MINISTRY OF DISPLACEMENT AND MIGRATION (MODM)

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 000621 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS WASHINGTON FOR PRM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREF PHUM IZ SUBJECT: MINISTRY OF DISPLACEMENT AND MIGRATION (MODM) ACTIVITIES IN KIRKUK REF: KIRKUK 004 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Sheikh Abdullah Fadil, head of the MODM,s Kirkuk Office, says his primary responsibilities include care of returning and new internally displaced people (IDPS),and of stateless persons. He currently is focused on assisting arriving IDPs from central and southern Iraq. His office receives support from international partners such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),as well as local and national NGOs, but is still short of sufficient resources to carry out its responsibilities. Because of the Article 140 process and sensitivities about Kirkuk,s ethnic balance, the Provincial Council has placed restrictions on admissions of new IDPs to the Province unless they can demonstrate former Kirkuk residence. As a result, Kirkuk has received far fewer recent IDPs than adjacent provinces. Abdullah has asked the PC to create temporary residence permits for IDPs. About 1500 IDP families have arrived in the last year with about 300 lacking official permission. Kirkuk,s IDP camps are full, and new arrivals without resources are forced to squat at various locations in the city. Abdullah wants the US to join MODM as a "partner" in solving Kirkuk,s IDP issues. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) IPAO met recently with Sheikh Abdullah Fadil, director of MODM,s Kirkuk office. Abdullah has been the head of the Kirkuk MODM office since it opened in February ¶2005. The purpose of the Ministry, said Abduallah, is to "take care of emigration and to also take care of people displaced by force" during the Baathist regime. Besides IDPs, MODM also takes care of refugees in Iraq and stateless people. Another purpose is to take care of persons displaced since Iraq,s liberation in April 2003. -------------- -------------- THE MODM,S SMALL BUDGET REFLECTS COORDINATOR ROLE -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Last year,s annual budget of the entire Ministry was only $5 million, he said, while the budget of the Red Crescent society, "that small organization" is about $50 million. He said the result was that MODM had "deficiencies" affecting all offices and locations, including Kirkuk, where there were "many big problems." Abdullah added, however, that his office cooperates with and receives some support from the Ministry,s international partners, including the IOM and the UNHCR, as well as from other NGOS, "local and national." But the combined assistance of all these is "still not enough." (NOTE: Our understanding is that the MODM is intended to be a coordinator rather than an executor of IDP programs --- its low budget reflects this role, since it is largely devoted to paying for ministry staff and expenses, and not to directly funding IDP programs. (Rafa ) do you agree with this?)YES END NOTE). -------------- - VILLAGES DESTROYED BY SADDAM SHOULD BE REBUILT -------------- - ¶4. (SBU) Abdullah stated that that it is "our humanitarian" "moral purpose" to reconstruct all of the areas where villages were destroyed by Saddam. Due to lack of funds, however, his office can not carry out this role. There is also a problem, he said, with people who left after the war started in 2003 as well as with IDPs who arrived in Kirkuk after the Samarra bombing last year. The latter came to Kirkuk thinking that it was "quiet and secure." Because, he said, Kirkuk is known as "Little Iraq" due to its ethnic mix, it appealed to many different people fleeing from Baghdad and other points in central and southern Iraq where the security situation had become very bad. ¶5. (SBU) The majority of these settled in Kirkuk City, where MODM has in place "its own mechanism" to register them, according to Abdullah. The individual first receives permission from the local area authorities and mayor to move to a certain area, then needs "permission to move their furniture and household goods." (NOTE: this is identical to a process described by Assyrian leader Sargon Lazar in REFTEL. Lazar indicated that he works in tandem with MODM, so the arrangement that he describes as unique to the Assyrians may in fact be MODM,s "mechanism." END NOTE). -------------- RESIDENCY PERMISSION -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Abdullah noted that newly arrived persons originally from Kirkuk can get official permission to stay fairly easily, but for those who have no original Kirkuk ties, it is very hard to get permission. This can reduce the BAGHDAD 00000621 002 OF 003 assistance that MODM is allowed to provide them. For example, he said, his office can issue a ration card to an arriving family if they have permission to settle, but the Provincial Council has "limited (MODM,s) authority" by ruling that only persons who were listed in Kirkuk,s 1957 census or whose parents were listed can obtain such permission -------------- NEW ARRIVALS ONLY TEMPORARY? -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Abdullah stated that in his experience most of these new arrivals do not want to stay permanently because "life is somewhere else.' He has stressed this to the members of the Kirkuk Provincial Council,s Religious and Social Affairs Committee, asking that they arrange to give such arrivals permission to stay temporarily until the situation improves in their home areas. Currently, he said, there are at least 300 families who have arrived within the last year and are living here without permission. The local government's hard-line position has brought protests, with