UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000988

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR PGOV PHUM IZ
SUBJECT: DIYALA PRT: DIYALA PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT TACKLES
FOOD DISTRIBUTION PROBLEM

This is a Diyala PRT Reporting Cable


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Largely due to the security situation,
Diyala province has not received its Public Distribution
System (PDS) food shipment from the Ministry of Trade (MoT)
since September 2006. This has been a major contributor to
the public perception that the provincial (and national)
government is failing the people; however, there are not
reports of Iraqi citizens suffering from food shortages..
The Diyala provincial government, with the support of the PRT
and BCT, has worked
out a tentative solution to this problem with the MoT in
Baghdad. The local PDS distribution agents from each Qada
(district) in Diyala will be able to go directly to a MoT
warehouse outside of the province. The Embassy is working
with the PRT to confirm that MoT has indeed agreed to, and is
moving to implement such a plan. In Diyala PRT/BCT will work
to confirm that agents and trucks (and possible IA convoys)
are available, and that there is some management system in
place in the province to monitor the success of this
endeavor. Diyala PRT will report promptly on implementation.
END
SUMMARY

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Provincial Government Solves a Problem (maybe)
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2. (SBU) While the province is not on the brink of
starvation nor facing a threat of food riots, the five
month delay in PDS shipments is causing hardship for the
people, and is
a significant contributor to the public perception that the
provincial (and national) governments are failures. The
provincial government, PRT and BCT have undertaken
significant efforts to correct this situation. In a recent
meeting organized by the Prime Minister in Baghdad the
Assistant Governor for Administrative Affairs Hafith
al-Jubouri (Sunni, Iraqi Islamic Party), who has been
tasked with resolving this issue, worked out a deal to
allow each of Diyala,s five Qadas (districts) to get PDS
supplies directly from warehouses in other provinces,
rather than using the central Baqubah warehouse. The
Baqubah warehouse has been problematic because the roads
between Baghdad and Baqubah, and from Baqubah to the other
parts of Diyala have been too dangerous for drivers to
transport the foodstuffs.


3. (SBU) The PDS food items for the Qadas should all be
distributed to Ministry of Trade (MoT), which runs PDS,
warehouses in Baghdad (Khalis Qada), Wassit (Balad Ruz
Qada), or Kirkuk (Khanaqin, Baqubah, and Muqdadiyah
Qadas). MoT is supposed to send official notices to the
warehouses allowing the distribution agents from those
Qadas to go directly to the MoT warehouse and pick up
shipments. Baghdad will also be transferring the
appropriate records to those warehouses so that the agents
who come will be tracked. Moreover, the MoT and the PM's
office also informed the Assistant Governor that Diyala,s
grain shipments would be changed so that already processed
flour would be put in with the other items in the food
basket, as opposed to the complicated procedure of shipping
grain into the province, processing it, and then
distributing it. If this solution works out as planned,
then the Qadas should begin getting their food shipments in
the next few weeks.


4. (SBU) There is also a reported plan to get some of the
goods for
the shipments intended for Diyala for SEP-DEC 2006. This
effort is being organized by the Diyala Director General
for PDS distribution and an independent actor who can
coordinate trucking the shipments to Baqubah since some of
the goods from the PDS basket intended for Diyala are still
in warehouses in Baghdad. As MoT/Diyala have already set
aside funds for these shipments, it becomes a matter of
acquiring a MoT contract with a new trucking firm to ship
the goods to Baqubah. COMMENT: This is a new aspect to the
plan which was just added to the realignment worked out in
Baghdad. END COMMENT.

--------------
Moving Forward, USG Support
--------------


5. (SBU) The next step is to confirm that this account,
which comes from the Diyala Assistant Governor, is indeed a
plan agreed upon by all parties. PRT requests that Baghdad
with MoT that shares this understanding of the plan as well.
PRT/BCT will report promptly on the results in Diyala.

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BAGHDAD 00000988 002 OF 002


Comment: A Possible Success Story
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6. (SBU) COMMENT: While it is still to early to tell
whether this plan will succeed, if it does, it will be a
fine example of the Diyala provincial government tackling a
major problem for the province, and coordinating a
relatively complex solution, a capacity that it has often
failed to demonstrate of late. If the
provincial government was able to negotiate this plan with
a Baghdad government, it would certainly be a step forward,
given that the central government is often seen as removed
from the
province and its problems.
KHALILZAD