IRAQI MFA OFFICIALS DISCUSS WITH GOJ RESTARTING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005664

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/04/2013
TAGS: PREL ODIP IZ JO
SUBJECT: IRAQI MFA OFFICIALS DISCUSS WITH GOJ RESTARTING
CONSULAR SERVICES AT IRAQ EMBASSY IN AMMAN

Classified By: CDA David Hale for Reasons 1.5 (B) (D)

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Summary
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1. (C) Susan Johnson, Senior Advisor to the MFA in Baghdad,
and two Iraqi MFA officials visited Amman from August 15 to
20 to meet with GOJ MFA officials, officials at the Iraqi
Embassy, and visit the Jordan-Iraq border area. The purpose
of the visit was to pave the way for resumption of Iraqi
consular operations and to re-establish working channels of
communication with Jordan as well as to assess the condition
of the Iraqi Embassy. End Summary.

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Meeting with GOJ MFA Officials
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2. (C) On August 17, Susan Johnson, Amb. Qusay M. Saleh,
Iraqi MFA, Steering Committee member, and Amb. Salah Abdul
Al-Azzawi, Head of the Iraqi MFA Consular Department, met
with GOJ MFA officials responsible for Iraqi and consular
affairs to discuss what steps were necessary to reopen the
Iraqi Embassy in Amman and how the GOJ would perceive such a
move. The meeting also allowed Jordanian and Iraqi officials
to open lines of communication. The meeting at the Jordanian
MFA, headed by Amb. Samir Masarwa, Chief of the Jordanian
MFA's Consular Department, and attended by Amb. Zeid Lozi,
MFA Chief of Protocol, Ali Ayed, Dir. of the Minister's
Special Bureau, Samer Naber, Dir. of the Legal Department and
Ali Bsoul, Minister's Special Bureau, allowed the Jordanian
and Iraqi officials to begin a dialogue leading to reopening
the Iraqi Embassy in Amman as a "liaison office" to provide
badly needed consular services for the estimated 300,000
Iraqis currently residing in Jordan.

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Visit to the Iraq Embassy
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3. (C) The visit to the Iraqi Embassy enabled Johnson and the
Iraqi MFA officials to conduct an inventory of diplomatic,
service and regular passports stored at the mission. Many of
these passports had been shipped under Iraqi MFA instructions
from Iraqi embassies in Abuja, Beirut, Damascus, Dubai,
Muscat and Stockholm (in addition to those passports already
in Amman). The Iraqi MFA wants to collect these passports to
prevent misuse and in case they are needed in Baghdad. As a
result of the inventory, the CPA/Iraqi team decided to take
possession of several hundred diplomatic and service
passports and return them to Baghdad by air. Three passport
machines and approximately $1 million in cash and 94,000
British pounds and additional regular passports were sent
back to Baghdad by land.

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Visit with Iraqi border officials
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4. (C) On August 18, the Iraqis and Johnson visited the
Jordan-Iraq border at Trebil/Karama. They saw operations on
both sides of the border and met with Jordanian and Iraqi
border officials. On the Iraqi side of the border, U.S.
military officials (about 15 soldiers headed by a Captain)
provided a tour of the facilities. U.S. military officials
said that, while much work remains to be done, several
offices had been somewhat renovated and a small cafeteria had
resumed operations and was providing meals to the
approximately 450 local staff (Dulaymi tribesmen). The U.S.
military officers said that they looked for arms and looted
antiquities in cars bound for Jordan. Many travelers carried
considerable amounts of cash to "do business" in Jordan and
made no attempts to hide it. They said they did not ask
Iraqis found with large amounts of cash about the source of
such funds or make any record of it. Iraqis denied entry
into Jordan were routinely allowed back into Iraq.


5. (C) Johnson and the Iraqis also met with the Iraqi
official responsible for border operations. He was described
as belonging to one of the major tribes in the area, with no
border operations experience. Outside the Customs building
(the one building in somewhat decent shape) two handwritten
notices (one in Arabic and one in English) listed the "fees"
for entry and exit. Discussions revealed that there is
little accountability for collection of border fees by Iraqi
border guards. The U.S. military has a $30,000 a month
contract with a tribal leader to provide the workers. The
salary, money and fees are collected once a month or more
frequently and taken to a nearby town, where salaries are
distributed among the border workers. The disposition and
whereabouts of any remaining funds is not well documented.
According to the Captain, there is some discontent among the
workers with how the salary money is distributed.
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Jordan Border Visit
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6. (C) The group toured the facilities on the Jordanian side
of the border and met with Jordanian border officials. The
Head of the Jordanian border post met with the Iraqis and
explained the difficulties Jordan had with no "professional"
counterparts on the Iraqi side. The Jordanians expressed
concern about Iraqis presenting counterfeit or photo
substituted passports or none at all. They cited instances
of Iraqis attempting to cross into Jordan illegally, either
by hiding in transport trucks or by cutting fences and
crossing the border on foot. (Note:PolOff witnessed a line
of approximately 30 cars waiting entry into Jordan, and
heated exchanges between Iraqis and Jordanian border
officials. Many Iraqis complained about waiting for four
hours in hot weather conditions, even though the line was not
as long as it had been in previous months.) The Jordanians
said that Jordan and Iraq had a bilateral agreement that
Iraqis with valid passports could enter Iraq and vice versa,
but that now many Iraqis without valid passports were trying
to cross. They said that Jordan wanted to respect the
agreement but needed cooperation from the Iraqi side. The
Iraqi officials recognized this problem, but wanted the
Jordanians to make some effort to at least document the money
and other items that were being taken out of Iraq.

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COMMENT
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7. (C) Jordanian MFA officials were enthusiastic about the
visit of the Iraqi MFA team. MFA Legal Advisor Samer Naber
told us Foreign Minister Muasher has formally recommended
that the PM and Jordanian security services approve the
reopening of the Iraqi Embassy in Amman as a liaison office.
According to Naber, no formal GOJ decision has yet been made.
HALE