IRAQ DEPLOYMENT REQUIREMENTS: MOLDOVA

C O N F I D E N T I A L CHISINAU 001331 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR PM AND EUR/UMB E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2017 TAGS: MARR MOPS PREL IZ MD SUBJECT: IRAQ DEPLOYMENT REQUIREMENTS: MOLDOVA REF: STATE 150164 Classified By: Ambassador Michael D. Kirby for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Because of its constitutional neutrality, Moldova sends its officers and soldiers abroad only to conduct peacekeeping and humanitarian operations under a specific mandate, such as UN or OSCE, and for a specific purpose. For Iraq, the Moldovan soldiers officially deploy at the request of the Iraqi government under a United Nations Chapter VII mandate. They conduct explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) operations in support of humanitarian assistance and nation rebuilding operations in Iraq. End Summary. Mandate Approval Process -------------- ¶2. (C) Each Moldovan contingent that serves in Iraq must be approved by the Parliament. The U.S. Ambassador sends a letter of request for forces to the President of Moldova. The President's office sends the request to the Ministry of Defense for action. The Ministry of Defense sends back its recommendations to the President's Supreme Security Council. The council reviews the recommendations and then sends it to the Parliament for approval. Once the Parliament approves the contingent, the action is sent back to the executive branch for final actions and is published as a government order. This process is very time-consuming, normally taking approximately six months from receipt of initial request until parliamentary approval. In a recent meeting, President Voronin underlined that he personally cannot make this decision, as it requires Parliamentary approval. Scenarios -------------- ¶3. (C) All four scenarios would require that the Moldovan Parliament approve committing Moldovan military forces to Iraq. Additionally, for financial reasons, Moldova would have to continue to attach its forces to U.S. forces for all logistical support, but commit them under some type of international mechanism. Post expects that the six month or more approval process would continue to apply for each future Moldovan contingent to Iraq under any type of new agreement. The Parliamentary Speaker showed interest in our suggestion that the Parliament save time by approving two consecutive six-month mandates simultaneously, but this has not yet been implemented. Domestic Political Challenges -------------- ¶4. (C) The Moldovan government watches the situation in Iraq and the actions of the other coalition partners very closely. Additionally, the government treads very carefully around the topic of supporting the U.S. with military forces in light of the tremendous pressure it receives from Russia. Post believes that some type of UN Security Council Resolution authorizing military action under Chapter VII would facilitate future Moldovan participation in Iraq in ¶2009. The committee in Parliament that initially discusses every contingent is the Committee for National Security, Defense and Public Order. That committee's pro-Russia members would resist sending Moldovan soldiers to Iraq to conduct missions in support of the U.S. A UN request for humanitarian/nation-building assistance from countries such as Moldova would make the deployment of future Moldovan contingents more palatable domestically. KIRBY