BELGIAN DEVELOPMENT MINISTER OUTLINES IDEAS TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 002502

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/UBI: EFALLS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2016
TAGS: EAID PGOV MOPS PREL KBIO BE CG AF SO IZ
SUBJECT: BELGIAN DEVELOPMENT MINISTER OUTLINES IDEAS TO
SUPPORT AFGHANISTAN; TRAINING PROGRAM FOR IRAQ TO CONTINUE

REF: A. BRUSSELS 2473

B. BRUSSELS 1070

C. BRUSSELS 454

Classified By: ECONCOUNS TLROBL, REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D)


1. (C/NF) SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST: During Ambassador's
July 13 meeting with Belgian Federal Minister of Cooperation
and Development Armand De Decker the following topics were
discussed: Afghanistan, Iraq, U.S. aid, and the upcoming
elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC).
The Minister outlined several proposals on Afghanistan
including military aircraft support (a
C-130 and possibly F-16s),sending civilians for a
development component of a Provincial Reconstruction Team
(PRT),and possibly naming Afghanistan as a priority country
to receive direct bilateral aid. Ambassador provided a note
based on information from Embassy Kabul with suggestions of
possible areas on which Belgian development assistance could
focus. (Note: subsequent to this meeting post heard from De
Decker's chief of staff that only the military component of
support for Afghanistan will realistically take effect this
year; the proposed aid initiatives cannot be budgeted before

2007. Also, for domestic political reasons, Belgium will not
be able to lead a PRT at this time, but will pursue a role in
a German- or Swedish-led PRT. End Note). For Iraq, Belgium
plans to continue already established training programs for
Iraqi diplomats, police, and judges. Regarding the Congo, De
Decker expressed the belief that elections will proceed as
scheduled and that Congolese President Kabila will be
reelected. De Decker mentioned briefly a visit to Nairobi he
had made to meet the new Somali government. Ambassador also
corrected De Decker,s apparent misimpressions regarding the
quality and quantity of U.S. assistance to the developing
world. Action request: De Decker asked whether USAID is
present in every PRT in Afghanistan. Post requests
Department prepare an answer for USDel to Budapest PRT
conference to convey to Belgian del, with a copy to post.
END SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST.

ATTENDEES
--------------

2. (SBU) Ambassador, EconCouns (acting DCM),and Econoff met
with Minister Armand De Decker; Pierre Vaesen, his
Chief of Staff; Michel Lastschenko, Special Envoy for the
fight against AIDS; and Jonathon Biermann, a senior advisor,
on July 13 in the Minister's office.

BELGIAN MINISTER'S REPORT FROM RECENT VISIT TO AFGHANISTAN
-------------- --------------

3. (C/NF) In mid-June, De Decker and several advisors,
including Biermann, visited Afghanistan with General James
Jones (SHAPE Commander) and Louis Michel, the European
Union's Minister for Development and Humanitarian Aid. De
Decker's view is that while NATO's role is "useful," more
attention should be devoted to the role of development
assistance. De Decker stated that, "We cannot win against
the Taliban only with a military presence. We have to change
the quality of life of the people to give them strength to
fight the Taliban and to resist the urge to kick out the
foreigners." The Minister's view is that more must be done
to strengthen local leadership. According to De Decker,
without a perceptible improvement in basic services, the
Afghans will be tempted to look back to the Taliban, who are
using narcotic money to invest in visible improvements,
particularly in the provinces, which operate with little
supervision from the Karzai government.


4. (C/NF) De Decker stated that the international community
"has lost time (in Afghanistan) as far as development is
concerned." He called for development aid to be organized
and implemented "very, very quickly," beginning in the north
where De Decker believes there is more chance of successful
implementation. Southern Afghanistan, according to the
minister, has "many armed Taliban ready to fight" and,
consequently, progress "will be more difficult there." He
also noted that several Afghan officials asked for increased
help in controlling that country's borders.


BELGIAN MINISTERS TO CONSIDER OPTIONS ON AFGHANISTAN
-------------- --------------

5. (C/NF) De Decker told Ambassador that he would present
several draft proposals to other Belgian federal ministers
during an upcoming meeting of Council of Ministers (either
July 14 or 20; July 21 is the Belgian National Day).
However, De Decker was careful to explain that his proposals
face resistance, notably from the Flemish socialists, whom he
complained take an un-strategic view. The Minister discussed
the following with Ambassador:

-Organizing a conference in Brussels (date TBD) to bring
together "only multilateral organizations" such as the World
Bank, United Nations Development Program (UNDP),and others
to design coordinated development assistance strategies.

-Speeding up the availability of a Belgian C-130 aircraft for
use in Afghanistan. Currently the plane is scheduled to
arrive for service in Afghanistan in September, but De Decker
said he is going to press for the C-130 to arrive in early
August.

-Sending some F-16s "like the Dutch".

-Sending "development people," protected by soldiers, to work
in a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT),possibly with the
Swedes or the Germans. (Belgian soldiers are already part of
a German-led PRT in Konduz.).

-Naming Afghanistan as a priority partner for Belgian
assistance for one, two, or three years. This would
facilitate committing Belgian assistance funds and human
resources to Afghanistan.


6. (SBU) De Decker said eventually Belgium could consider
joining the French and Turks in securing Kabul, but not
before Belgian Federal elections next year. De Decker also
expressed the hope that Belgium could eventually lead a PRT,
and noted that Luxembourg has already expressed interest in
joining were that to become a reality.

ANTI-POPPY CULTIVATION PROJECT UNDERWAY IN AFGHANISTAN
-------------- --------------

7. (SBU) De Decker confirmed that the anti-poppy cultivation
project is underway in Afghanistan (ref B paras
7-8). After an initial fact-finding phase, the project has
completed the second phase, which was a visit of various
Afghan ministers to Thailand to see how a model program has
worked there. He cautioned that it required 18 years to get
some success in Thailand. According to De Decker, Afghan
officials came up with proposals to substitute different
crops for opium, and to develop food-processing industries to
provide value added.

