Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04ABUDHABI2864
2004-08-23 13:43:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

UAE ASSISTANCE TO IRAQ

Tags:  PREL PTER MARR TC 
pdf how-to read a cable
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Diana T Fritz 02/06/2007 11:45:52 AM From DB/Inbox: Search Results

Cable 
Text: 
 
 
C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 02864

SIPDIS
CXABU:
 ACTION: POL
 INFO: DCM P/M ECON RSO AMB

DISSEMINATION: POL
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: DCM:RALBRIGHT
DRAFTED: POL:SRADDANT
CLEARED: NONE

VZCZCADI766
PP RUEHC RUCNRAQ RUEHGB RUEHIL RUEHDE
DE RUEHAD #2864/01 2361343
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 231343Z AUG 04
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5623
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1283
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 4257
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 002864 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/FO, NEA/NGA, NEA/ARP AND SA/PB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/14
TAGS: PREL PTER MARR TC
SUBJECT: UAE ASSISTANCE TO IRAQ


Classified by Ambassador Michele J. Sison, reasons 1.5
(b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 002864

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/FO, NEA/NGA, NEA/ARP AND SA/PB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/14
TAGS: PREL PTER MARR TC
SUBJECT: UAE ASSISTANCE TO IRAQ


Classified by Ambassador Michele J. Sison, reasons 1.5
(b) and (d).


1. (U) SUMMARY: Iraqi Vice President Dr. Ebrahim Al
Jaafari discussed developments in Iraq and UAE
assistance with Abu Dhabi Deputy Crown Prince and UAE
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Shaykh Mohammed
bin Zayed (MbZ) on August 20 in Abu Dhabi. On August
21, Al Jaafari visited the headquarters of the UAE Red
Crescent Authority (RCA),praising the UAE and the RCA
for their support of the Iraqi people during and after
the war. END SUMMARY.

--------------
POLITICAL/SECURITY COOPERATION
--------------


2. (C) Al Jaafari arrived in Abu Dhabi on August 20
for talks with MbZ on the latest political and
security developments in Iraq and continued
strengthening of bilateral ties. Although our contact
at the Iraqi Embassy called the meeting a "courtesy
call" and could not provide a readout of items
discussed at the meeting, we understand they discussed
ongoing UAE assistance to Iraq. On the day of the
visit, MbZ's Special Advisor, Yousef Al Otaiba, called
USLO Chief to inform him that, during meetings with
the Iraqi Chief of Staff last week, and as a result of
a request from the Iraqi delegation, the UAE had
agreed to donate 350 sets of Generation III Night
Vision Goggles and gun-mounted sights to the Iraqi
military. (NOTE: The Embassy will be working this
issue carefully to ensure that all third party
transfer requirements are met. END NOTE) Also, on the
same day, the press widely reported that the UAE Air
Force provided two C-130 transport planes to
repatriate 145 Iraqi refugees who were living in
Pakistan to Baghdad. The initiative was a
collaborative effort by several offices within the
UAEG, the Pakistani Government, Iraq's Charge
d'Affaires to Pakistan, the Red Cross, and the
International Organization of Migration (IOM). In
addition to this goodwill gesture toward Iraq, Al
Otaiba told Poloff that they agreed to provide the
support because the UAE does all it can to assist the
Pakistani Government. Providing airlift support is
only one way that the UAEG helps the Musharraf regime,
he said. He also noted that the refugees assisted
were not linked to the UAE in any way. Rather,
Pakistani authorities selected those who were returned
to Iraq. The Iraqi Embassy also confirmed that they
continue to work with the UAE and German governments
to train Iraqi police in the UAE. A division of 250-
300 police will arrive in the UAE in one month for
training, according to First Secretary Sabah Al Wali.
Al Wali also said that Al Jaafari will return to the
UAE on August 25 for additional official meetings.

--------------
RED CRESCENT AUTHORITY ASSISTANCE
--------------


3. (C) Al Jaafari visited the headquarters of the Red
Crescent Authority on August 21. He was accompanied
by Qusay Mahdi Salih, Iraqi Charge d'Affaires to the
UAE, and Dr. Adnan Al Asidi, the Secretary General of
the Iraqi Red Crescent Society. They were received by
the UAE RCA Board Chairman, Khalifa Nasir Al Suwaidi,
who briefed them on the RCA's activities. Al Jaafari,
who is also active in the Iraqi Red Crescent Society,
praised the UAEG for its unstinting support for Iraq
and its people. He particularly pointed out the UAE's
assistance in providing health care to Iraqi's sick
and wounded, and thanked the UAE for donating the
Shaykh Zayed Hospital in Baghdad. Al Suwaidi stated
to the press that the RCA was doing everything it
could to boost cooperation with the Iraqi Government
and the Iraqi RCA, and would continue to implement
projects aimed at improving the humanitarian situation
there. Poloff learned during a meeting at the RCA
last month that some of the projects it has already
undertaken in Iraq include the refurbishment of 10
hospitals, desalination projects in Basra, Umm Qasr,
and Abul Khusaib, and building a field hospital and
supplying medical staffing through the UAE Armed
Forces. On August 22, the media reported that a plane
loaded with 35 tons of food and medical supplies would
be flown to Baghdad the next day, marking the RCA's
28th humanitarian airlift effort since the start of
the war. The report also stated that the RCA recently
dispatched thousands of additional tons of
humanitarian relief supplies to Iraq by land and sea,
and that all RCA assistance projects are coordinated
with Coalition forces, the Iraqi Government, and the
UNRWA.


4. (U) MINIMIZE CONSIDERED.

SISON