UAEG SEEKS CONFIRMATION ON IRAQI MFA

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 002984 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/NGA AND NEA/ARP E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/13 TAGS: PREL PGOV IZ TC SUBJECT: UAEG SEEKS CONFIRMATION ON IRAQI MFA FAX AUTHORIZING DISTRIBUTION OF TRAVEL FUNDS FOR FORMER IRAQI DIPLOMATS REF: ABU DHABI 2896 ¶1. (U) Classified by Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba for reasons 1.5 (B) and (D). ¶2. (U) This is an action request; see para 5. ¶3. (C) UAE MFA Assistant U/S for Political Affairs Abdullah Rashid Al-Nuaimi contacted the Ambassador June 21 seeking confirmation on a fax sent to the Iraqi "embassy" in Abu Dhabi from the MFA Steering Committee in Baghdad. The UAEG took over control of the Iraqi embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Iraqi consulate in Dubai in the beginning of June and froze all of the missions' assets. Abdullah Rashid said embassy staff had received a fax dated June 2 from an Ambassador Ghassan Mohsen Hussein, head of the MFA Steering Committee in Baghdad issuing instructions for the issuance of tickets and the distribution of travel monies to former Iraqi diplomats and their families. Upon the Ambassador's request, Abdullah Rashid forwarded a copy of the fax to the Embassy. The fax requests the following: -- Issuance of tickets to former diplomats and their families to travel back to Baghdad via Amman or Damascus with the provision of a $20 travel allowance per family member. -- Agreement to continuing paying those staff members covered by the 16 March memorandum (a copy of which was also attached and which was addressed to a former Iraqi diplomat in Dubai -- Humaid Khaled Salman). Abdullah Rashid told the Ambassador the UAEG was not/not prepared to act on these matters and open the bank accounts for issuance of travel tickets and allowances absent confirmation from the USG that the fax from the MFA Steering Committee is legitimate. ¶4. (C) Abdullah Rashid asked the Ambassador whether any decision had been taken on the resumption of consular services. The local Iraqi staff at the Embassy in Abu Dhabi have requested that they be allowed to resume these services. They have apparently told the Emiratis that their counterparts in Doha and Amman have resumed these services. Abdullah Rashid noted the difficulties encountered by the UAEG as a result of the lack of Iraqi consular services here. While the UAEG is being lenient on residency issues, the inability of Iraqis to travel overseas because their passports have expired is a significant hardship. He related that an Iraqi woman in dire need of sophisticated medical attention had died in the UAE recently because she was unable to travel abroad to receive attention. The Ambassador said we were awaiting guidance on the broad subject of consular services but in the immediate term, we appreciate the UAEG's not penalizing Iraqis with expired passports seeking to renew their residency status. ¶5. (C) ACTION REQUEST: Please provide guidance on both the matter of releasing frozen Iraqi funds for Iraqi "diplomats" as well as on the broader issue of the resumption of consular services. As we noted last week (reftel),this issue continues to simmer here and we expect telephone calls and walk- ins to continue as long as Iraqi are unable to obtain assistance from their embassy. ¶6. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. WAHBA