NINEWA: "HEDBA GATHERING" BLOC OFFERS SUNNI ARABS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 004200

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/29/2017
TAGS: PGOV PBTS PREL KDEM PHUM MARR IZ
SUBJECT: NINEWA: "HEDBA GATHERING" BLOC OFFERS SUNNI ARABS
AN ALTERNATIVE

Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Rob Waller for reasons 1.4 (b
) and (d).


1. This is a Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT)
message.

2.. (C/REL AUS, GBR, CAN) Summary: Atheel al Najaifi, a top
official in the secular nationalist Ninewa political bloc the
Hedba Gathering, detailed the bloc,s strategy and agenda in
several conversations with PRT. Al
Najaifi, brother of party leader Osama Al Najaifi, said the
Hedba bloc stands for secularism, ethnic balance in the
currently Kurd-dominated provincial government, and economic
growth. Its core constituency is the Sunni Arab community,
in particular the thousands of former Iraqi Army officers
living in Ninewa, but it allied in 2005 with Iyad Allawi,s
Iraqiyya party and includes a Shia and a Yezidi
representative. While al Najaifi speaks hopefully of
competing in provincial elections, the bloc,s real strength
in Ninewa is not clear. End Summary.

--------------
Nationalism, Secularism Drive Hedba Gathering
--------------


2. (C/REL AUS, GBR, CAN) The Hedba Gathering, a Ninewa bloc
of seven Council of Representatives members named
after Mosul's landmark leaning minaret, positions itself as a
secular nationalist political alternative to the Kurdish
Democratic Party's (KDP) ethnic base and the Iraqi Islamic
Party's (IIP) Sunni religious base. With connections to
former Iraqi Army officers and soldiers, the Hedba Gathering
allied itself with Iyad Allawi's secular Iraqiyya Party in
the 2005 Council of Representatives elections, taking third
place behind the KDP and IIP with 11 percent of the
provincial vote. Never having competed in direct provincial
elections, the bloc's real local power is unknown.

-------------- --------------
Bloc Calls for Ethnic Balance in Provincial Offices
-------------- --------------


3. (C/REL AUS, GBR, CAN) The Hedba Gathering calls for new
provincial elections to achieve "balance" among the
Kurdish, Arab and minority parties. The Hedba Gathering sees
the USG as actively favoring the Kurds under Ninewa's current
provincial power structure, where the Governor, Deputy
Governor and 31 of 41 Provincial Council (PC)
members hail from the Kurdish list that dominated the 2005
provincial elections that most Sunnis boycotted. Atheel al
Nujaifi said provincial government should ideally look more
like the internal makeup of the Hedba Gathering. He said the
bloc itself is more representative of Ninewa's demographics,
with a Yezidi, a Shia Shabak and five Sunni
Arab representatives from across the province.


4. (C/REL AUS, GBR, CAN) Al Nujaifi said the Yezidi and Shia
Shabak communities who already participate in the
Hedba Gathering, as well as elements of the Kurdish and
Turkmen communities, would support the bloc in provincial
elections. While he said the bloc communicates with the IIP
leadership, he expected that the Hedba Gathering and
IIP would compete for the bulk of Sunni Arab votes in new
provincial elections.

--------------
Bloc Wants Role for Former Iraqi Army
--------------


5. (C/REL AUS, GBR, CAN) Key to any political settlement in
Ninewa are the thousands of former Iraqi Army officers and
soldiers living in and around Mosul, al Nujaifi said. He
estimates they number 102,000 - a "full army outside the
army" - and would support the multi-ethnic provincial
government that the Hedba Gathering desires. Al Nujaifi
said the Hedba Gathering wants to incorporate these former
army officers and soldiers into the Iraqi Security Forces
rather than empower tribes through Awakening Councils. Along
the same lines, he said the bloc supported the nomination of
Sunni Arab General Riyadh to head the newly-formed Ninewa
Operations Center.

--------------
Untested Locally, But Current Leaders Wary
--------------


6. (C/REL AUS, GBR, CAN) Comment: The Hedba Gathering has yet
to be tested in provincial elections, so it is

BAGHDAD 00004200 002 OF 002


difficult to gauge how much actual support it commands among
Sunni Arabs or the minority communities it hopes will
respond to its secular nationalist rhetoric. Provincial
leaders like Governor Duraid Kashmoula and Shammar Sheikh
Abdulla Al Yawr disparage the Hedba Gathering as the al
Nujaifi family,s attempt to reimpose Ba'athism without
popular support. Nonetheless, the al Nujaifis meet with
Sheikh Abdulla and consider themselves contenders for the
governor's office and PC in future elections.

--------------
Bio Notes: Atheel al Nujaifi
--------------


7. (C/REL AUS, GBR, CAN) Atheel al Nujaifi and his family
hail from the village of Nimrud in a Sunni Arab area
southeast of Mosul. The family is known for breeding race
horses - Al Nujaifi maintained his herd through the war,
though some of his horses are now in Damascus. His immediate
family lives in Amman, and he maintains business contacts in
Jordan, Syria and Iraq. He told the PRT he received a
multi-million dollar Overseas Private Investment Corporation
investment for a cement plant in southern Iraq. Al Nujaifi
helps manage the Hedba Gathering's headquarters in Mosul. He
is also the chairman of the board of directors of the Ninewa
Business Center, a key local PRT partner for building
economic capacity.
CROCKER