IRAQ PRTs WEEKLY ROUNDUP FOR 14-20 APR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001451 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV ECON MOPS PREL IZ SUBJECT: IRAQ PRTs WEEKLY ROUNDUP FOR 14-20 APR ¶1. (SBU) INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY. The Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) report weekly their activities and progress towards helping the provincial governments achieve self-governance capability. The following paragraphs include summaries of their activities in several areas for the period 14-20 April. Receipt of reconstruction and development funds from Baghdad created a minor struggle to control expenditures within the Ninewa Provincial Council (PC). The Baghdad PC partially ended its boycott of USG entities but continued to refuse engagement on governance and economic development issues. While the PC boycott in Babil appears to be winding down, and business slowly returned to a more normal practice, no one is certain that it will not re-surface in the coming weeks. END INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY. -------------- NINEWA PROVINCE -------------- ¶2. (SBU) GOVERNANCE. The Ninewa PRT reported increased political infighting over who controls the $20M reconstruction and development money from the Baghdad central government. Some unexpected outcomes from this battle for control include a more independent stance from political parties previously allied with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP),calls from many PC members for open votes to ensure the money is spent fairly, and completion of a Master Project List from which they can shop for funding. ¶3. (U) The City Municipality Manager for trash collection told the PRT that funding and curfew limitations will make it impossible for his department to meet trash collection needs. The Directorate General (DG) confirmed this in a separate meeting with PRT staff. A joint Iraqi-PRT taskforce will research the trash issue and formulate options for improvement. ¶4. (SBU) SECURITY. There was a spike in insurgent activity over the past week, mostly involving incidents of small arms fire. Coalition Forces (CF) recently detained several high ranking anti-Iraqi force (AIF) members, and it is believed that the increased insurgent activity was in retaliation for CF successes. PRT members predict the insurgents are most likely in a period of restructuring their organizations (cells) and are attempting to bring in new leadership. The greatest number of indirect fire (IDF) incidents this year was recorded in April. This frequency has not been noted since the summer months of 2005. ¶5. (U) INFRASTRUCTURE. The Dahuk Director of Electrical Transmission asked the PRT for assistance in finding funding for an ongoing electrical problem in Dahuk and to a lesser extent in Ninewa. PRT members visited the site and determined that adding capacitor banks to the designated substations would help clean the power imported from Turkey. The existing problem has existed for at least two years and has resulted in a significant portion of imported power being unusable. Future expectation is that 20 to 25 percent of Ninewa Province power would come from Turkish imports. -------------- KIRKUK PROVINCE -------------- ¶6. (SBU) SECURITY. The security situation in Kirkuk worsened this week. There were 19 incidents in Kirkuk from 13-19 April. CF, Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Iraqi Police (IP) were the primary insurgency targets. New tactics and techniques in insurgency attacks led PRT members to believe that there is new AIF leadership in command. ¶7. (U) INFRASTRUCTURE. Fuel prices continued to drop in Kirkuk, perhaps aided by increased inspections by BAGHDAD 00001451 002 OF 002 the Iraqi Army and Police. Electricity supply for Kirkuk has been reportedly consistent at 14 hours per day since the Taza Power Plant came online. -------------- BAGHDAD PROVINCE -------------- ¶8. (SBU) POLITICAL. The Baghdad PC voted to renew its dialogue with USG officials on security, reconstruction, and essential services. However, the PC continued to boycott talks on governance and economic development. The PRT access and engagement with the PC subcommittees, City Hall, and district councils remained restricted. ¶9. (U) RULE OF LAW. The PRT Rule of Law (RoL) Working Group focused its weekly meeting on ways to decentralize elements of the Iraqi Police, raise local government funds for such units, and facilitate provincial oversight and public acceptance of security forces within the governorate. PRT members are working with the PC security and media relations committees and the Baghdad Police Transition Team to develop a coordinated media campaign to help bridge the gap between provincial political leaders and ISF commanders. -------------- BABIL PROVINCE -------------- ¶10. (SBU) POLITICAL. The Babil PC officially continued to boycott the PRT and CF although many members met individually with PRT members. PRT Team Leader held several meetings with the three top provincial leaders during the week and, while it appeared to be business as usual, he could not say with certainty that the boycott is over. On the growing Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) problem, the PRT organized a joint meeting of senior legislative and administrative government representatives. The Iraqis pledged to administer an action plan to begin support for the approximately 914 IDP families in Babil. USAID and the International Medical Corps agreed to monitor and assist. The action plan includes four provincial IDP registration centers to distribute emergency kits, coordinate security checks by provincial police, transfer school and food distribution records from the original province to Babil, and improve identification of IDP families to better craft additional support efforts. ¶11. (U) RECONSTRUCTION. The PRT encouraged the PC to form a Project Management Unit (PMU) to manage over 200 projects financed with the reconstruction and development funds from the central government. In a 19 April meeting, 53 local government officials, including the Governor and PC Chairman, attended a PMU workshop. They approved functional statements for each of the three offices that will make up the PMU - accounting, legal, and technical oversight. KHALILZAD