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 ALGIERS 00000077 002 OF 002 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