(U) S/CRS HERBST MEETS WITH DFID AND FCO OFFICIALS

UNCLAS LONDON 007206 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR S/CRS, AF/SPG, AF/SE, SCA/INS, AF/C, AF/W, NEA/ELA, SCA/A E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL EAID UK SUBJECT: (U) S/CRS HERBST MEETS WITH DFID AND FCO OFFICIALS (U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: S/CRS Ambassador John Herbst met in London October 5 with the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). In both meetings, the two sides updated each other on their respective efforts to improve coordination of the civilian aspects of reconstruction and stabilization efforts abroad. At FCO, they discussed how to make the October 10 G8 meeting in Moscow as productive as possible, and touched upon activities both governments are undertaking in the field. Both sides agreed to stay in touch, and Ambassador Herbst particularly encouraged cross-training between his staff and UK counterparts. END SUMMARY. (U) DFID -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Prior to meetings in London, Ambassador Herbst had already met with Richard Teuten, head of the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Unit (PCRU) and his team on the margins of a conference they all attended October 3-4 at Wilton Park, the FCO conference center in West Sussex. (NOTE: PCRU is the UK's counterpart to S/CRS; it is a joint venture of FCO, MOD and DFID. END NOTE.) On October 5, Ambassador Herbst came to London to meet with Jim Drummond, Director of DFID's UN, Conflict and Humanitarian Division. Ambassador Herbst briefed on S/CRS and his plans for the coming two years. Drummond's main points: - He chairs the board that oversees PCRU and manages the UK's Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP, an interagency fund of FCO, DFID and MOD, covers all the world except Africa, which has a separate Pool managed by the Africa Department); - PCRU is a "child of Iraq" but is expected to also address smaller stabilization and reconstruction (S&R) challenges; - PCRU was not intended to deal with Iraq or Afghanistan but it is active in Basrah (Iraq),Helmand and Kabul (Afghanistan),and "a bit in Darfur"; it also sent a team to Lebanon; - Around 160 DFID staff have volunteered for a Crisis Response Pool which has not been used operationally yet; - A database of 300 - 400 experts is being compiled, although it is difficult to find qualified people to lead the teams; - Policy lead remains with the various government departments; PCRU is a service provider and center of expertise; - The UK has pressed UN Deputy SYG Mark Malloch Brown to get the Peacebuilding Commission up and running; Burundi and Sierra Leone will be the first two countries the Commission deals with; and - The UK is considering how much it will contribute to the UN Peacebuilding Fund that will be launched October 10-11. (U) FCO -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Ambassador Herbst then proceeded to FCO, where Joan Link, head of the FCO Conflict Issues Group (CIG),chaired a two-hour meeting in two parts. The first focused on multilateral aspects of S&R, with the participation of Link's Deputy, Matthew Johnson; CIG Team Leaders Rob Holland (International Secondments),David Lelliott (Conflict Prevention) and David Belgrove (Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding); David Arkley (Operations and Exercises team of the Security Policy Group); Peter O'Rourke (Security Policy Team Leader of the Afghanistan Group); and Jennifer Cole (Civilian Crisis Management Team Leader of the Europe Directorate's Common Foreign and Security Policy Group). Again, Ambassador Herbst briefed on S/CRS and his plans for the coming two years. His hosts' main points: - Stephen Pattison, FCO International Security Director, is the senior official who oversees the CIG; his portfolio includes International Organizations and Human Rights and Governance; he would have chaired this meeting if he were not out of the country; - The UK is keen on rule-of-law aspects of S&R - specifically police and justice issues; - CIG manages the 100 million British Pound Sterling (BPS) Global Conflict Prevention Pool at the macro level (that is, it allocates budgets totalling 100 million BPS/year),and serves the same function for the UK's contributions to peacekeeping (UN assessments of about 350 million BPS/year and voluntary contributions of about 100 million BPS/year); - The UK sees potential in the UN Peacebuilding Commission and wants to identify three priority areas for concrete action by the Commission in each of the two selected countries (Burundi and Sierra Leone); one thing the Commission could do would be to press development agencies to support short-term job programs to address the huge problem of youth unemployment, drawing on the S/CRS-Harvard study; - Under the EU's Security and Defense Policy (ESDP),Rapid Response Teams are being formed that should be able to field 100 trained experts as of next year; the EU is open to building a surge capacity and demonstrated in Lebanon that it was willing to cut through the usual rules and move more quickly; - CIG is trying to identify who in the UK does conflict analysis and early warning, so as to move towards more consistent methodology and terminology; through the Cabinet Office it is plugging into the U.S. system for conflict analysis and early warning. (U) MOSCOW G8 MEETING OCT. 10 -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Turning to the October 10 G8 meeting in Moscow, Ambassador Herbst noted that he would be arriving by 1:00 p.m. October 9 and hoped to meet with other delegation heads that day, to try to push the G8 S&R agenda forward as much as possible. For instance, the G8 might: - propose that G8 members and the EU and the UN participate in joint training with the U.S., UK and Canada; - create a website clearinghouse accessible to anyone, for stability and reconstruction materials; and - expand the curriculum at the Italian police training center to include additional security issues. Link welcomed these ideas and Ambassador Herbst's inclusive vision, notably his assurance that the USG sees a role too for the UN. She stressed the importance of including NATO in coordination efforts along with the EU and UN (Darfur being the case in point). Unfortunately, she said, Pattison would arrive in Moscow too late to meet October 9, but she would make sure he was fully briefed on these ideas. (U) ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Link then brought into the meeting FCO desk officers for Nepal, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Sudan. - On Lebanon: PCRU has found a niche, identifying bridges (destroyed by Israel to prevent Hizbollah resupply, but hampering humanitarian movements as well) as a key need, and providing five temporary bridges that are now in use. The UK has provided 22.5 million GBS for humanitarian reconstruction and 2.5 million for security sector reform. It also undertook a study to identify equipment and training needs for the Lebanese Armed Forces and match those needs to potential donors. The fact that the GCPP and PCRU were in place helped the UK move quickly. - On Afghanistan: It has been a real struggle to find enough international civilian police (civpol). CIG has done helpful work systematizing policies and procedures for civpol deployments. - On Nepal: FCO and PCRU are still in the early stages of exploring how PCRU may be able to help. - On Darfur: CIG has helped find military observers for the African Union (AU)'s AMIS peacekeeping mission, and police for the EU's civpol mission in support of AMIS. PCRU helped find public-relations consultants to help inform the population of Darfur about the Darfur Peace Agreement and try to build support for it; this activity was carried out by the AU, and the Netherlands contributed to the funding. (U) STRENGTHENING TIES -------------- ¶6. (U) Both sides agreed on the importance of staying in close contact. Ambassador Herbst shared a copy of the synopsis of a BearingPoint study on creating a Civilian Reserve Corps of up to 3,500 experts. He also shared lists of training courses offered by S/CRS, reiterating his desire for cross-training between his staff and UK counterparts, which Link welcomed. He extended to CIG the invitation he had made to PCRU to visit Washington and the U.S. Joint Forces Command. ¶7. (U) Ambassador Herbst has cleared this cable. Visit London's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm Tuttle