LEBANON: COUNCIL OF THE SOUTH PRESIDENT COMPLAINS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIRUT 002934

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/HARDING

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2016
TAGS: ECON IS LE MOPS PGOV PREL PTER SY
SUBJECT: LEBANON: COUNCIL OF THE SOUTH PRESIDENT COMPLAINS
OF CONFUSION IN RECONSTRUCTION EFFORT

Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman. Reason: Section 1.4 (b).

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C/NF) Qabalan Qabalan, President of Lebanon's Council
of the South, insisted that his organization had been given
the responsibility by Prime Minister Siniora to replace all
housing units destroyed during the recent hostilities, as
well as the repair of damaged "civil society" structures,
such as clinics, schools, and community centers. Qabalan
stated, however, that a parallel (and rival) government
agency, the Council for Development and Reconstruction, had
been assigned the larger infrastructure projects (roads,
water, electricity, sewage),as well as responsibility for
coordinating the numerous foreign donor "adopt a
village/bridge" projects. Qabalan complained about several
issues: Siniora's perceived attempt to "over centralize"
reconstruction decision-making, the "chaotic" situation in
the south regarding NGOs, and the attempt by Lebanon's other
confessional groups to gain advantage when it was the Shia
community that "bore the brunt" of the conflict. But none of
these complaints were surprising considering the relative
loss of political power suffered by the Amal-controlled
Council of the South in recent years. End summary.


2. (C/NF) Qabalan Qabalan, who owes his position and
political allegiance to Speaker Nabih Berri, met with poloff
on September 8 at the tattered headquarters of Council of the
South in south Beirut. Mr. Qabalan is a close relative of
Acting Chairman of the Higher Islamic Shia Council Abdel Amir
Qabalan and projects highly partisan views when discussing
the "plight" of Lebanon's Shia community. Qabalan mentioned
he was finishing his tenth year at the helm of the Council
and gave the distinct impression he was tired of both the job
and the process.

QABALAN FEARS BEING SIDELINED
--------------


3. (C/NF) Qabalan, whose office was dominated by a large
annotated map of south Lebanon detailing war-damaged
infrastructure, said his agency had completed a comprehensive
damage assessment of the region and now believes 9,500
housing units were either destroyed or severely damaged south
of the Litani. Qabalan said that Prime Minister Siniora had
instructed his agency to manage the housing reconstruction
effort, as well as the repair of damaged hospitals, schools
and community centers, but then complained that very little
additional funding was being provided. Qabalan said he was
attempting to get clarification from the Prime Minister, but
had been told to wait until a full accounting could be made
of international donor contributions.


4. (C/NF) The veteran Shia administrator and Amal loyalist
complained that he felt his agency was being relegated to a
secondary role in the Government's reconstruction program,
but that Siniora would soon realize only the Council could
effectively execute the task in south Lebanon. (Note: The
Council of the South, long a source of political patronage
and influence for Amal leader Nabih Berri, is widely
considered by most Lebanese to be an opaque and wasteful
agency whose primary mission is to direct political spoils to
the Shia community. In other meetings with the Ambassador,
Prime Minister Siniora has confidentially expressed his
desire to minimize its influence. End note.)


5. (C/NF) Qabalan ruefully stated that a rival government
agency, the Sunni-dominated Council for Development and
Reconstruction (CDR),appears to have won Siniora's mandate
to manage big-ticket reconstruction projects: electrical
grids, roads, bridges, water and sewage plants. When asked
if CDR could effectively perform the task in Shia-dominated
south Lebanon, Qabalan threw up his hands with an expression
of mild disgust. When asked about earlier Government
indications that Ghassan Taher-Fadlallah, a close Shia
business acquaintance of PM Siniora, might be tapped to
become Lebanon's reconstruction czar, Qabalan flatly said it
was not in the cards, since Taher had no recognition nor
power base in the south.


