US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT2417

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 KUWAIT 002417 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE ALSO PASS USAID/W 
STATE PLEASE REPEAT TO IO COLLECTIVE 
STATE FOR PRM/ANE, EUR/SE, NEA/NGA, IO AND SA/PAB 
NSC FOR EABRAMS, SMCCORMICK, STAHIR-KHELI, JDWORKEN 
USAID FOR USAID/A, DCHA/AA, DCHA/RMT, DCHA/FFP 
USAID FOR DCHA/OTI, DCHA/DG, ANE/AA 
USAID FOR DCHA/OFDA:WGARVELINK, BMCCONNELL, KFARNSWORTH 
USAID FOR ANE/AA:WCHAMBERLIN 
ROME FOR FODAG 
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH 
DOHA FOR MSHIRLEY 
ANKARA FOR AMB WRPEARSON, ECON AJSIROTIC AND DART 
AMMAN FOR USAID AND DART 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID, PREF, IZ, WFP 
SUBJECT:  DART WESTERN IRAQ UPDATE 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  Following multiple trouble-shooting visits with WFP and 
Ministry of Trade teams in the upper south region of Iraq, 
the DART Field Team West Food Officer believes the public 
distribution system is prepared to meet June distribution 
expectations.  Upcoming visits to Al Muthanna and Wasit 
Governorates are planned to monitor distribution progress. 
DART cooperative-agreement partner CARE visited Al Hillah on 
29 May to share its proposed water and sanitation 
implementation plans, including a proposal to make emergency 
repairs on a water treatment system in Al Hillah that serves 
750,000 people. 
 
2.  DART Field Team West conducted a follow-up visit on 28 
May to a mass gravesite near Al Hillah to observe exhumation 
processes, meet with a new human rights organization, and 
update civil-military officers.  Civil Affairs (CA) officers 
in Al Hillah reported on 27 May that a local newspaper 
reporter was bludgeoned to death allegedly by a pro-Saddam 
group that left a note warning locals against working with 
the Coalition.  End Summary. 
 
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FOOD 
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3.  Progress on several public distribution system (PDS) 
issues in Al Hillah are nearing resolution.  Once resolved, 
the DART believes that the June distribution will be more 
efficient.  The DART has facilitated an arrangement between 
the civil-military operations center (CMOC) security 
representatives and the Ministry of Trade (MOT) silo and 
warehouse management to include MOT security personnel in a 
four-day police and security guard training program.  The 
MOT has prepared the list of names of its personnel and will 
submit the list to the CMOC.  It is hoped that some of the 
MOT security guards will be included in the 1 June class. 
 
4.  The DART has arranged for the CMOC to review a MOT 
inventory list of missing or damaged items at the warehouse 
facility for possible replacement.  According to the CMOC, 
the validated items would be replaced or repaired. 
Coalition forces had occupied portions of the warehouse 
grounds until about 10 days ago. 
 
5.  The DART has notified the CMOC that some MOT warehouse 
personnel have not received their USD 20 emergency payments. 
CMOC will begin distributions of the USD 20 payments as soon 
as MOT submits its list. 
 
6.  The DART has arranged for the issuance of a letter from 
a Coalition commander in Babil Governorate to the MOT silo 
manager stating that silo management has the authority to 
purchase spare parts without requesting approval from the Al 
Hillah governor's office.  This authority will expedite any 
repairs needed during food arrivals and deliveries at the 
silo, thus preventing work stoppage during high volume 
periods. 
 
7.  As reported previously, the Governorates of Babil, 
Karbala, An Najaf and Al Qadisiyah are prepared for the 
planned 1 June start date for the June food distribution, 
although some ration shortages exist.  As of 29 May, U.N. 
World Food Program (WFP) national and international staff in 
Al Hillah were awaiting instructions from WFP's leadership 
detailing specific distribution start dates and the planned 
release of ration commodities.  The DART plans to visit 
Samawah, Al Muthanna Governorate on 31 May and Al Kut, Wasit 
Governorate early next week, to better determine their food 
distribution status.  The trip to Al Kut will serve as a 
follow-on visit to that made by DART/South the week of May 
19, when it was learned that PDS preparations were clearly 
behind the other southern governorates and concerns about 
aflatoxin levels in the wheat currently in the silos were 
raised.  The DART has no new information on PDS status in Al 
Anbar Governorate, particularly in the Ar Ramadi area. 
 
8.  WFP/Al Hillah said public announcements on local 
television have announced that non-registered public- 
distribution system beneficiaries should go to the 
registration center in Al Hillah and register for the June 
ration. 
 
