BASRAH COUNCIL MEMBERS ON BUDGET AND SECURITY WOES

C O N F I D E N T I A L BASRAH 000172 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/18/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM IZ SUBJECT: BASRAH COUNCIL MEMBERS ON BUDGET AND SECURITY WOES CLASSIFIED BY: Andrea Gastaldo, Deputy Regional Coordinator, REO Basrah, DOS. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary. On November 14 and 15 the Deputy Regional Coordinator (DRC) and poloffs met with three close contacts of the REO who are Basrah Provincial Council members (one from Iraqi National Accord, one from Fadhillah Party, and one independent). The three separately voiced concerns over Baghdad's requirement that unspent 2006 budget allocation be returned to the Finance Ministry at the end of the calendar year. They asked for USG intercession to request an extension for PCs to spend the funds on reconstruction and infrastructure projects. On security matters and Operation Sinbad, there was a grudging allowance by the INA and Fadhillah members that security may have improved in the past few months. The independent representative stated unequivocally that the level of violence and intimidation remained the same, regardless of attempts by the British to bring it under control. End summary. THE BUDGET ¶1. (C) November 14 and 15, the DRC and poloffs met with three Basrah Provincial Council (BPC) members to discuss current issues in Basrah. Meetings were held with Sayed Khalaf Shamhood, head of the Basrah office of Iraqi National Accord (INA),Aquil Talib of Fadillah Party and Dr. Suknah Falak, an independent Provincial Council member. All three contacts stressed that the main issue facing the BPC right now is spending all of the 258 billion Iraqi Dinars allocated to Basrah from the central government by the end of the calendar year. All three echoed concerns that the money could not be spent by the end of year and that an extension was needed in order not to have to return the money to Baghdad. Both Sayed Khalaf and Aquil Talib requested USG intercession with the Finance Ministry to press for an extension on behalf of the BPC. Aquil noted that many contractors are beginning to stop work on government-funded projects because they know that if they continue work after the December 31 deadline, the local government will not have the funds to pay them. SECURITY AND OPERATION SINBAD ¶2. (C) On security issues, the three BPC members offered different views. Sayed Khalaf provided a more positive view, saying that the security situation in Basrah has improved in the past couple of months, due in part to OP Sinbad stabilizing areas of Basrah where it had already operated. Aquil was more muted in his support for OP Sinbad but acknowledged that the reconstruction portion of the operation was having a positive effect on Basrah. Aquil caveated his praise by adding that the average person on the street believed OP Sinbad's reconstruction efforts to be a front for military arrest operations and that the locals did not believe the operation to have had any positive effect on security. In contrast, Dr. Suknah was blunt in her belief that security in Basrah has not improved since Prime Minister Maliki's visit in June. Since then, she stated, assassinations continued to remain the biggest problem in Basrah and the situation remains unchanged. ¶3. (C) Comment: Although the three BPC members voiced concerns about spending their budget allotment, none of them proposed any alternatives as either political party members or as a governmental body to try to remedy the situation. Effective use of their funding seems to be beyond their reach and with little ability to come up with projects that can be completed quickly, the budget problem is likely to continue when the 2007 funds are released. For the BPC, the security situation remains an area where they are willing to continually step back and allow others (i.e. Coalition Forces) to take the lead and to directly address remedial actions. As the BPC continues to dither, Basrah residents will lose out on funding for infrastructure projects and will continue to live in dismal security conditions, waiting unhappily for the British to hand over a solution. End comment. RUBINO