6. (C/NF) It was clear that Qabalan was not satisfied with
the state of reconstruction affairs when he began a long
recitation of complaints of governmental "inaction and

BEIRUT 00002934 002 OF 003


confusion," and emphasized the fact he was not consulted on
the Government's presentation at the recently concluded
Stockholm Conference. Qabalan did concede that PM Siniora's
apparent decision to allow donor countries to "select and
manage" projects could speed up the reconstruction process,
but he questioned whether Nabil el-Jisr, Siniora's new CDR
director, would be able to monitor all the donor projects, in
addition to his infrastructure responsibilities.

HUMANITARIAN RELIEF SUCCEEDED
-- IN SPITE OF ITSELF
--------------


7. (C/NF) Concerning the humanitarian and emergency relief
effort, Qabalan expressed mild incredulity it somehow had all
worked out. He gave the greatest credit to the considerable
capacity of the Lebanese people "to take care of their own,"
specifically, family and village-based loyalties. He said he
believed that was why several hundred thousand IDPs
unexpectedly returned to their home regions in a massive and
unplanned surge in the days following the August 14
cease-fire -- he maintained they simply wanted to return to
the relative security and familiarity of their villages, even
though many places were severely damaged.


8. (C/NF) Qabalan said he appreciated the generosity of the
NGO humanitarian effort, but was dismayed by the "chaos and
waste" of competing and inexperienced organizations. He
spoke of numerous villages who received windfalls of food,
water and medicine, while other villages badly in need
received nothing. Qabalan was particularly critical of the
various UN agencies operating in the south, who he said
"listen to no one but themselves."

URGES UXO RECEIVE THE HIGHEST PRIORITY
--------------


9. (C/NF) After strongly criticizing America for "supplying
most of Israel's ordinance," Qabalan urged the USG to focus
its significant resources on UXO removal. He said that in
the agricultural south, it wasn't only UXO located in
inhabited areas that was dangerous, because sooner or later
either farmers or shepherds would inadvertently, and probably
fatally, uncover ordnance located "in great numbers" across
the fields. Qabalan expressed hope that US and European
technology and experience could be employed to render safe
all the areas in the south that had experienced combat.


10. (C/NF) Without giving specific reasons why they
deserved special attention, Qabalan expressly requested UXO
removal assistance in the villages of Blida, Aitaroun, Maroun
el Ras, Aita al-Shaab, and Beit Lif. The Amal leader said he
was especially concerned that an concentrated effort be made
before the autumn rains commenced in a few weeks.

EXPRESSES ANGER AT US ...AND
SOME SECTORS OF LEBANON'S SOCIETY
--------------


11. (C/NF) In closing, Qabalan again criticized US support
of Israel during the war and said we are now held in very low
regard in the south, but said he hoped our assistance (which
he acknowledged was significant) may be a harbinger of a new
relationship. Unexpectedly, he also emotionally criticized
"certain communities" in Lebanon who "did little" to assist
south Lebanon's Shia community during the war, but were now
"acting as if they suffered just as much as if they had lived
in Bint Jbeil."

COMMENT
--------------


12. (C/NF) We agree with much of Qabalan's criticism
regarding conflicting or unclear information on donor
coordination. But we also note that Qabalan is hardly a
disinterested observer. PM Siniora has told us separately
(and privately) that he does not intend to have donor funds
flow through the Council of the South, and Qabalan probably
senses this reluctance. Siniora bases his hesitation on what
he describes as bad experience with the Council of the South
during Lebanon's post-war reconstruction. He also has
expressed fear that, given the Council's bad reputation, no
oversight could be scrupulous enough to prevent Michel Aoun
from scoring political points, were the GOL to put money into

BEIRUT 00002934 003 OF 003


the Council. But Siniora does not enjoy unanimity from his
own political base on this point. Others, including Saad
Hariri and Walid Jumblatt, want the Council of the South to
play a prominent role in the reconstruction of the south, and
if some money is lost, that is fine: they see the goal as
promoting Nabih Berri (the patron of the Council) as a Shia
voice not wholely dependent on Hizballah. Thus, the lack of
clarity about the Council's role is rooted in part to the
lack of clarity among key Lebanese figures about whether the
Council is a virtue or vice.
FELTMAN