BAGHDAD SECURITY PLAN PROGRESS IN MANSOUR DISTRICT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 003792 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/08/2016 TAGS: IZ KDEM PGOV PHUM PINR PTER SUBJECT: BAGHDAD SECURITY PLAN PROGRESS IN MANSOUR DISTRICT Classified By: Classified by Joseph Gregoire, Baghdad RPT Team Leader, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Civil affairs construction teams and the Mansour District Advisory Council (DAC) have reported signs of success in the two Baghdad Security Plan Special Focus Areas located in the Mansour District. Trash pick up in the Ameriya Focus Area is 65% complete and the neighborhood's residents are receptive and responding to coalition efforts. Shops are opening back up and women and children are on the street once again in significant numbers. Despite the focused security, Anti-Iraqi Forces (AIF) can continue to operate in Ameriya; the Ameriya Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) Chairman and representative to the Monsour DAC was killed in a targeted assassination on or about September 16. Sewage repairs have replaced security as the hot button issue for the residents of the Ghazaliya Focus Area. END SUMMARY. POSITIVE SIGNS IN THE AMERIYA -------------- ¶2. (C) MNF-I Civil Affairs Units and construction teams on the ground are reporting positive results in the Ameriya Focus Area of the Baghdad Security Plan under Operation Together Forward Phase II. Reporting provided to the Baghdad Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) indicate overall trash cleanup in the Ameriya Neighbor, a mixed Shia-Sunni area near the Baghdad International Airport, is 65% complete. Engineers have also made substantial progress removing large debris piles and junked automobiles from all the main streets, reporting a number of them 100% clear. ¶3. (C) Overall the civil affairs teams are also reporting good cooperation and involvement by Ameriya,s residents. Groups of women have been noted shopping throughout all market areas and children are playing on the streets again. Businesses along the major cleared streets are open and smaller vendors are setting up shop on many of the side streets. The administrator of the Ameriya Rafaidan Bank, Hamsah Ali-Hashim, told civil affairs officers that he expects the bank to reopen the first week in October (Note: the bank has been closed since it was robbed on July 17, ¶2006. The bank provides services to areas as far west as Abu Ghuraib as well as the Mansour District and the west side of the Rasheed District. End Note.) ¶4. (C) Despite positive signs, Anti-Iraqi Forces (AIF) continue to operate in Ameriya. In a significant set-back, NAC Chairman, Hajii Aiyed, was assassinated in an Ameriya market on or about 16 September. A contact of the civil affairs team responsible for the area told the team that Aiyed was approached the day before he was killed by a group of individuals and asked to store weapons for them, which he refused to do. In addition to his leadership in Ameriya, Aiyed also served as the Ameriya representative to the Mansour DAC, where he strongly advocated for the neighborhood and was strong supporter of coalition efforts. SEWAGE OVER SECURITY AS THE KEY ISSUE IN GHAZALIYA -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) In the Ghazaliya Special Focus Area a major sewer line collapse has overtaken security as the primary concern for residents. During a September 24 meeting of the Mansour DAC Essential Services Committee, PolOff and PRT officials witnessed an emotional and frustrating exchange between Council members and coalition engineers as they discussed plans to install a temporary bypass which will divert sewage around the collapsed trunk line for this large, populated neighborhood. The trunk line has been completely blocked for several months and large standing pools of raw sewage have become a hot button issue for residents. ¶6. (C) Helping residents understand the need for the temporary bypass to restore sewage flow in order to fix the main line was difficult and took up the majority of the meeting. Once this was accomplished, emotions and tempers settled down and discussion turned to the possibility of providing septic pump trucks to help clean up and control some of the above ground sewage flows resulting from the break. Other than expressions of condolences to the Mansour DC memberships over the loss of the Ameriya NC Chairman, security issues were not discussed at the meeting. ¶7. (C) COMMENT: Sewage and waste water flow from this low lying area have been a major problem for residents for over one year. Over $26 million USD have already been spent in up-stream sewer improvements projects in Ghazaliyah but none of these projects will have an impact until the main trunk BAGHDAD 00003792 002 OF 002 line is repaired. Construction of the bypass line is now 31% complete and projected to be finished in about 8 weeks (the original completion date was October 15.) Completion of this project will be a great relief and very tangible direct coalition-provided benefit to the Mansour District as a whole and residents of Ghazaliya specifically. END COMMENT. KHALILZAD