Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BAGHDAD2377
2006-07-06 19:26:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

UNHCR IRAQ HEAD OF DELEGATION ENGAGES GOI

Tags:  PREF KPAL PHUM UNHCR IZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1054
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #2377/01 1871926
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 061926Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5549
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 0314
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0028
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0033
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0036
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0500
RHEHWSR/WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0153
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002377 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM FOR NSC
AMMAN AND CAIRO FOR REFCOORDS KANESHIRO AND CHEYNE
GENEVA FOR RMA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2026
TAGS: PREF KPAL PHUM UNHCR IZ
SUBJECT: UNHCR IRAQ HEAD OF DELEGATION ENGAGES GOI
OFFICIALS ON MAKHMOUR, PALESTINIANS

REF: BAGHDAD 2286 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR MARGARET SCOBEY, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B)
AND (D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002377

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM FOR NSC
AMMAN AND CAIRO FOR REFCOORDS KANESHIRO AND CHEYNE
GENEVA FOR RMA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2026
TAGS: PREF KPAL PHUM UNHCR IZ
SUBJECT: UNHCR IRAQ HEAD OF DELEGATION ENGAGES GOI
OFFICIALS ON MAKHMOUR, PALESTINIANS

REF: BAGHDAD 2286 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR MARGARET SCOBEY, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B)
AND (D).


1. (C) Summary: New UNHCR-Iraq Head of Delegation Janvier de
Riedmatten made his initial calls on GOI MOI, MFA, and MODM
on July 1 and 2. He advised RefCoord and PolOff that
although the GOI Ministries gave positive signals on
willingness to help on Makhmour, they did not offer
specifics. UNHCR may need USG help to convince the KRG to
agree to let legitimate refugees from Makhmour who are not
able to repatriate to Turkey integrate into Kurdistan. De
Riedmatten will return later to meet with KRG officials on
Makhmour. De Riedmatten believes that it would be
politically difficult for the GOI to do much for the
Palestinians at present given strong anti-Palestinian
sentiment on the Iraqi street. MFA informed De Riedmatten
that the GOI has formed committees to study the possibility
of accession to the Conventions on Refugees and
Statelessness. De Riedmatten confirmed that new MODM
Minister Sultan plans to visit Amman July 7 for consultations
organized by UNHCR-Iraq. Also, the GOI Permanent Committee
on Refugees will visit Iraq for consultations starting July

31.

Makhmour
--------------


2. (C) De Riedmatten passed copies of High Commissioner for
Refugees Antonio Guterres' letter to President Talabani
(delivered the previous week) on Makhmour to Minister of
Interior Jawad Boulani, Minister of Displacement and
Migration Abd al-Samad Sultan, and Acting Minister of Foreign
Affairs Mohammed al-Hajj Mahmoud (Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hoshyar Zebari is abroad). (NOTE: full text of the letter
forwarded to PRM.) In all three meetings, the GOI officials
spoke in general terms in support of resolving Makhmour, but
did not provide specifics. De Riedmatten attributed the lack
of specificity to the delay in delivery of the Guterres
letter, the short time Ministers Boulani and Sultan have held
their offices, and the absence of Minister Zebari. He plans

a follow-on trip to meet with Kurdish Regional Government
(KRG) officials to discuss Makhmour in the near future (date
TBD). UNHCR has already been in contact with KRG officials,
including UN liaison Dindar Zebari, who have traveled to
Amman to discuss refugee matters, but has not yet met with
senior KRG leadership. KRG officials so far have been
skeptical about local integration in Kurdistan for Makhmour
residents who cannot repatriate to Turkey. EmbOffs raised
with de Riedmatten recent reports that the GOI has officially
transferred Makhmour to KRG authority. Emboffs and de
Riedmatten agreed this transfer would minimize the role of
MODM in resolution of Makhmour, since the KRG has it's own
refugee officials and does not allow MODM to maintain offices
in Kurdistan.