9.  A recent 28,000 metric ton (MT) delivery of Russian 
wheat (pre-war Oil for Food commodities) arrived in 
Al Hillah during the last five days.  According to an Al 
Hillah MOT silo manager, the wheat is old and probably not 
suitable for human consumption.  WFP said the MOT silo lab 
personnel would test the wheat to determine its quality. 
 
10.  WFP/Al Hillah is preparing a final stock list to 
determine actual shortages of ration items.  In An Najaf, 
WFP said it was short 750 MT of rice and 300 MT of vegetable 
oil for the June ration. Pipeline deliveries of those two 
items were expected soon, but actual delivery dates were not 
available. 
 
11.  A Civil Military Operations Center (CMOC) 
representative said there was a growing concern among 
farmers in An Najaf over the lack of information on plans to 
purchase the local harvest.  She said a clear plan from WFP 
or the Grain Board would go far in alleviating growing 
tensions.  The DART is trying to attain a schedule from the 
Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. 
 
12.  WFP/An Najaf said it has been requested by WFP/Basrah 
to identify additional wheat-grain storage space.  The silo 
manager in An Najaf believes he has found the required 
additional space. 
 
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AN NAJAF HEALTH SECTOR 
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13.  Various Ministry of Health (MOH) employees met at the 
CMOC in An Najaf on 28 May to complain about the An Najaf 
Minister of Health, who has served as minister for the past 
11 years.  They say he is corrupt and that he forces many 
MOH workers to carry out fraudulent activities.  As a 
result, the Coalition authorities will likely consider 
postponing the election for the An Najaf Minister of Health 
scheduled for 31 May. 
 
14.  According to the Coalition civil affairs health officer 
in An Najaf, the General Hospital suffers from the city's 
sporadic electrical power.  There is a 15-minute delay from 
the time the city's power shuts down to the time the 
hospital's generator starts, causing potential emergencies 
in the operating room, in incubators, and for other patients 
relying on electrical medical equipment. 
 
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CARE 
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15.  The largest water treatment system (WTS) in Al Hillah 
that serves 750,000 people is perilously close to failing 
with three of six pumps in its primary pumping station down 
and three pumps in poor condition.  The DART visited the 
system on 30 May with cooperative agreement partner CARE, 
which has submitted a plan to make emergency repairs on the 
pumps and other failing or failed parts of the system. 
 
16.  The WTS optimally produces 130,000 cubic meters of 
water per day.  CARE said it now runs at about 16 percent of 
capacity.  Sporadic electricity in Al Hillah also affects 
output.  The system can run a maximum of 20 hours per day, 
although its backup generator can only perform for six hours 
straight.  The other two WTSs in Al Hillah produce 16,000 
and 22,000 cubic meters per day.  CARE rehabilitated both of 
these smaller systems in 2001. 
Other non-functional elements at the plant are the flush 
mixers, the six flocculaters, and two of four backwash 
pumps.  Ninety of 160 filter valves are not working.  The 
chlorinator is weak, but is currently operable.  Regarding 
chlorine availability, a CARE water engineer warned that 
there could be a shortage of chlorine in Iraq in two months 
because the current stocks are not being replaced. 
Additionally, CARE proposes to carry out the following water 
and sanitation projects: 
 
--  Clear the blocked sewage system in the Maternity and 
Pediatric Hospital in Al Hillah; 
 
--  Improve water supply in Khanaqin, Diyala; 
 
--  Remedy a serious sewage problem in Kamilya, Baghdad; 
 
--  Increase water capacity at two water treatment plants in 
Qadissiya and one in Dorah, both in Baghdad; 
 
--  Repair four sewage pumping stations in Hay Saddam, 
Baghdad; 
 
--  Rehabilitate water networks in Muqdadiya and Baquba, 
Diyala; Anah and Hit in Al Anbar; and Hamza and Mahaweel, 
Babil; 
 
--  Increase capacity at the old and new water treatment 
plants in Muqdadiya, Diyala; and 
 
--  Make emergency repairs on a compact water unit and a 
sewage pumping station damaged in the war in Central 
Baghdad. 
 
17.  CARE reported that it was in the procurement stage of 
its ongoing implementation plan for Al Anbar Governorate, 
carrying out water-supply repairs in Ar Rutbah and Al 
Qa'im.  The Ar Rutbah project requires five generators, and 
Al Qa'im needs a chlorinator and boosting pumps.  All heavy 
equipment is being procured in Jordan. 
 
