MAY 19 JORDAN-IRAQ REPORT: NGO COORDINATION,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 003958

SIPDIS

INFO IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
CPA BAGHDAD PRIORITY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/19/2014
TAGS: PREL MOPS IZ JO
SUBJECT: MAY 19 JORDAN-IRAQ REPORT: NGO COORDINATION,
VIOLENCE, POOR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN MINISTRIES

Classified By: DCM David Hale for reason 1.5(b),(d)


1. (U) This is another of post's periodic wrap up cables on
Iraqi items as seen from Amman. We report these views
without assessing their validity.

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NGO LACK OF COORDINATION
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2. (U) Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council rep
Bushra Jamil Samarai cited poor communication between Iraqi
Ministries and NGO duplication of efforts as problems in
expanding the role of NGOs in Iraq at an NGO Roundtable and
Luncheon in Amman on May 18. She said that the ministries
continue to have a "centralization" mind-set and do not know
to what offices to direct NGO reps who come to Iraq. She
used the recent clashes in Fallujah as an example of
exceptional NGO behavior where approximately sixty NGOs
immediately offered humanitarian assistance. However, she
said, the NGOs and the ministries' personnel in Fallujah did
not communicate well due to the lack of a system to
coordinate their efforts. NGO's duplication of work is a
continuing problem. She suggested that the best way to avoid
these problems in the future would be to create associations
of NGOs (based on similar specialty fields) which would elect
one representative to coordinate among the other internal NGO
associations and Iraq ministries and with NGOs outside of
Iraq.


3. (U) NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI) rep Elodie
Cantier-Aristide alleged that Iraqis see NGOs as political
entities and do not differentiate them from the coalition and
private sub-contractors. This is due to the lack of
coordination among NGOs, the coalition, and private
sub-contractors. She also cited a lack of "humanitarian
space," NGOs work in close proximity to coalition forces and
private sub-contractors and thus become publicly associated
with them. A further problem is the Iraqi tendency to assume
that any private group or association must have religious or
political ties. These problems, she claimed, limit NGO
effectiveness in Iraq. She opined that it was critical that
the social reconstruction of Iraq remain under the purview of
private groups, not the military.


4. (C) At a separate meeting on May 19, International NGO
urged post's Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Center
(HACC) office to help ensure that the coalition does not
infringe upon their "humanitarian space". The NGO reps
criticized the recent Spanish and Japanese application of the
phrase "humanitarian" in describing military operations or
deployments. This action blurred any separation between NGO
and military efforts, in Iraqi eyes.

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ESTABLISHING LEGAL STATUS OF NGOs
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5. (U) Iraq Deputy Minister of Planning and Development
Cooperation, Dr. Faik Abdul Rasool, said that there is a new
office at the ministry with the purpose of assessing and
registering NGOs. Rasool said that over 1500 NGO
applications for registration have been received at the
ministry so far, with 100 registration certificates issued.

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JOBS AND VIOLENCE IN IRAQ
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6. (C) Baghdad City Council Member Shatha Al-Obeidi told
PolOff at the NGO Roundtable that 55 Baghdad City Council
members have been killed since the end of the war. She
asserted that the on-going violence is related to the lack of
jobs in Baghdad and Iraq. She referred to Moqtada Al-Sadr's
followers as an example of the problem; claiming they are
young men without jobs who joined the Mahdi Army not out of
belief in Al-Sadr's cause, but from frustration with lack of
employment.

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POOR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE MINISTRIES
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7. (C) Iraq's Charge in Amman, Ma'an Barakat, told PolOff
that he has received no recent instructions from the Iraq
MFA. Barakat said that he has repeatedly requested
assistance from the MFA to establish passport-issuing
authority in the Mission and to hire additional staff but has
yet to receive a response. When asked about a future
Ambassador, he said that the MFA has not discussed this with
him. Barakat said that while his telephone communications
with the MFA are good, it is difficult to communicate with
other ministries as their telephone lines are frequently
inoperable. He cited his recent inability to request basic
office supplies as particularly frustrating. He was unsure
if the problem was due to bad phone lines and/or lack of
communication and coordination between the MFA and other
Ministries.


8. (U) Baghdad minimize considered.

Visit Embassy Amman's classified website at

http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/

or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET
home page.
GNEHM