ALGERIAN SECURITY ROW WITH UN GETS PUBLIC AND NASTY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 000077

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2018
TAGS: PREL ASEC PTER PGOV UN AG
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN SECURITY ROW WITH UN GETS PUBLIC AND NASTY

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Thomas F. Daughton;
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: The dispute between the Algerian government
and the UN over the investigation of the December 11 bombings
has become public and bitter. The Algerians, in public and
in private, claim they have been transparent and shared the
results of their own investigation, while the senior UN
official in Algeria told the Ambassador that they knew
nothing of an Algerian report and therefore were insisting on
their own investigation. The UN security official who died
in the attacks had complained to us that his repeated
requests to the Algerian government to close the street and
provide greater perimeter security were ignored, a
frustration we and many other foreign missions in Algiers
share. From our conversations with both sides, we see no
easy resolution to a dispute that has now spilled into
accusatory headlines. However, our MFA contacts told us that
Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci, while publicly supporting
the Algerian position, is sending a letter to UNSYG Ban
Ki-Moon concerning the dispute, which may open a channel for
constructive dialogue. END SUMMARY.

ALGERIA: OURS IS THE ONLY INVESTIGATION
--------------


2. (C) On January 22 Nassima Baghli (protect),counselor to
Foreign Minister Medelci, explained Prime Minister
Belkhadem's recent combative public remarks to us and
asserted that they represented the official Algerian
position. According to Baghli, as well as to the MFA
website, Algeria believes its authorities have carried out a
comprehensive investigation of the December 11 suicide truck
bombing of the UN offices in Algiers and cannot understand
why another investigation is necessary. Baghli said the
Algerian government had investigated and presented its
conclusions, avenged the December 11 attacks and identified
the perpetrators. Algeria, she said, did not look favorably
upon and was insulted by the "unilateral decision" of the UN
to establish its own investigatory commission. The UN, she
said, was perfectly free to secure its facilities but in no
case could it decide to set up an investigatory commission
without informing the Algerian government. Furthermore,
Baghli concluded, Algeria "will not recognize or consider"
the conclusions of any investigation other than its own.


3. (C) The new U.S. desk officer at the MFA told us on
January 22 that Foreign Minister Medelci was preparing to
send a letter to UNSG Ban Ki-Moon about the dispute.
(Comment: The MFA official gave no indication that the letter
would diverge from the official Algerian government position,
but it might still open a channel for dialogue between the
two sides. End comment.)

UN: ALGERIANS NOT RESPONSIVE
--------------


4. (C) Babakar Ndiaye, the senior UN security officer who
lost his life in the December 11 attack, had told us several
times prior to the attacks of his organization's efforts to
get the Algerian government to increase security around the
UN building and share information on potential risks. Ndiaye
said that because he was aware the UN mission in Algiers
needed to harden its security posture, he had requested the
street in front of it be closed and greater perimeter
security be installed, but that his repeated pleas were met
with official silence. Press reports since December 11 have
asserted that the Algerian security services had specific
information prior to the attack that Al Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb was surveilling the UN facility. If the government
was aware of a threat to the facility prior to December 11,
however, our conversations with Ndiaye indicate that they did
not share this information with the UN.


5. (C) Marc de Bernis, the UNDP director and senior UN
official in Algeria, told the Ambassador on January 21 that
he knew nothing of an Algerian government report of its
investigation being provided to the UN. He seemed quite
surprised by a January 21 press report in the French-language
daily El Watan quoting Prime Minister Belkhadem as saying the
Algerian government had conducted its investigation and
shared the results. De Bernis said he was in regular contact

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with New York and doubted that anything had been provided
since his last conversation earlier in the weekend. De
Bernis said that the Secretary General's office was
discussing with the Algerian mission in New York the idea of
an independent investigation, and was intent on carrying out
the same kind of investigation that was done after its
headquarters in Baghdad was bombed in 2003.


6. (C) COMMENT: Complaints that the Algerian government does
not share security information or respond in a timely manner
are not unique to the UN. We live with this reality
ourselves, together with many other foreign missions in
Algeria. If the UN is not satisfied with the investigation
the Algerian authorities say they have carried out, the U.S.
should support publicly its call for an independent
investigation. Such an investigation, if the Algerian
authorities are forthcoming and cooperate, would also provide
some comfort to an already jittery foreign diplomatic and
expatriate community in Algiers.
FORD