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

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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