ICRC CONTINUES TO PROVIDE HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE,

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000901

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2017
TAGS: PREL PREF IZ
SUBJECT: ICRC CONTINUES TO PROVIDE HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE,
VISIT DETAINEES AND FACILITATE REPATRIATIONS


1. (C) Summary: The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) continues to operate in Iraq despite the violence. In
partnership with the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, the ICRC
provides thousands of internally displaced Iraqis with relief
kits. The ICRC will continue to repatriate, as needed,
former Mujahedeen el-Khalq (MeK) members currently at the
Temporary Internment and Processing Facility (TIPF) in
Ashraf. While the ICRC does not monitor the situation of MeK
returnees in Iran, it is reasonably confident that the
government of Iran is not harassing them. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Visiting Bureau of Population, Refugees and
Migration Office for Assistance in Asia and the Near East
(PRM/ANE) director, Richard Albright, and Baghdad RefCoord,
met in Amman with the ICRC Head of Delegation for Iraq, Karl
Mattli, on February 22. Mattli presented an overview of
ICRC's history in Iraq, which dates back to the beginning of
the Iran-Iraq war in 1980. Mattli noted that ICRC's work in
Iraq since 2003 has been carried out at a high human cost:
in October of 2003, ICRC's headquarters in Baghdad were
bombed by Al-Qaeda, killing two Iraqi staff and injuring many
others; two ICRC expatriate employees were killed in
crossfire later that year; and in 2005 an Iraqi driver
working for ICRC was also killed. Mattli stated that the
ICRC remains in by Iraq making an exception to its policy on
minimal conditions for operations. Currently, over 300 ICRC
national employees operate in Iraq, together with 35
expatriates in Erbil and Amman, and a rotating expatriate
presence in Basrah.


3. (U) Mattli explained that ICRC activities in Iraq include
visits to Kurdish Regional Government and MNF-I detention
centers (Note: the GOI has not invited ICRC to visit its
detention facilities. End note); emergency relief;
construction or renovation of water and sanitation systems in
hospitals and elsewhere; renovation of mortuaries; and
physical rehabilitation (limb-fitting centers). Each month,
he added, the ICRC dispatches around 5,000 kits containing
food and other essential items to Iraqi Red Crescent Society
(IRCS) branches all over the country for distribution to
internally displaced persons (IDPs). ICRC sees the greatest
humanitarian needs in central Iraq, specially around Baghdad,
but has projects around the country.


4. (C) Mattli stated that the ICRC was satisfied with its
partnership with the IRCS for the distribution of assistance
to IDPs. ICRC, Mattli said, had wondered if IRCS could
perform at the level that ICRC demanded. IRCS showed that it
could. He noted that IRCS is still working in Baghdad,
despite the kidnapping of 30 staff members from one of its
offices on December 17. (Note: Shia militias were suspected
for the raid. While Shia staff were released shortly after
their abduction, 12 Sunni staff are still being held hostage.
IRCS is reportedly negotiating their release. End note).
IRCS is also an ICRC partner in the transmission of Red Cross
messages establishing communication between detainees and
their relatives.


5. (C) Mattli stated that ICRC will continue to facilitate,
as needed, the voluntary return of former MeK members to
Iran. In 2005, he added, ICRC repatriated two hundred former
MeK members from the TIPF. In 2006, the number dropped to
just 11, and in 2007 there have only been two repatriations
so far. Mattli traced this drop to the start of refugee
status determinations for the former MeK members. Having
been recognized as refugees, Mattli said, the former MeK
members are hoping to be resettled in third countries.
Mattli explained that ICRC does not visit former MeK
returnees in Iran, but it is reasonably confident that they
have not been bothered by the Iranian government. ICRC, he
added, has an office in Teheran that would have received
information about harassment if it were taking place.


6. Comment: ICRC continues to be one of the most efficient
providers of humanitarian assistance in Iraq. Its
partnership with IRCS is useful not only for the provision of
aid, but also to progressively build IRCS humanitarian
capacity and financial accountability. End comment.
SPECKHARD