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UPDATES FROM THE GOVERNORATE SUPPORT TEAM MEETING 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
18.  The DART learned on 30 May at the Al Hillah GST meeting 
that six truckloads of medicines arrived from Kimadiya- 
Baghdad, the MOH drug distributor, to Al Hillah's MOH drug 
warehouse on 27 May.  A truckload of medical supplies was 
expected on 28 May.  Also reported at the meeting was that 
40 tons of liquid propane gas was due to arrive in Al Hillah 
everyday for five days.  It was unclear when the initial 
shipment would come.  Al Hillah normally requires 100 tons 
per day.  The LPG pipeline, barring breakages, should be 
running in three weeks.  The Civil Affairs officer dealing 
with security issues said that 260 new police officers 
completed a four-day police training, and that 130 more 
would be on the streets every four to five days following 
completion of their trainings. 
 
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BABIL PROTECTION ISSUES 
----------------------- 
 
19.  On 25 May, a local Al Hillah independent newspaper 
office was attacked and a reporter bludgeoned to death by a 
group calling itself the "The Knights of Saddam Hussein." 
According to the Al Hillah CMOC, this was the only unbiased 
newspaper in town.  The reporter was beaten to death and a 
note was pinned on him that stated anyone cooperating with 
the Coalition would be killed.  All the newspaper's 
reporters and printing press workers have quit as a result 
of this attack.  Local Iraqi translators for the Coalition 
have also begun to be threatened, especially while at the 
interim city hall where the CMOC and GST are 
based.  None of the translators will identify who is 
intimidating them for fear they or their families would be 
harmed. 
 
20.  The DART visited a mass grave northwest of Al Musayyib, 
Babil on 28 May with representatives from the Office of 
Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance and USAID.  The 
group also visited the youth center, which has been 
converted into a morgue. 
 
21.  Thus far, over 600 bodies have been exhumed by the 
community, including six women and one child.  According 
to the local site supervisor, approximately 100 to 200 
bodies are being dug up everyday.  When asked if the local 
digging crew needed any equipment for volunteer diggers, the 
site supervisor gratefully declined and said what 
they really wanted was a forensics team to begin proper 
exhumations of the remaining bodies buried in the mass 
grave.  A British forensics team previously visited the site 
and will begin forensics investigations on the areas of the 
site that have not been unearthed. 
 
22.  Exhumations by the local community continue to be 
relatively organized.  After exhumation, all bodies are 
identified either by identification cards or by clothing and 
personal effects.  They are then taken to the youth center, 
added to existing rosters and laid out for 
families to identify.  While the DART was at the 
youth center, three bodies were identified by family 
members, including a woman whose husband was killed in 
1991. 
 
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NEW HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP IN AN NAJAF 
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23.  The DART also met on 28 May with the An Najaf-based 
organization Human Rights for Iraq that was created by An 
Najaf lawyers after the war.  The organization has 20 
members (two women) and its director is a candidate in the 
upcoming mayoral election in An Najaf. 
 
24.  The Deputy Director said there are six identified mass 
graves in the An Najaf area with an estimated 5,000 to 
10,000 victims buried in them.  He suspects there are more. 
His agency helped locate the gravesites, attempts to 
identify bodies, and tries to provide care for the victims' 
families.  In addition to mass-grave activities, Human 
Rights for Iraq does landmine removal and awareness.  The 
Deputy Director would like to put landmine-awareness 
announcements on An Najaf's television station, but has not 
been successful in convincing the station's staff to do 
so. 
 
25.  Other agency objectives include: the protection of 
basic human rights, promotion of freedom of opinion, and the 
collection and destruction of weapons in An Najaf, and 
ideally working with the Coalition military.  The Human 
Rights for Iraq's office is located in central An Najaf in 
the Center for High Studies, a division of Kufa University. 
 
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DART VISIT TO AN NAJAF COURTHOUSE 
--------------------------------- 
 
26.  The DART visited the courthouse in An Najaf on 28 May. 
The courthouse was looted and its records destroyed during 
the time between the departure of the former regime and the 
entry by Coalition forces.  Records were systematically 
burned, causing considerable damage to the building 
interior, though not destroying it.  Most of the furniture, 
air conditioners, and fixtures were looted or damaged. 
Electricity and plumbing need extensive replacement.  The 
building is in reparable condition, but will require 
considerable work. 
 
27.  Judges held elections last week and are currently 
hearing a limited number of cases in the adjoining Juvenile 
Court that was less damaged.  The DART met all of the 
sitting judges as well as Coalition forces working to assist 
in rebuilding the judiciary system in An Najaf.  They all 
agree that the current courthouse should be 
repaired, in the first instance because it is economically 
viable, and second as a sign to the residents of An Najaf 
that the judiciary suffered in the past, but its spirit has 
been resurrected and the legal system is functioning to 
benefit civil society. 
 
JONES