BASRAH NOTABLES SIGN DECLARATION OF SUPPORT FOR RULE OF LAW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BASRAH 000125

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 7/27/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER IZ
SUBJECT: BASRAH NOTABLES SIGN DECLARATION OF SUPPORT FOR RULE OF LAW

REF: BASRAH 109

BASRAH 00000125 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Mark Marrano, Deputy Regional Coordinator, REO
Basrah, DOS.
REASON: 1.4 (b)


1. (C) Summary. An influential moderate cleric, Sayed Abdul
Ali al-Musawi, met with Deputy Regional Coordinator (DRC) July
24 and reported that 32 political and militia leaders and
military and police commanders have issued a declaration calling
for support of rule of law in Basrah. Al Musawi, prompted by
the recent intimidation of his community, convened a conference
at the al-Musawi mosque in Basrah on July 15 for the purpose of
finding ways to reverse the deteriorating security conditions.
In addition to issuing the declaration, the conference
participants formed a council to oversee their proposed steps to
strengthen rule of law and reduce violence. End summary.

SEPARATION OF POLICE AND POLITICS


2. (C) The document, a copy of which al-Musawi gave to the DRC,
calls for an end to assassinations, stealing, kidnapping, and
driving people from their homes. For those who have fled Basrah
to escape violence, the declaration calls for help to enable
them to return. It further demands an end to defamatory attacks
in the media on personal reputations and lays out specific steps
to ensure that security forces carry out their duties in a
professional manner. The steps are 1) eliminate political
interference in police work, 2) seize unlicensed weapons from
individuals and groups, 3) strengthen cooperation between police
and judges, 4) impound improperly registered vehicles, 5)
require would-be demonstrators to obtain police approval before
staging protests, 6) ban political meetings in the offices of
security units, 7) end the use of police cars and other
government-owned vehicles by political parties, and 8) stop
threats to policemen trying to carry out their duties. The
declaration further stipulates that police obtain arrest
warrants from judges before making arrests, that they follow
human rights principles laid out in the Constitution and that
the ranks of police be purged of bad elements.


3. (C) The declaration was signed by Basrah Governor Mohammed
al-Wa'eli, an official from the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad,
senior police and army commanders in Basrah, the chief of the
Supreme Shia Council, leaders of regional and national political
parties active in Basrah, and representatives from two militia
groups, one of them the Office of the Martyr Sadr (OMS),headed
by Moqtada al-Sadr. The council, to be headquartered in the
al-Musawi mosque, will work to generate consensus among various
groups to induce greater social calm and crush groups bent on
violence, according to al-Musawi. He made it clear that the
council is not a political party and that he will not become
involved in party politics.


4. (C) Al-Musawi made a surprising statement that the security
situation in Basrah has improved in the past two weeks, citing
as evidence the return of about 100 Sunni families, who had fled
the city because of sectarian violence. When asked by the DRC
to comment on the recent surge in rocket and mortar attacks on
the compound of the Coalition Forces, he indicated that it is a
reaction against the British detention of a local militia
commander on July 16. In his view, the attacks are the work of
an OMS splinter group consisting of 500 members who are
supported by Iran and deaf to political messages of the OMS
hierarchy. He added that the OMS leadership is open to engaging
in the political process and that the council, by generating
consensus, can be an effective instrument to eliminate the
die-hard fighters.

TRIBAL CHIEF SUPPORTS AL-MUSAWI INITIATIVE


5. (C) On July 25, a day after the al-Musawi visit, the head of
the large Bani Amer tribe in Basrah, Sheikh Amer al-Faeez,
called on DRC and endorsed al-Musawi's effort to make peace
before attending a meeting of the council later that day.
Sheikh Amer, a signatory to the declaration and a member of the
council, sat on the national governing council in Baghdad during
the period of the Coalition Provisional Authority. He requested
that the United States voice its support in the media for the
al-Musawi initiative. By coopting the participation of the
militia chiefs, Amer indicated that there is hope that the small
groups engaging in the violence can be brought under control.
Following the council meeting, Sheikh Amer reported that
decisions were taken to establish contact with Islamic
authorities in Najaf, send envoys to Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki and the national legislature in Baghdad, and draft
legislative recommendations for the Basrah Provincial Council on
law enforcement.


6. (C) In Sheikh Amer's view, the security of Basrah is
undermined by British troops patrolling the city and detaining
thousands of suspected criminals and fighters. He recommended

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that British troops redeploy outside the city and that Coalition
authorities release most of the detainees for whom no evidence
has been produced. He indicated that the law enacted during the
period of the Provisional Authority empowering Coalition troops
to enter private homes without search warrants antagonizes the
local populace and propels jobless young men into militias.
Sheikh Amer declared that all the Coalition efforts to help
rebuild the physical and social infrastructure of Basrah will
not produce any beneficial effects for the people of Basrah, so
long as the security situation is not stabilized.

(7) (C) Comment. The publication of the declaration on
supporting rule of law and the formation of a council to enforce
it is the latest action by Sayed Musawi (see reftel),a
well-known moderate, to bring down violence. It is difficult to
lend much credence to the initiative as it comes at a time that
other indicators such as continued assassinations and police
involvement in the violence point toward a continuing
deterioration of social order. End Comment.
MARRANO