US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT2707

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 KUWAIT 002707 
 
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 8 JUNE 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  DART Field Team West visited a rural health center and 
two village water supply units on 8 June in An Najaf with 
DART-partner International Rescue Committee, which has 
already begun DART-funded work in rural water and health in 
An Najaf and Karbala.  The DART also met with WFP staff, who 
said the June food distribution was going according to 
schedule.  Before departing An Najaf, the DART spoke with 
members of the Coalition's Governorate Support Team to share 
updates and receive briefs on various new sectoral projects. 
End Summary. 
 
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AN NAJAF FOOD UPDATE 
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2.  U.N. World Food Program (WFP) staff in An Najaf reported 
that on-going June distributions are progressing without 
major difficulties.  The issue of increased transportation 
costs continues to irritate food agents, and WFP has 
received continuous complaints that the reimbursement 
amounts announced by the Ministry of Trade (MOT) do not 
compensate drivers sufficiently.  This issue remains 
unresolved. 
 
3.  WFP is working with the MOT to prepare lists of needed 
equipment, supplies, and repairs for PDS infrastructure, as 
well as a list of employees at the warehouses and silo that 
qualify for overtime.  These lists will be presented to the 
Coalition's Civil Military Operations Center (CMOC) for 
verification and possible funding.  The CMOC confirmed this 
process and agreed to work closely with WFP and the MOT to 
facilitate improvements to the public distribution system 
(PDS). 
 
4.  WFP reported receiving 150 metric tons (MT) of beans and 
300 MT of rice from neighboring governorates to round out 
needed food stocks to complete June's distribution. 
Although final stock numbers are difficult to confirm, WFP 
is confident that all June rations will be distributed as 
specified for the announced June ration in An Najaf.  WFP 
will soon begin monitoring actual beneficiary distributions 
for June to assure that the final step in the PDS is 
properly satisfied. 
 
5.  It also confirmed that 130,000 MT of older wheat is 
stored in the area.  According to WFP, 47,000 MT of this 
wheat was purchased under the U.N. Oil for Food Program last 
year in Russia, Australia, and Syria.  The remaining 83,000 
MT is supposedly an older, local purchase, but exact 
purchase dates are not confirmed.  WFP agreed to collect 
additional and more accurate information on these older 
stocks from the MOT in An Najaf to determine age, location, 
origin, and quality of the wheat. 
 
6.  WFP reported that Save the Children would be working 
with WFP in the An Najaf Governorate on vulnerable group 
feedings.  The DART was not able to contact Save the 
Children to discuss this issue. 
 
7.  The MOT has received letters informing them of a USD 
50,000 operation account that will soon be established for 
PDS operational costs.  No other news or instructions have 
been received by WFP in An Najaf on the management of this 
account. 
 
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RURAL HEALTH IN AN NAJAF 
------------------------ 
 
8.  Fifty percent of children under the age of five in the 
El Hideria area of An Najaf are malnourished, according to 
the director of the El Hideria Primary Health Center (PHC) 
with whom the DART met on 8 June with partner International 
Rescue Committee (IRC).  Many of the area's residents are 
poor, he said, including 14,000 of the area's 35,000 people 
who were internally displaced from the south in 1991.  He 
said they were living in difficult conditions with no 
electricity, potable water, transportation, adequate 
healthcare, livelihoods, or education for their children. 
IRC has proposed supporting the El Hideria PHC with DART 
funds, in addition to supporting seven other PHCs in rural 
An Najaf and Karbala. 
 
9.  Prior to the war, the PHC, which has five doctors (three 
women), received 110 patients a day.  Since the advent of 
free drugs one week ago, the director said that number has 
increased to over 200.  At 10:45 a.m. on June 8, 180 
patients had already entered the health center seeking 
treatment.  Since the end of the war, unexploded ordnance 
(UXOs) have injured 30 to 35 area residents.  Last week, the 
PHC treated three UXO injuries.  Half of all injured were 
children. 
 
10.  The PHC Director said diarrhea was the greatest problem 
for children, and that many of the area's poor did not have 
sufficient funds to travel to the PHC.  The first 50 of 70 
child patients entering the PHC on 8 June suffered from 
diarrhea.  Fueling the problem, he said, was that 70 percent 
of local residents rely on unfiltered river water.  Many 
receive water from tankers whose owners charge according to 
the quantity and quality of water.  Fifty percent of the 
area's children were lower than average on the weight-for- 
height chart, according to the director.  Another large 
health problem, he said, was Typhoid fever with about 30 
cases a day.  Among female adults, anemia was the greatest 
problem.  The director said 25 percent of women suffered 
from severe anemia. 
 
