ICRC REPRESENTATIVES VISIT ASHGABAT TO DISCUSS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000819 SIPDIS SIPDIS KABUL ALSO FOR DAO OFFICE, STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY) E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/02/2016 TAGS: AF EAIR IO MARR PHUM PREL TX SUBJECT: ICRC REPRESENTATIVES VISIT ASHGABAT TO DISCUSS PRISON ACCESS AND HELICOPTER CRASH REF: A. ASHGABAT 773 ¶B. ASHGABAT 793 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Jennifer L. Brush for reasons 1.4(B) a nd (D). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) During a July 31 meeting, the new Head and Deputy Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross's (ICRC's) Regional Delegation of Central Asia told the Charge that their organization is changing its strategy on seeking access to prisoners. Instead of holding fast to the ICRC's previous insistence on meeting with those associated with the 2002 assassination attempt on President Niyazov, the new team will agree to a staged approach, de-emphasizing the political aspect and starting first with visits to common criminals. Their hope: that this will give them a foot in the door that will allow the ICRC to begin improving prison conditions now. The two representatives also indicated that the ICRC has faced strong pressure from the Government of Turkmenistan to pay compensation to the families of the Turkmenistan Air helicopter crew that was killed in a crash in Afghanistan, even though the flight was fully indemnified. They suggested that Turkmenistan officials may be seeking to create a U.S. role in the downing in order to find an alternate source of compensation, most of which would probably, in any case, never find its way to the crew's families. End Summary. Prison Access: Working on a Go-Slow Approach -------------- ¶2. (U) Charge met on July 31 with two new ICRC representatives, Boris Michel and Raffaello Mueller, to discuss the status of ICRC efforts to gain access to prisoners in Turkmenistan. (Note: Michel is Head and Mueller is Deputy Head of the Regional Delegation of Central Asia, based in Tashkent. End note.) ¶3. (C) According to Michel, the ICRC has seen that previous efforts to "work the hardest issues first," including gaining prison access to prisoners convicted of complicity in the 2002 assassination attempt on President Niyazov, have been largely unsuccessful. ICRC also wants to forestall any efforts by the government to give the prison visit portfolio to other, less experienced and/or less objective "observers," such as the OSCE or members of the Ashgabat diplomatic corps. As a result, his organization is retooling its strategy in Turkmenistan. ¶4. (C) Specifically, the ICRC has decided to shift its immediate emphasis to gaining access to the thousands of common prisoners, who are also living in very harsh conditions. According to Michel, gaining access so that ICRC can learn more about prison conditions and begin to fight larger-scale problems, such as the spread of tuberculosis among prison inmates, is a more immediate priority. Michel indicated that his organization would be willing to agree to a stipulation that ICRC representatives would be accompanied by a government representative, since "government representatives can be asked to step out of the room." The ICRC will then use those visits to write a report and recommendations for improving the prison situation. If the program is going well and the Government of Turkmenistan shows signs of beginning to implement ICRC recommendations, the ICRC will pursue an agreement. Although the ICRC hopes eventually to be given access to those convicted of terrorism and to former officials accused of embezzlement, it recognizes that such visits are probably politically impossible in the short term. ICRC Asks U.S. to Play Down its Advocacy Efforts -------------- --- ¶5. (C) Charge noted that the embassy is expecting several high-level USG visits in the coming weeks, and offered to support ICRC negotiations in whatever way would be most helpful. Michel said ICRC was changing this strategy too and instead of a multilateral approach, which had not worked so far in Turkmenistan, ICRC preferred now to "try an independent approach." ASHGABAT 00000819 002 OF 002 ICRC Concerned About Helicopter Crew Families -------------- ¶6. (C) Michel then said that, although this was his first visit to Ashgabat to discuss prison access, Mueller had been to Ashgabat four times in connection with the Turkmenistan Air helicopter that crashed in February in Afghanistan while returning from an ICRC humanitarian relief mission to Pakistan (ref A). Charge noted that the Civil Aviation Service in Turkmenistan had recently sent a letter to Secretary Rice (ref B) demanding a full accounting of what SIPDIS had happened to the helicopter; even though the United States has passed to the government what it knows about the accident, the government appeared unwilling to accept that information as conclusive. ¶7. (C) Mueller noted that ICRC had been having similar difficulties with the government, and said that ICRC had information indicating the helicopter was "far off its route" when it crashed. (Note: Mueller subsequently indicated that the helicopter was almost five miles from the route it had filed, and suggested the pilot may have been trying a shortcut. End note.) The Government of Turkmenistan has been trying to claim that it is the ICRC's responsibility to pay compensation, even though the ICRC had paid an indemnity when it hired the helicopter, and had been told that the aircraft was fully insured by the Government of Turkmenistan. The ICRC had worked with the team that the government had sent to Kabul to investigate the crash, and had found the team members baffled by their mission. "The U.S. rescue team even had to provide them appropriate clothing," he said. Essentially, according to Mueller, the Turkmenistani Embassy in Kabul was "useless" and did nothing to help with facilitating the recovery operation. Even now, he continued, although there are "mechanisms" that the government could use to make further inquiries, "only the president can make any decisions and everyone else is too scared to suggest further measures to him." In the end, he concluded, civil air officials were desperate to lay the blame for the crash on a non-Turkmen entity, preferably the ICRC and/or the U.S. military, and force that entity to pay for the damage. The alternative, finding fault with the way the Government of Turkmenistan had handled the crash, would result in "heads rolling." ¶8. (C) According to the two ICRC reps, their organization is now most concerned about compensation for the families, who still have not received any money. ICRC had no legal responsibility to pay anything other than back salaries and per diem, which it was prepared to pay to the family members directly. The government had yet to respond to ICRC's repeated requests for information on how the families would be compensated in the long-term for the deaths of their breadwinners, who died while serving the Government of Turkmenistan. He requested that U.S. officials visiting Ashgabat -- particularly when meeting with Civil Aviation Service officials -- ask after the welfare of the crew's families. Comment -------------- ¶9. (C) The ICRC has been largely at a stalemate with the Government of Turkmenistan on prison access. Michel and Mueller (who previously was involved in ICRC activities in Chechnya) seem to hope that their new go-slow strategy -- and a new team -- would allow them to finally make headway on gaining access to Turkmenistan's prisons. They also plan to de-emphasize prison access as ICRC's main activity in Turkmenistan and concentrate more on ICRC's educational activities, including promoting international humanitarian law through activities with Turkmenistan's armed forces, police and security forces. Charge said embassy would support ICRC's new strategy and we stood ready to assist. BRUSH