BASRAH CHIEF OF POLICE CLAIMS HE IS STILL IN CHARGE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BASRAH 000117 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 7/13/2016 TAGS: PGOV IZ SUBJECT: BASRAH CHIEF OF POLICE CLAIMS HE IS STILL IN CHARGE REF: BASRAH 102 CLASSIFIED BY: Mark Marrano, Deputy Regional Coordinator, REO Basrah, DOS. REASON: 1.4 (b) ¶1. (C) On July 12, Basrah Chief of Police (CoP) Hassan Sewady al-Saad met with Poloffs and affirmed that he remains CoP despite a no-confidence vote against him by the Basrah Provincial Council (BPC) on July 7. This is the second time in the past month that the BPC has voted to remove him (see reftel). Sewady declared that he answers only to the Minister of Interior, not to the BPC, which he views as being controlled by Islamic parties hostile to him. According to Sewady, when a CoP is removed, three names of possible replacements are sent to the Minister of Interior for consideration; however, in his case, no names have been submitted. Sewady revealed that he intended to contact the British commander of the Coalition Forces in Basrah to ask that tanks be deployed around the city's police headquarters. He felt that tanks would be needed to prevent chaos that Islamic parties might instigate to drive him from office and to guard his personal safety. ¶2. (C) Sewady said that the Deputy CoP, Brigadier Sharhan al-Mehmmi Kadem, who, according to some reports, had been named by the BPC as his interim replacement, had gone to Baghdad and met with the Deputy Interior Minister. According to Sewady, the Deputy Interior Minister told Kadem that he was a killer, a Baathist and unqualified for the post. Post will continue to monitor and report on developments. MARRANO