AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES ESSENTIAL SERVICES WITH NEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002360

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/I
ENERGY FOR ALAN HEGBERG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2018
TAGS: ECON ENRG PGOV PHUM IZ
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES ESSENTIAL SERVICES WITH NEW
SUNNI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Classified By: Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: New Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Rafaie Essawi
told the Ambassador and Econ Minister Counselor on July 24
that he "would spare no effort" to improve the delivery of
essential services to the Iraqi people, and would make the
necessary organizational changes and personal interventions
to ensure the people feel the improvements "on the ground."
The Ambassador also raised our concerns about possible GOI
backsliding on protecting the human rights of prisoners and
detainees and stressed our desire to see improved Iraqi
financial support of refugees and IDPs. Essawi acknowledged
the scale of these problems and said he would forge the
necessary inter-ministerial efforts to address them. End
summary.


2. (C) The Ambassador and Econ Minister Counselor met with
new Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Rafaie Essawi (Iraqi
Accordance Front/Tawafuq) on July 24 to discuss his role as
PM Maliki's overseer of essential services. Essawi assumed
his role on July 22 following the July 19 return of Sunni
ministers to the cabinet.

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Delivering Essential Services
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3. (C) Acknowledging that "the people are waiting," Essawi
said that he hoped to "make a difference on the ground" in
service delivery -- and soon. The Ambassador suggested that
Sadr City would be a good place to start, and advised that
Essawi go and meet with the people there early into his
tenure. The Ambassador also encouraged Essawi to see
Coalition work in education and other areas, look for ways to
connect these efforts with the larger Iraqi development plan,
possibly considering which Coalition projects the GOI might
like to eventually take over. Essawi agreed that he needed
and wanted to "get a clear picture on the ground," and said
he would make a visit to Sadr City a top priority. He said
he understood that Sadr City residents, while enjoying an
increase in economic activity, were not seeing evidence of
GOI involvement and this needed to change.


4. (C) Essawi argued that in addition to the security
environment, corruption, and other challenges, organizational
shortcomings have hampered budget execution and overall
delivery of essential services. To help remedy this, Essawi
is developing a plan to enhance inter-ministerial and
GOI-provincial cooperation by creating sectoral teams in
education, electricity, health, etc., as well as a new Office
for Provincial Services. Essawi said he will support this
linkage through visits to the provinces and direct engagement
with provincial leadership. These visits and the Office of
Provincial Services will then be able to task the
inter-ministerial teams and monitor progress, a departure
from the current structure whereby the GOI merely reacts to
the petitions of individual ministries.


5. (C) On electricity provision, Econ Minister Counselor said
that developing a maintenance culture is essential for
increasing the sector's performance, and noted that the power
plants covered by coalition operations maintenance contracts
enjoyed 30 percent higher performance than comparable plants
without such support. Econ Minister Counselor advised that
the U.S. would like to have the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity
take over the contracts upon the termination of U.S. funding
in September 2008. Essawi said he enjoyed a good
relationship with Minister of Electricity Dr. Karim Wahid and
would work with him on the issue. Econ Minister Counselor
also raised the issue of the transfer of large reconstruction
project assets and briefed the DPM on the challenges facing
the Nassiriyah water project and Fallujah sewerage project.
Essawi said he would "spare no effort" to understand the
projects and asked his staff to arrange for immediate
meetings with the mayors of Nassiriyah and Fallujah.

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Human Rights of Prisoners and Detainees
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6. (C) Noting the progress made last year, the Ambassador
raised our increasing concern over GOI backsliding on the
treatment of prisoners and detainees. He emphasized that for
the new Iraq to achieve what we all wish it to achieve,
respect for basic human rights is essential. Essawi said
"the issue rests with me" and that he is committed to working
with the ministries of justice, interior and human rights to

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address it. "I know very well that this is a huge problem,"
he said, and added that the GOI is formulating a national
plan to deal with it. The Ambassador said that while a
national plan is a good first step, implementation of that
plan will be the key.

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Refugees and IDPs
--------------


7. (C) Calling GOI support thus far for Iraqi refugees a
"shame," Essawi said the GOI was greatly concerned for the
welfare of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The Ambassador said that the issue was of great concern to
Iraq's friends as well, and stressed that Iraq needs to find
a way to provide more financial support to refugees living in
neighboring states while they await repatriation. Noting
that while the Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM)
had made significant efforts, Essawi said the MoDM did not
have the resources necessary to tackle the issue. He said
the problem required the close coordination among the
ministries of defense, finance, health, and others, and he
was forming a committee charged with directing that support.
CROCKER