Palestinians
--------------


3. (C) Minister Boulani, Minister Sultan, and Acting
Minister Mahmoud all told De Riedmatten that GOI policy is to
protect the Palestinians and ensure they are living in the
best possible conditions. Boulani indicated that MOI has
been holding inter-ministerial meetings this week to discuss
what can be done to address Palestinian security issues.
However, the ministers emphasized that GOI resources are
insufficient to protect the Iraqi people, and that it would
be problematic to do more for Palestinians than for Iraqis.
The ministers also made reference to insurgent activities and
terrorism, noting that Zarqawi was of Palestinian origin.
They indicated that it would be politically difficult for the
GOI to take action because of the strong anti-Palestinian
sentiment prevalent on the Iraqi street which intensifies
whenever there is an upsurge of terrorist violence in
Baghdad.


4. (C) With regard to residency permits for the Palestinians,
De Riedmatten got mixed signals. On July 1, Minister Boulani

BAGHDAD 00002377 002 OF 002


instructed his subordinates to arrange a meeting for him with
the PLO chief of mission. However a July 2 meeting with
Major General Yasseen al-Yassiri, Director of MOI's
Nationality and Travel directorate, left de Riedmatten with
the impression that a prompt solution is unlikely. MG
Yassiri initially insisted that there was no problem with
Palestinian residence permits, but when De Riedmatten told
him that not only the Palestinians themselves but also UNAMI
officers and various Embassies in Baghdad have raised the
issue with UNHCR repeatedly, Yassiri said that one-year
residence permits are available for Palestinians but the
Minister of Interior has to personally approve each one,
which creates a bottle neck. Yassiri reportedly changed his
story again later in the same meeting, saying that the
problem was that MODM had never provided MOI with a complete
list of all the Palestinian refugees. Yassiri said that he,
rather than Minister Boulani, would meet with the PLO chief
of mission and a representative group of 25 Palestinians who
are having residency permit problems. (Note: In Embassy
meetings with Yassiri, he has told us that Palestinians as
refugees are not allowed residency permits, but that instead
his office "kindly" provides letters to ensure that they are
not harassed by police. End Note)

Accession to Conventions on Refugees and Statelessness
-------------- --------------


5. (C) Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Mahmoud told De
Riedmatten that the MFA has set up committees to study the
possibility of accession to the 1951 Convention relating to
the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol and the 1954
Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. De
Riedmatten indicated that this was a first step in what will
no doubt be a lengthy process.

Consultations for GOI Officials in Amman
--------------


6. (C) De Riedmatten told PolOff UNHCR is organizing a
three-day program in Amman for Minister Sultan starting July

7. They will discuss substantive matters as well as MODM
capacity building. UNHCR has invited KRG officials to Amman
to participate in the program and hopes to encourage greater
KRG and MODM cooperation. They will also discuss revision of
the draft Basic Law for MODM. Minister Sultan admitted the
need to bring up the need to revise the draft Basic Law for
MODM and specifically mentioned the need to ensure that all
populations of concern are included. (NOTE: The previous
minister's edits, in UNHCR's opinion, weakened protections in
the law for Iraq's populations of concern. De Riedmatten
gave Sultan a copy of the UNCHR-preferred original draft, as
developed under the PRM-supported capacity building program.)


7. (C) UNHCR is also organizing a three-day workshop in
Amman for the members of the GOI Permanent Committee on
Refugees (mostly MOI working-level employees, with a few
representatives from other Ministries including MODM)
starting July 31.


8. (C) COMMENT: KRG resistance to local integration for
Makhmour residents is a sticking point that UNHCR may need
USG help in resolving. The GOI response on Palestinians is
more worrisome. The changing stories as to what the problem
is with regard to Palestinian residency permits raise some
questions about GOI actual willingness to be helpful on this
issue. This is the first the Embassy has heard about a
possible one-year residency permit, and it would constitute a
departure from Yassiri's posture in previous meetings.
SATTERFIELD