Other challenges facing the PHC include: 
 
--  Half of the PHC's power comes from its generator; the 
other half from the sporadic governorate electric grid; 
 
--  The center normally gets two hours of piped water in the 
morning and two hours in the afternoon; 
 
--  During the war, the immunization program stopped, but it 
has since restarted; 
 
--  The staff has not received post-war salary payments yet, 
although they have gotten their USD 20 emergency payments; 
 
--  The PHC has stocks of many drugs, but it is short on 
certain essential items; 
 
--  Following the war, thieves tried to steal the PHC's 
generator and some drugs; and 
 
--  The PHC's x-ray room has been closed for 10 years and is 
covered with dust. 
 
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RURAL WATER IN AN NAJAF 
----------------------- 
 
11.  The DART visited two compact water treatment units 
(CWTU) in rural An Najaf on 8 June that partner IRC has been 
rehabilitating with DART funds.  IRC has already begun work 
on five others, and proposes to rehabilitate a total of 33 
in An Najaf, and to replace nine with temporary treatment 
units.  There are 60 CWTUs in An Najaf.  The 
DART visited compact water units in El Barakia and El 
Bonoman.  El Barakia provides 1,000 cubic meters of water a 
day and serves 2,000 people; El Bonoman produces 300 cubic 
meters of treated water per day and serves over 2,000.   The 
El Barakia system has a pipe network of 4 kilometers (kms), 
and the El Bonoman extends for 3 kms.  Each network is in 
good condition.  With IRC's intervention at El Barakia, the 
unit's water capacity increased and its water quality 
improved with the restarting of the chlorinator.  Prior to 
IRC's involvement at the El Bonoman unit, the system pumped 
river water directly into the network.  Now, the water is 
filtered, and soon, will be treated with chlorine. 
 
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AN NAJAF GOVERNORATE SUPPORT TEAM UPDATE 
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12.  The DART visited the CMOC in An Najaf on 8 June and 
spoke with members of the Governorate Support Team (GST). 
The following are some updates from the meeting: 
 
--  Security:  Nine classes have gone through a four-day 
training course, totaling approximately 600 police officers 
that have been trained thus far.  They have also been 
provided with basic equipment (uniforms, weapons, whistles, 
etc.); they hope to train another 600 officers who will be 
in charge of rural areas. 
 
--  Salaries:  Government employees have been paid for 
April, and they hope to catch up to June salaries by the end 
of the month.  The Ministry of Welfare and Benefits 
attempted to pay out retirement, welfare, and pension 
payments on 8 June, however, crowd control was a problem and 
payments were postponed until a better system could be 
established. 
 
--  Fuel:  An Najaf received 1,300 bottles of liquid 
petroleum gas (LPG) on 8 June and 17 trucks of fuel on 7 
June.  The GST has been told that regular distributions to 
the city will begin in the next couple of days. 
 
--  The CMOC is concerned about "a squatter problem" in the 
city.  According to the CMOC, many, if not all, of the 
vacant buildings are being occupied by squatter families. 
CMOC has also heard that one of the local orphanages and the 
mental health institution have also been occupied by 
squatters, which is preventing orphans and patients from 
accessing services in these buildings.  According to the 
head of the GST, Save the Children is attempting to find 
office and living space in the city, but has not yet found 
anything adequate. 
 
--  Health:  A Coalition Civil Affairs (CA) officer recently 
assessed seven rural health clinics in An Najaf and said of 
them, "The farther we go out, the worse they are."  He said 
some of the 19 PHCs and 17 "sub-clinics" in An Najaf have no 
equipment, air-conditioning, windows, and little supplies of 
drugs.  He is developing proposals to revamp 17 PHCs at a 
cost of USD 1,000 each.  He said IRC had delivered the DART- 
funded emergency health kits and that they were being 
distributed.  "They were happy to see them," he said of 
Ministry of Health (MOH) personnel in An Najaf.  He has also 
arranged for 120 security personnel to be added to the MOH 
payroll.  The new guards will have a one-day training and 
will patrol the city's five hospitals that are still facing 
insecurity. 
 
--  Education:  CA officers gave 18 schools in An Najaf USD 
500 each for immediate rehabilitation.  The school staff can 
spend the funds on replacing windows and doors, painting 
walls, repairing electricity and plumbing, or provide 
supplies and furnishings.  The choice lies with the school 
staff.  Receipts for all purchases must be returned within 
two weeks.  The CA officers said they would do the same for 
all 550 Najaf schools (at a cost of USD 250,000) if they had 
the funds.  Other Coalition units have renovated 10 schools 
and plan to complete more before the start of the new school 
year. 
 
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HUMAN RIGHTS SOCIETY OF AN NAJAF 
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13.  The DART attempted to visit the Human Rights Society in 
An Najaf on 8 June; however, it had closed for the 
afternoon.  The DART was able to speak to the guard and were 
told that the society had just recently begun work.  Most of 
its focus at this time is on the missing and prisoners of 
war.  Their building is quite rudimentary; there is no glass 
on any of the windows, for example, and a family of 
squatters is living in the room next door. 
 
JONES