SEEKING FRENCH CONTRIBUTION FOR POLICE TRAINERS AT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 002318 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/06/2016 TAGS: PREL KCRM KJUS MARR MCAP MOPS EAID EFIN IZ FR SUBJECT: SEEKING FRENCH CONTRIBUTION FOR POLICE TRAINERS AT THE JORDAN INTERNATIONAL POLICE TRAINING CENTER (JIPTC) REF: STATE 40595 Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary and comment: We received mixed initial responses to our appeals to GoF officials to consider contributing police instructors to the Jordan International Police Training Center (JIPTC). GoF Inter-ministerial Coordinator for Iraq Reconstruction Jean-Pierre Guinhut, in a preliminary response, told us he would consider our request and discuss it further in an inter-ministerial Iraq meeting to take place in late May. Guinhut was forthcoming in describing difficulties in GoF efforts to train Iraqi police in France under the EU JUSTLEX program, which has been hampered by a shortage of Iraqi candidates. Guinhut described modest GoF steps to increase Iraq assistance, including a 500,000 euro grant for a joint training project with Japan in Jordan. He concluded that the GoF was in no hurry to increase its engagement in Iraq, especially in the absence of a permanent government, and that French companies were even more reticent. Meanwhile, MFA DAS-equivalent for Iran/Iraq/Arabian Gulf Affairs Antoine Sivan offered a negative initial response on JIPTC, and concluded that the GoF would remain focused on training programs in France. We view Sivan's response as the more authoritative for now, but will continue to encourage him and other GoF officials to consider a French contribution to JIPTC. End summary and comment. ¶2. (C) We discussed reftel points inviting France to send police trainers to the JIPTC with GoF Inter-ministerial Coordinator for Iraq Reconstruction Jean-Pierre Guinhut April 4, and with MFA DAS-equivalent for Iran/Iraq/Arabian Gulf Affairs Antoine Sivan April 6. In a preliminary response, Guinhut, former French Ambassador to Afghanistan before taking the Iraq coordinator position in fall 2005, described himself as personally open to the possibility of a French contribution to JIPTC, noting the positive joint U.S.-GoF training efforts he observed in Afghanistan. That said, Guinhut stressed that the GoF was in no rush to shift its posture with respect to Iraq, and that a GoF decision on JIPTC would take time and require approval from several ministries and the Elysee. ¶3. (C) Guinhut readily conceded that GoF efforts to train Iraqi police and magistrates in France under the EU JUSTLEX program had been beset by setbacks, largely due to the lack of qualifications of Iraqi candidates, and Iraqi authorities' difficulty in identifying new trainees. Poloff responded that these difficulties were why the GoF should give renewed consideration to joining JIPTC, which had a steady flow of Iraqi trainees, some 36,000 so far, and would theoretically remove many of the bureaucratic difficulties previously encountered by the GoF. Guinhut agreed with this point, and offered to discuss the proposal further at the next GoF inter-ministerial meeting on Iraq, to take place in late May. ¶4. (C) Guinhut stressed repeatedly that the GoF was not in any hurry to increase its assistance to Iraq, particularly in the absence of a permanent government. He noted that the GoF had recently taken a modest step to increase engagement, by approving a 500,000 euro grant to a French company pursuing a joint training project with the Japanese government for Iraqi engineers in Jordan. Guinhut noted that this was the first time this type of GoF cooperation grant had been released with respect to Iraq reconstruction, and that, although the GoF had solicited proposals from a number of companies, only one French company had submitted a proposal. He assessed that French companies were in even less of a hurry than the GOF to increase engagement in Iraq, and concluded that the security situation was not the only factor. Past lack of success of French companies in securing Iraq contracts, and PARIS 00002318 002 OF 002 alleged corruption in the open tender process, combined with the difficult security situation, had led many French companies to conclude that the Iraqi reconstruction market was not worth pursuing for now. Guinhut noted that even TOTAL, which had funded training for a number of Iraqi engineers at the French petroleum institute in 2005, did not renew this training for 2006. ¶5. (C) In a separate discussion with poloff April 6, MFA DAS-equivalent Sivan offered a much more negative initial response on prospects for a French contribution to JIPTC. Sivan concluded that the GoF would remain focused on police training programs in France, such as the EU JUSTLEX program, under which a new group of Iraqi trainees arrived in France earlier this month. Sivan conceded that the JUSTLEX program had encountered difficulties in soliciting sufficient numbers of Iraqi candidates, but he described the program as up and running and still worth pursuing. When reminded that the Gof red-lines in the past extended only to training within Iraq, Sivan described training in Jordan as perhaps a "pink line" for the GoF, and stressed that the GoF remained focused on training in France only. Once the new Iraqi government was formed, the GoF could explore training options further with new Iraqi interlocutors in the Ministry of Interior. ¶6. (C) Comment: Although we were impressed with Guinhut's openness, in contrast to other MFA officials, we do not want to over-interpret this as a sign of an imminent positive French decision on JIPTC. We view Sivan's more discouraging response as the more authoritative answer for now, but will continue to press this issue with the GoF. Until now, Guinhut's position as GoF Iraq reconstruction coordinator has, in the words of one MFA diplomat, been a way station for "dead ambassadors," and totally marginalized on GoF Iraq policy, which is driven by the MFA, given Elysee focus on Syria/Lebanon and elsewhere. That said, we found Guinhut to be unusually forthcoming and free of typical GoF baggage on Iraq, and will seek greater contact with him on JIPTC and other reconstruction issues. Before the end of our discussion, Guinhut made a point of commending Ambassador Khalilzad's efforts to seek formation of a national unity government in Iraq, concluding that he was the only person who could achieve this, and that the Arab League had nothing to offer on the issue. Guinhut added that most French officials continued to harbor an outdated vision of a pre-2003 Iraq, which no longer existed and would never return. End comment. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm Stapleton