critics saying that the Iraqi Constitution does not allow limitations on where Iraqi citizens can live and work in Iraq. -------------- ARTICLE 140 CONCERNS AND NEW IDPS -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Abdullah claimed that Kirkuk is the only province in Iraq where resettlement of Iraqi citizens is a problem. In all the other provinces, he said, new arrivals have "a right to be there." Abdullah said that when he questions the government they attribute this to normalization efforts under Article 140. "An influx of new arrivals will create problems for the normalization process and for the census and referendum, he said. Abdullah agrees that this is a concern, but judges it as not comparable to the suffering of newly displaced IDPs. He believes that the Provincial Government could easily control any problems that might impact Article 140 implementation. -------------- ADMITTING IDPs: A FAIR SHARE ISSUE? -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Abdullah seems to regard resettlement of new IDPS as a fair share issue. He stated that Salah ad Din Province has taken in 10,000 families from Baghdad and elsewhere, while Ninewa has taken 8,000 and Kurdistan has taken 5,000. Kirkuk, he said, has only taken 1500 families so far. Abdullah stated that he is continuing his efforts to convince PC Chairman Rizgar Ali and Governor Mustapha to allow more people to stay, at least on a temporary basis. -------------- IDP CAMPS: NO VACANCIES -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Asked where people are settling in the Province, Abdullah said that the new arrivals can be grouped into three "types": (1) those who immediately integrate into society, and have money to rent housing and skills to allow them to quickly obtain jobs; (2) those who stay with relatives or friends; and (3) those with no resources. This last group includes the people who end up in refugee camps or squatting in various sites throughout the city. The majority of recently arrived IDPs fall into this last group, said Abdullah. Currently, he said, there is no space available in the established IDP camps, and new arrivals without local connections or resources are found squatting on public land or in vacant government buildings around the city, in some cases forming "informal" IDP camps. -------------- DANGEROUS DATABASES AND IDP ESTIMATES -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Abdullah was asked to give a figure for the total number of IDPs who have returned to the Province, but he demurred, saying that his office does not keep statistics. He finally provided what he called a very rough estimate of 20,000 to 25,000 families. Asked about database use, he said his office does not maintain a database, because of the political sensitivity of any sort of statistics involving IDPs, new arrivals and ethnicity. He said that any of his staff who attempted to collect statistics on the population of the IDP camps or on the ethnic identities of returnees in settled neighborhoods in Kirkuk would be "putting themselves in danger." -------------- IDP CAMP ORGANIZATION -------------- BAGHDAD 00000621 003 OF 003 ¶12. (SBU) Abdullah noted that each IDP camp has set up a committee that distributes supplies and food and manages daily operations. In some cases, these organizations were set up and leaders were selected "by the political parties," whereas in other cases they arose through a process of informal organization among the camp residents. In both cases, the current leadership is well known to local government, which is "used to dealing with them." To the degree that MODM has statistics about the camps, Abdullah said, it is provided through these organizations. ¶13. (SBU) MODM typically helps arrange the provision of blankets, food and other supplies for basic needs to destitute IDPs. Sources of funds for these items include the local government and NGOS, according to Abdullah. One organization, for example, recently gave food and housing supplies for 400 families. To carry out its responsibilities, his office has a staff of about 25, "including guards." Abdullah noted that the staff often works overtime on evenings and weekends, while receiving low salaries. Many, he said, have resigned and others would like to resign, due to the demanding work and low pay. -------------- US ASSISTANCE WANTED -------------- ¶14. (SBU) Abdullah closed by providing two "proposals" for US assistance to his office. First, he said the US should be a "partner" in the IDP issue, because this issue had its origin in US action (i.e., the removal or Saddam and subsequent movement of people and most recently because of the strife and security crackdown in Baghdad),and because the US is perceived as having the abilities to come up with new solutions. Second, Abdullah noted that while MODM has a good relationship with the Governor, it is still necessary that the US encourage the Provincial government to be "more transparent" and "easier" with IDPs, by, for example, increasing the number of temporary permits to stay in the province. ¶15. (SBU) COMMENT: Abdullah's information confirmed much of what we already knew about his Ministry's activities in Kirkuk. Our sense is that they have little involvement with Kurdish IDPs ) at least lately ) and are focusing their efforts on caring for newly arriving IDPs coming from Baghdad and other points in central and southern Iraq. Abdullah feels frustrated by his lack of resources, but, as indicated above, MODM is not the main executioner of assistance programs, and lacks the capacity to assume the role of NGOs that are already distributing assistance on their own. Abdullah's comment about the IDP camps' governing committees is intriguing and we intend to investigate their structure and functions in more detail. END COMMENT. KHALILZAD