TFIZO1: AMMAN SITREP 10 (3/25 0800 LOCAL)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001776 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2013 TAGS: AEMR AMGT ASEC CASC CVIS IZ JO SUBJECT: TFIZO1: AMMAN SITREP 10 (3/25 0800 LOCAL) REF: (A) FBIS GMP20030324000163 (B) FBIS GMP20030324000186 Classified By: Acting DCM Doug Silliman. Reason 1.5 (b,d). -------------- General Overview -------------- ¶1. (C) The Embassy continues on a normal schedule March 25, with Consular services open. Services at ancillary facilities -- the Peace Corps Office and the American Language Center -- remain suspended. ¶2. (U) Lufthansa representatives reported they are resuming flights to/from Amman three days a week, and they hope to be back to five days a week by early April. A total of three European carriers have now restored service to Amman. Air France and Alitalia had announced similar decisions on 3/22 and 3/23 respectively. -------------- Consular Issues -------------- ¶3. (C) An amcit intending to enter Iraq requested a second, emergency, passport. She claimed to be an Israel-based journalist with Cox Newspapers of Washington, D.C. and said she intended to go to Iraq to cover the war and to visit her Iraqi-citizen husband. CONOFFS reminded the amcit of current travel restrictions for Iraq, and informed her that Jordanian authorities are not permitting journalists to enter Iraq from Jordan. -------------- GOJ Actions/Statements -------------- ¶4. (U) According to the official Petra News Service (ref a), King Abdullah affirmed on 3/24 that no military planes are using Jordanian airspace to strike Iraq: "This Jordanian stand is very clear, and we will not allow any party to use our airspace to strike Iraq." In a meeting with the President of the Jordanian Senate, the King also denied that plans exist to convey military troops, originally intended to move from Turkey into Iraq, through Jordan instead. He also announced Jordan's willingness to allow the Iraqi Embassy in Amman to exchange the three diplomats ordered to depart the Kingdom with three other diplomats. ¶5. (U) The official Petra News Service reported a statement by GOJ Information Minister Mohammed Adwan stating that four Iraqis -- two who work for Iraqi airlines and two who work for the Iraqi-Jordanian Land Transportation Company -- interrogated for security reasons on 3/23, were released on 3/24 (ref b). -------------- Security -------------- ¶6. (C) No new issues. GOJ protection of the chancery compound remains at a heightened state. -------------- Refugee/Humanitarian Issues -------------- ¶7. (U) The Jordan-Iraq border remains open but the flow of TCNs into Jordan has slowed to a trickle, with only a dozen people entering Jordan overnight. Still no sign of any Iraqi refugees/asylum seekers. UNHCR reports that two Amcits entered Jordan overnight and were given authorization to move directly to Amman. ¶8. (U) IOM has received a total of 482 TCNs at the Ruweished transit camp since the onset of hostilities. 359 have now departed Jordan and 123 currently remain in the transit camp. The vast majority of TCNs are Sudanese (310 to date), followed by Somalis (77) and Egyptians (31). The rest are a mix of various African nationalities. IOM reports that it has been able to repatriate most TCNs within 24-36 hours of arrival in Jordan. ¶9. (U) 24 people remain in no-man's land on the border, held up by documentation problems. Most of them are Palestinians married to Jordanian citizens. UNHCR Rep Sten Bronee and the Minister of Interior are at the border today and UNHCR expects the situation will be resolved. ¶10. (C) UNHCR reported that the GOJ is seriously considering halting the deportations of Iraqi nationals to Iraq until hostilities have ended. (Note: Jordan currently is home to an estimated 300,000 Iraqi citizens -- the vast majority of whom are here without any legal status. Over the last six months, the GOJ has been deporting out-of-status Iraqis, largely as a security measure. End note.) -------------- Press -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Embassy Public Affairs officers fielded several questions overnight from local journalists asking about rumors that either (a) VP Cheney was en route to the region to try to stop his daughter from going to Baghdad to serve as a human shield (sic); or (b) NEA DAS Liz Cheney was en route to Baghdad with four unnamed Senators to negotiate a secret cease-fire with Saddam Hussein. PA denied these rumors. GNEHM