US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT2705

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 002705 
 
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 10 JUNE 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  Interventions by the DART have paid dividends this week 
with increased security at food distribution points and 
improvements in supply procurement.  Also this week, CARE 
began work on rehabilitating the frail water-treatment 
system of Al Hillah that serves 750,000 people.  The 
project, funded by the DART, will increase the system's 
capacity from 16 to 75 percent in 10 weeks and will improve 
the water quality.  The DART toured the facility with CARE 
on 10 June and also visited the city's maternal and 
pediatric hospital where CARE will rehabilitate its sewage 
system with DART funds.  End Summary. 
 
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FOOD DISTRIBUTIONS IN AL HILLAH 
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2.  Thirty-eight Ministry of Trade (MOT) warehouse and silo 
security personnel graduated from a Coalition-sponsored 
training program on 10 June in Al Hillah.  The security 
guards will be integrated into the MOT facilities 
immediately with the assistance of Coalition forces.  A 
second group of trainees will begin training on 11 June. 
This MOT/Coalition training program is the culmination of 
DART efforts to increase the capacity of MOT security 
forces. 
 
3.  The MOT silo manager received a letter from Coalition 
forces confirming MOT's independence from Al Hillah 
bureaucratic procedures to procure needed public 
distribution system (PDS) equipment and supplies.  The DART 
requested this letter from Coalition Civil Affairs officers 
as a means to prevent delays in PDS distributions and to 
help the MOT expedite procurements of parts during 
distribution periods. 
 
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FUEL SUPPLIES INCREASE IN AL HILLAH 
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4.  Gas tankers supply Al Hillah "fairly" regularly now with 
better distribution than four weeks ago, a member of the 
Coalition's Governorate Support Team (GST) in Babil told the 
DART on 10 June.  Twenty-eight tankers entered Al Hillah on 
10 June, and 32 came last week.  He said the gasoline met 
roughly 30 to 40 percent of the city's needs.   For the 
first time since the end of the war, he observed today a gas 
station receiving more fuel from tankers while it still had 
some gas in reserve.   "That's a good sign," he said. 
Diesel is not a problem, he said, "There's plenty of that." 
 
5.  There remain shortages of liquid petroleum gas (LPG), 
the primary cooking fuel in Iraq, although the GST source 
said the distribution of the scarce supply had improved with 
an increased security presence.  Last week, some 
distribution points became riotous.   A growing problem is 
the theft of LPG canisters, often by police officers.  The 
director of the LPG plant selected his most trustworthy 
security officers to work the night shift, the period of 
greatest loss.  The director estimates the theft of about 40 
canisters a day. 
 
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WATER IMPROVEMENTS IN AL HILLAH 
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6.  CARE begins work on 14 June to rehabilitate the largest 
water treatment system in Al Hillah, using DART funds to 
improve water quality and to increase capacity from 16 to 75 
percent in less than three months.  DART visited the system 
today and reviewed the work plan.  The system, serving 
750,000 people, is on the verge of collapse with only three 
of 12 pumps functioning. 
 
7.  Currently, city residents receive water for about two to 
three hours a day.   Under optimal conditions, the system 
could produce 130,000 cubic meters per day; it now provides 
30,000.  CARE solicited bids from 10 contractors, and eight 
submitted a bid. 
 
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SEWAGE REPAIRS BEGIN AT AL HILLAH HOSPITAL 
------------------------------------------ 
 
8.  CARE contractors are beginning work on the failed sewage 
system at the Al Hillah Maternal and Children's hospital 
with DART funds that were recently approved.  CARE will 
purchase and install two pumps that will flush sewage 
through the system, among other improvements.  Currently, 
sewage has backed up into the doctors' residency.  The 
hospital's director told the DART on 10 June that the system 
has not worked for ten years.  He listed additional 
problems, including a poor central air-conditioning system. 
Because of the heat, the director said, "Most of the sick 
patients (went) out in the garden last night."   He added 
that the cooling system has not worked for years. 
Other problems are: two of four elevators do not work; a 
shortage of oxygen, and a lack of certain drugs.  "There is 
a deficiency of many drugs," the director said.  The 
hospital's oxygen supply is also low, although the 
International Committee of the Red Cross said it would 
provide oxygen for Al Hillah.   Diarrhea remains the 
greatest problem for children, followed by respiratory 
infections. 
 
9.  Many of the hospital's problems are chronic, although 
several have become less acute since the end of the war. 
"Everything nowadays," the hospital director said, "is now 
stable."  He said some drugs had arrived at the hospital via 
normal Ministry of Health channels, but some essential drugs 
were not available.  He said security had improved at all 
hospitals with the advent of new security officers 
patrolling city hospitals. He also said the hospital has 
become cleaner. 
 
10.  Many doctors in Al Hillah have complained about new 
Coalition forms, the hospital's director said, requiring 
government employees to denounce the Ba'ath party in order 
to receive their May salaries.   The doctors are negotiating 
to add the words, "for the sake of the Iraqi people" to the 
end of the following sentence found in the form: "I will 
obey the laws of Iraq and all proclamations, orders, and 
instructions of the Coalition Provisional Authority." 
According to the Coalition's deputy military governor in 
Babil, the military will not change the sentence and the 
doctors will not be paid until they sign. 
On 8 June, medical professionals in Babil voted for a new 
general director of Babil's Ministry of Health from among 
four candidates.  The incumbent did not win because he is a 
former Ba'athist, according to the hospital's director. 
 
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ACTED VISITS WITH THE DART 
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11.  The Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development 
(ACTED) told the DART on 10 June that it plans on 
rehabilitating 20 rural water treatment units in Al Muthanna 
Governorate, and that each repair would cost approximately 
USD 8,000.  Rural water units in Al Muthanna serve 
approximately five to ten percent of the rural population, 
according to ACTED.   In Al Muthanna, ACTED said children 
suffered as a direct result of unclean water.  "Here, 
malnutrition happens because of bad water," ACTED said. 
ACTED said it is aware of several thousand displaced 
residents in northern Al Muthanna whose homes were destroyed 
in the 1991 war.  Many residents in the three affected 
villages have returned, but others live with relatives or 
friends, primarily in Samawah. 
 
JONES