DISPLACEMENT OFFICIAL DISCUSSES ATTACHES,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001910 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/10/2017 TAGS: PREL PREF IZ SUBJECT: DISPLACEMENT OFFICIAL DISCUSSES ATTACHES, REFUGEES, IDPS, AND COLLEAGUE'S KIDNAPPING REF: BAGHDAD 1894 Classified By: Acting political counselor Bob Gilchrist. Reason 1.5 (b ) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MODM) Director General of Planning, Ali Shalan, informed the Embassy Refugee Coordinator (RefCoord) that MODM will assign refugee attaches to Iraqi Embassies in the region to assist the estimated two million externally displaced Iraqis in Jordan, Syria and beyond. These new positions will be funded with a portion of the USD 25 million the GOI has pledged for assistance to Iraqi refugees. The forthcoming meeting (date to be determined) of the neighbors' working group on refugees should help the GOI decide how to best allocate the bulk of these funds. With respect to internally displaced persons (IDPs),Shalan speculated that the recent hike in the UN's IDP estimates may reflect updates in registrations and reporting, rather than new displacements. On the recent kidnapping of the head of MODM's Baghdad branch, Ali Shalan stated that efforts were underway to seek his release. End summary. New attaches and use of funds -------------- ¶2. (C) Shalan told RefCoord on June 9 that MODM had reached an understanding with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to place MODM officials in Iraqi Embassies in the region, an initiative he hoped will be well-received by host countries. These attaches should play an active role managing or monitoring the eventual allocation of the USD 25 million for Iraqi refugees that the GOI pledged in Geneva on April 17. The GOI, however, has not decided yet how these funds will be used, other than to apply a portion of them to support these new positions. Shalan stated that MODM favors using the funds to reach out to Iraqi refugees directly, while MFA would prefer to work through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or other UN agencies. (Note: In a previous conversation with the RefCoord, Shalan stated that it would be very unlikely that the GOI would transfer funds directly to the Baathist regime of Damascus. End note.) He added that a forthcoming meeting of the neighbors' working group on refugees --formalized during the Sharm-el-Sheikh May 4 conference-- should help to elucidate the best way to assist Iraqi refugees in the region. The Government of Jordan, which agreed to host this working group meeting, has yet to set a date for it (see reftel). In the meantime, the GOI has submitted to the GOJ, at the GOJ's request, a working paper that presents broadly the issues that the working group should address, including documentation, residency, legal protection, health, education and decent living standards for externally displaced Iraqis. Monitoring IDP numbers -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Shalan confirmed that a large part of the data in the UNHCR-led Cluster F Iraqi displacement updates comes from MODM (Note: Under the UN cluster system, international organizations come together to coordinate assistance by sector. Cluster F deals with refugees and IDPs. Participants in the Cluster F meetings on Iraq that convene periodically in Amman include UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration, and a host of UN specialized agencies. End note.) Shalan noted that MODM data, however, reflects the number of IDPs registered through its branch offices, rather than the actual number of displacements in a particular time period. Shalan noted that all IDP figures are estimates and that it is very difficult to track the movement of people within and out of Baghdad, which he estimated is the source of 70% of all displacements. Many IDPs, he said, do not register immediately after their displacement. Instead, they register if it is required to have access to specific benefits. In recent times, he added, the Prime Minister's decision to give IDP families returning to their original homes in Baghdad a one million Iraqi Dinar grant (USD 786) has resulted in an increase in the number of registrations. These grants come from the GOI's USD 380 million fund for victims of violence and terrorism. Up to date, Shalan said, only 53 families have completed the process required to qualify for the grant, but they have not received any money yet because the Ministry of Finance has not transferred funds to the Baghdad Provincial Council, which is charged with disbursing them. ¶4. (SBU) Background note: Cluster F reported in June an increase of 86,000 IDPs from April to May of 2007. The greatest increases were in the three Kurdish provinces, as per data submitted by the Kurdish Regional Government (MODM does not have branches or collect data in Kurdistan) and in BAGHDAD 00001910 002 OF 002 Kirkuk, Baghdad, Diyala, Muthanna and Kerbala. It is far from clear if these increases reflect realities on the ground in April, or if they are the result of data updates on previously underreported figures from a longer time period. It is also unclear what methodology is being used to arrive at these compiled figures. Furthermore, the inconsistent manner in which the data is presented makes it very difficult to compare tables from different reports. The most recent Cluster F report estimates that a total of 822,000 Iraqis have been internally displaced since the February 2006 bombing of the Al-Askari Shrine in Samara, and that another 190,000 were displaced between 2003 and February of 2006. Together with the one million Iraqis displaced by the former regime, it is estimated that there are two million IDPs in Iraq. End background note. Kidnapping of MODM Director General -------------- ¶5. (C) Ali Shalan hopes that Tofan Abd al-Wahab, the Director General of the Baghdad branch of MODM, will be released by his kidnappers. Abd al-Wahab and eight members of his staff were kidnapped on June 6. His staff (reportedly all Shia) was later released, but not Abd al-Wahab, who is a Sunni. Shia militias are suspected of carrying out the abduction. Shalan stated that the kidnappers allowed Abd al-Wahab to briefly call his wife to let her know he was alive and unharmed. The kidnappers have asked for a USD 250,000 ransom. A relative of another Director General at MODM was conducting the negotiations with the kidnappers. Shalan did not say if MODM money will be used to pay for the ransom. ¶6. (C) Comment: The eventual posting of MODM attaches at Iraqi Embassies in the region, by itself, will not have an immediate impact on protection and assistance for externally displaced Iraqis. It is, however, a better alternative to earlier MODM ambitions of setting up independent MODM offices in the region. In the meantime, there remains an urgent need for the Iraqi government to engage its neighbors in order to allow Iraqi refugees access to health and education. We are encouraging the Iraqi government to use the forthcoming meeting in Amman of the neighbors' working group on refugees (expected sometime in late June) to advocate and financially support specific measures to educate thousands of Iraqi children in Jordan and Syria. End comment. CROCKER