1267 SANCTIONS LIST MONITORING TEAM WILL URGE CASE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 001341 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, IO/PSC, S/CT, EB/TFS, EUR/UBI L FOR PROSSER USUN FOR TESSLER E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2016 TAGS: PTER EFIN ASEC PGOV PREL AF SUBJECT: 1267 SANCTIONS LIST MONITORING TEAM WILL URGE CASE OF URUZGAN GOVERNOR MONIB REF: STATE 46197 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ANGUS SIMMONS, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) A ND (D) ¶1. (C) Summary: The focus of the upcoming UN 1267 Sanctions List Monitoring Team visit will be to facilitate the delisting of the new governor of Uruzgan, Abdul Hakim Monib. UNAMA officials have been instructed that until delisting has occurred, they are legally barred from supporting any projects in Uruzgan province, an area critical to Afghanistan,s security. The Monitoring Team will use its week in Kabul to engage senior GOA officials as well as traveling to Gardez, Monib,s home province, to review records of the PTS (reconciliation) Commission local office. Should the needed documents not be on file, they will strongly encourage the GOA to prepare the documentation as quickly as possible. UNAMA does not see the other pending cases for delisting as equally urgent, since none of those individuals is receiving UN funding. The Monitoring Team will meet Charge and other Embassy officers later this week. We have assured UNAMA of our full support for the visit and will follow up with any needed action after the Team departs. End summary. ¶2. (C) Poloff met on March 25 with UNAMA political advisor Eckart Schiewek to discuss the upcoming visit of the 1267 Sanctions Committee Monitoring Team. Schiewek explained that the UN places great importance on this visit primarily because of the recent appointment of 1267-listed Abdul Hakim Monib as governor of Uruzgan. UN lawyers have determined that until Monib is delisted, the UN will not be able to provide any financial or advisory assistance to the province of Uruzgan. UN representatives working out of Kandahar (the UN does not at present have an office in Uruzgan due to the security situation there) have a number of projects they consider critical to improving the security and reconstruction situation in that key province, all of which are now on hold. ¶3. (C) The Monitoring Team, in addition to meeting National Security Advisor Dr. Rassoul, Deputy Advisor Engineer Ibrahim and PTS (reconciliation) Commission head Sighbatullah Mujadidi, will travel to Gardez, Monib,s home province, to review the records of the local PTS office there. As noted reftel, GOA will be required to show documentation that Monib has renounced ties to the Taliban, has signed an affidavit listing weapons and other material turned in, and it should have on file a document signed at the provincial and national level affirming that Monib has been reconciled. Since the PTS Commission was only established in early 2005 and Monib was apparently &reconciled8 by the Provisional Government very soon after the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001 or early 2002, UNAMA is not certain the needed documents exist. Should this turn out to be the case, UNAMA will strongly encourage the GOA to prepare the documents and send them to the relevant authorities ) including Monib ) for signature as soon as possible. ¶4. (C) Schiewek said that the other 18 cases on the KABUL 00001341 002.2 OF 002 GOA request for delisting (Abdul Samad Khaksar, whose name is also on the list, was assassinated in Fall 2005) that have been submitted are not viewed with the same urgency as Monib,s since none of these individuals has been appointed to public office. While members of Parliament are subject to the sanctions as individuals, the UN can easily refuse financial support for them. UN lawyers have determined that the participation of sanctioned individuals in Parliament does not entail sanctioning the body as a whole. ¶5. (C) UNAMA has set up a full program for the Monitoring Team, which arrived today, March 26. In addition to the meetings mentioned above, the Team will receive briefings on the security and political situation in Afghanistan from a number of experts and organizations. The Team is scheduled to meet Charge as well as Narcotics Coordinator Wankel later in the week. CFC-A has offered an unclassified briefing on the security threat. The SIPDIS French and UK Embassies have also offered to assist the team. Embassy has said it will support the visit in any way necessary, including sending an Embassy representative to any meetings with the GOA if the Monitoring Team considers it appropriate and helpful. Some work will probably remain to be done after the Team departs Kabul on March 30; Embassy will continue to engage relevant GOA officials until all requested names are removed from the 1267 list. Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) UNAMA officials were very distressed that Monib was appointed to the governorship without having first been delisted. Scheiwek said that if the case had been handled differently ) had the GOA submitted the needed documentation and made a public case showing how and why Monib had reconciled - it could have been a model for the PTS process. Since that did not happen, UNAMA requested the GOA to hold off on the appointment until after the Monitoring Team visit and subsequent delisting. Alternatively, they advised that the GOA appoint someone not on the list. As it is, the present situation puts UNAMA in a difficult position. Since it recognizes the right of the GOA as a sovereign government to appoint Monib, it would very much like to be able to remove him from the 1267 list. However UN lawyers and member states will require that the criteria for delisting be met. We also understand that Russia feels strongly about the Monib case, which is one reason he is on the 1267 list. Embassy will work closely with the GOA, the Monitoring Team, and UNAMA to assist in any way possible to get Monib and the other 18 former Taliban removed from the 1267 list. NORLAND