open.  IOM reports 
that a total of 7 TCNs arrived from Iraq on April 1; there 
have been no TCN arrivals since 1200 am today, April 2.  One 
person with document problems currently is being held in 
no-man's land at the border.  No sign of Iraqi 
refugees/asylum seekers.  UNHCR reports that khamseen winds 
are stirring up some sandstorms in Ruweished. 
 
8.  (U)  IOM reports that current TCN transit camp population 
is 279, including 66 children under the age of five.  Roughly 
100 camp residents are likely to remain in Ruweished 
indefinitely. This group includes the Somalis & Sudanese who 
have said they don't want to return to their countries of 
origin but have been found not to meet UNHCR criteria for 
refugee status, as well as the 18 stateless Palestinians. 
IOM is working with the Jordan Red Crescent Society and NGOs 
to revise camp management procedures to accommodate this 
group of long-term residents.  IOM is repatriating TCNs in 
"dribs and drabs" on commercial flights from Amman. 
 
9.  (U)  IOM/Amman confirmed that the number of total TCN 
arrivals reported by IOM/Cyprus is inaccurate, as it includes 
the thousands of Jordanian students who have returned from 
their studies in Iraq.  According to IOM/Amman, total TCN 
arrivals in Jordan since the onset of hostilities is 712, 
with 444 TCNs already repatriated. 
 
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Press 
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10. (U)  Once again, Jordanian dailies led with reports and 
photos of the progress of the war.  The anti-war sentiment 
continues to manifest itself through photos of civilians 
killed, including children and infants.  A photo showed a man 
who "lost 15 members of his family."  Al-Rai's headline read 
that the King called for an immediate stop to the war. 
Headlines and captions talked of "massacres" and called to 
"save Iraqi children." 
 
11.  (U)  In response to the letter by 99 personalities (ref 
A), Al-Arab Al-Yawm carried a counter letter signed by 104 
personalities, expressing their total satisfaction with the 
King's leadership (ref B).  This theme also occurred in the 
commentaries of a number of writers in Al-Rai and Al-Dustour. 
 Nevertheless, two editorialists, Mahmoud Al-Rimawi in Al-Rai 
and Fahed Al-Khitan in Al-Arab Al-Yawm wrote that the 
original letter contained an accurate appraisal of the 
situation, which should not be "overlooked by the decision 
maker." 
 
12.  (U)   Al-Dustour reported that more than 350 Jordanian 
factories have refused to deal with the amendment made to the 
"oil for food" program, which takes away the authority to 
manage the program from the hands of the Iraqi government and 
gives it to the United Nations.  According to the press 
report, representatives of the factories conveyed this stand 
to the Iraqi Ambassador in Amman, stressing that they will 
not sign any contracts to export to Iraq based on the 
mechanism unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council a 
few days ago.  An Iraqi diplomatic source told the paper that 
there are important ongoing contacts between Amman and 
Baghdad to prevent the implementation of this amendment. 
Al-Dustour also reported that Jordan and Iraq are looking 
into the possibility of transferring a big chunk of the 
contracts for Jordanian companies signed under the "oil for 
food" memorandum of understanding and making them part of the 
Jordanian-Iraqi trade protocol. 
 
GNEHM