NINEWA: GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL CHAIR LIST PROVINCIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002936

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/14/2011
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM MARR ECON IZ
SUBJECT: NINEWA: GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL CHAIR LIST PROVINCIAL
PRIORITIES


Classified By: Ninewa PRT Leader James Knight: Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d)
.
This is a Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Ninewa message.


1. (C) Summary: Ninewa PRT Leader Knight made
initial calls on Ninewa's Governor Kashmoula and
Provincial Council Chair Issa 3 Aug 06. Individual
discussions were followed by a working lunch at
which both attended. Security in Mosul remains the
primary concern of both. Kashmoula again pressed
for a series of watchtowers to oversee Mosul's road
network and asked for help averting a looming fuel
shortage; Issa lamented the lack of adequate
intelligence on insurgents and the ubiquity of
corruption, especially at the Syrian and Turkish
borders. Team Leader was joined by Deputy Team
Leader COL Grant and Governance Team Liaison Officer
LDCR Webb. End Summary.


2. (C) Provincial Council Chair Issa also raised
the prickly issue of the Rabiyah toll station on the
Syrian border. The station was jointly inaugurated
in late 2005 by the Governor and a senior Coalition
representative (BG Bergner) as a Provincial facility
to collect tolls on commercial traffic entering
Ninewa province to fund school construction. The
toll station was closed by the Provincial government
earlier this year following objections raised at the
national GOI level. At this meeting PC Chair Issa
presented a letter from the Secretariat of the
Council of Ministers dated 17 Jul 06 explicitly
forbidding collection of taxes, duties, and tolls in
Ninewa pending legislative authorization (letter and
translation provided to NCT/Baghdad by e-mail).
Issa considers this action by the Council of
Ministers to keep the Rabiyah toll station closed
yet another index of endemic corruption in the GOI,
especially at the Syrian border.


3. (C) In response to Team Leader's query regarding
his current priorities for the province, Issa listed
electricity and health. Irregular power for Mosul
stalls economic progress and provision of basic
services. He also expressed concern for the state
of health services in Ninewa, especially Japanese-
donated medical commodities currently awaiting
transport from Basrah.


4. (C) Meeting separately with the Team Leader,
Provincial Governor Kashmoula pressed for support
for a network of 14 watchtower sites for critical
areas in Mosul, which he believes will enable Iraqi
Army (AI) forces to maintain effective oversight of
Mosul's streets while police forces (IP) would
patrol in neighborhoods. (Note: Kashmoula has
presented this plan to Coalition maneuver commanders
in Ninewa as well; it would be very costly (an
estimated USD 1 million) and its potential
effectiveness is unclear. In earlier conversations
with PRT's Governance team, he had agreed to vet the
proposal through Ninewa IA and IP commands -- that
process is still pending, although there has been
tentative support for three such towers. End note.)


5. (C) Kashmoula's second priority at this meeting
was resolution of Ninewa's enduring fuel problem.
Noting that Ninewa has only a two-day supply of
essential fuels, he asked for the Team Leader to
bring this festering and potentially explosive
problem to the attention of GOI ministries to find a
timely solution. Kashmoula emphasized that these
enduring fuel shortages impede all basic services in
Mosul.


6. (C) In response to another Team Leader query
regarding internally-displaced persons (IDPs) in
Ninewa, Kashmoula noted that 1300 IDP families
(about 7500 individuals) are currently registered
and receiving Provincial, NGO (esp. Red Crescent)
and private support. (Note: Other interlocutors
indicate the current number is closer to 2500
families. End note.) He added that a contract is
being let to erect a 100-tent IDP facility at
Ninewa Woods, near former FOB Courage. He
anticipates that this facility will meet foreseeable
IDP needs in the Mosul area.


7. (C) PC Chair Issa joined Kashmoula and the PRT
team for a working lunch following this discussion.

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Deputy PRT Leader COL Grant took this opportunity to
compliment the Provincial Government's progress in
building cohesion within the Provincial Council and
between the Council and Directors General
responsible for services and programs in the
province. He also queried progress towards
resolution of telephone outages at Ninewa's
Provincial Joint Communications Center (PJCC -- the
primary office for emergency response, detainee
tracking, and other priority services); Kashmoula
promised resolution of this problem within 10 days.
COL Grant also noted the upcoming transfer of fiscal
responsibility for the PJCC to the Provincial
government; Kashmoula pointed out that no GOI
ministry is currently prepared to accept
responsibility for PJCC salaries and operating
costs, and that the Provincial government has no
direct authority to do so.


8. (C) Comment: Emerging problems of GOI
assumption of oversight and recurrent costs for a
range of Coalition-sponsored initiatives will become
more urgent over the short to medium term. In
Ninewa the current question revolves especially
around the PJCC; resolution of this particular
matter will require adequate funding authorized by
either the Ministry of Interior or the Ministry of
Defense, but the broader issue of sustaining such
programs at the Provincial level needs enabling
legislation and engagement by GOI ministries. End
comment.
KHALILZAD