FOLLOWUP ON AFGHANISTAN
--------------

8. (SBU) On Friday, July 14, EconCouns followed up with De
Decker,s Chief of Staff Pierre Vaesen. Vaesen said
Afghanistan was discussed at some length at that day's
Council of Ministers meeting, but nothing was definitively
settled. The Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and
Development Minister argued hard to get more for Afghanistan,
making some headway. A potential offer of 4 F-16s was
discussed, as was speeding up the C-130 delivery to early
August. The last Council of Ministers before the summer
break, to be held on the eve (July 20) of Belgium,s national
day, should according to Vaesen firm up the military side of
things. In terms of Development Ministry resources, while
they have committed in principle to 30 million Euros over a
period of four years, the 7-8 million per year is not in the
budget yet. Vaesen noted the designation of Afghanistan as a
priority country has yet to be proposed formally but will be
July 20. He expressed regret that a Belgium-owned PRT would
not be possible in the current political climate, but
promised he himself is working with the Germans, Swedes and
others to determine where Belgian participation can have the
best impact. Vaesen also confirmed he will represent the GOB

at the first day of the July 20-21 PRT Effectiveness
conference in Budapest (ref A),before leaving for Asia on
July 21. Econoff will follow up with Jonathan Biermann after
this week's Council of Ministers and report any additional
significant developments.


9. (SBU) Separately, on July 13, Jan Vermeir, attache
responsible for food aid in the Belgian Federal Ministry of
Cooperation and Development, reported to Econoff that Belgium
has given "new money" totaling 500,000 euros to the World
Food Program (WFP). This latest donation is in response to
an "urgent call" by the WFP and Belgian diplomatic reporting
from Kabul that stated that hungry Afghans were "eating
grass." Vermeir said that the proposal has been sent to
Minister De Decker for his signature, and that he foresees
the Minister signing it within days. According to Vermeir,
the donation will be used to buy, at least in part, 12,000
tons of wheat from Pakistan that should arrive in Afghanistan
approximately two weeks later.


10. (C/NF) COMMENT: On Afghanistan, De Decker has yet to
deliver on his promises. On one hand, he talks a lot about
items in the purview of the Defense Ministry while on the
other hand, he has thus far failed to secure resources from
his own ministry, like civilians for PRT or increased
development assistance. This has infuriated Minister of
Defense Flahaut, and provided Flahaut with an excuse to
foot-drag on military items. That said, De Decker appears to
be inching the Council of Ministers in the right direction.
Post will continue to press the issue; we have better
leverage and potential for Belgian help in Afghanistan than
in Iraq. END COMMENT

IRAQ - BELGIUM WILL CONTINUE TRAINING
--------------

11. (C/NF) In response to questioning from Ambassador what
more Belgium might do in Iraq, De Decker noted that because
garnering support for Afghanistan is "already difficult", any
new initiatives on Iraq are unlikely for now. He highlighted
existing commitments and several programs already completed.
These include: training for Iraqi diplomats and police,
support of the constitutional process, and capacity building
for border control management. De Decker said that the
training programs would continue. Until the security
situation in Iraq improves, Belgium is reluctant to send a
Belgian Ambassador to Baghdad.

CORRECTING MISIMPRESSIONS ON U.S. ASSISTANCE
--------------

12. (SBU) In a mid-June radio interview, De Decker had
claimed that European development assistance was "10-15
times" that of the U.S. Ambassador took the opportunity to
clarify the figures for U.S. contributions, and passed a note
with more details, including what the U.S. is doing in Africa
and the Congo. He also highlighted the importance of U.S.
private donations, as well as U.S. endeavors to encourage
economic growth and trade that will have an impact on
development. While De Decker appeared to take the points on
board, Vaesen (who may have been the author of the offending
media talkers) noted that U.S. aid levels are measured
differently than other countries and therefore are not easily
comparable.

UPCOMING ELECTIONS IN FORMER BELGIAN CONGO
--------------

13. (C/NF) Ahead of the July 30 presidential and
parliamentary elections in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DROC),De Decker said that he was "angry" with
Belgian media's exaggerated portrayals of spiraling violence
and chaos in DROC. According to him, the "elections will
take place normally" and that the unrest is not as serious as
has been portrayed in the Belgian media. De Decker said "90
percent of the Congolese want the elections to take place
July 30." He said he is confident, adding, "We have to be,"
and underscoring Belgium's contribution of $400 million for
election support in DROC. De Decker also thinks that current
DROC president Joseph Kabila will win, although he was not
sure if it would take one round of elections or two for

Kabila to be elected.

DE DECKER AFRICA TRAVELS
--------------


14. (SBU) In the past few weeks, De Decker has traveled to
the Great Lakes region and to Morocco for the EU summit with
African nations on migration issues. He also mentioned a
recent stop in Nairobi to meet with Somali leaders. This may
have been in part to help his francophone liberal party (MR)
compatriot, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel, prepare
for meetings on Somalia in Brussels the week of July 17.


BIO NOTE
--------------

15. (U) Note: De Decker is running for the mayor of the
Brussels commune of Uccle in local elections to be held
October 8. If elected, De Decker would take office in
January 2007. In Belgium, office holders can hold both
municipal and Federal positions at the same time, as well as
other multiple jobs: the only exception is for Federal
Ministers. However, De Decker could take advantage of a
loophole by naming his deputy mayor to act in his stead, and
still keep the Mayor's title. Many national political
figures, including the Heads of both houses of parliament,
also wear the Mayor's sash. End Note
IMBRIE
.