EPRT: HR ADVISOR AL-JABOORI EXPLAINS SUNNI

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 001031

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2018
TAGS: PGOV SOCI SCUL IZ
SUBJECT: EPRT: HR ADVISOR AL-JABOORI EXPLAINS SUNNI
WITHDRAWAL FROM NATIONAL RECONCILIATION CONFERENCE

REF: 07 BAGHDAD 003907

Classified By: E-PRT Leader Eric Whitaker, Reason: Section 1.4 (b) and
(d)


1. (U) This is a Baghdad 2 E-PRT reporting cable.


2. (C) On March 25, Sheikh Omar Al-Jaboori, Human Rights
Advisor to Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi told E-PRT Team
Leader and BCT Commander during a biweekly reconciliation
meeting that prominent Sunni political parties refused to
participate in the March 18 national reconciliation
conference in Baghdad for several reasons. These included:

-- The invitation was "not appropriate." It was exclusively
for selected members of the Council of Representatives, and
not inclusive.

-- The event was anticipated as an act of propaganda by the
GOI/PM,s Office, designed in part to provide a good
impression on the eve of the League of Arab States Summit to
be held in Damascus. The event was "not serious."


3. (C) Al-Jaboori complained that the PM,s Office had
removed IFCNR leader Dr. Safaa Al-Sheikh from the Council of
Representatives National Reconciliation Committee. The
Committee is too heavily influenced by the PM,s Office, he
added, rather than being independent and incorporating other
important sheikhs. Today, the Committee is "captured" by the
PM, who then invites who he pleases to reconciliation events.
To represent true reconciliation, the Committee must be a
composite of individuals, rather than partisan elements.


4. (C) Ironically, Al-Jaboori had repeatedly raised the
notion of higher-level dialogue on national reconciliation in
several previous meetings with the E-PRT and BCT (reftel).

CROCKER