Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BAGHDAD528
2008-02-24 02:22:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:
NINEWA: TIGRIS BRIDGE CLOSURES SQUEEZE KURDISH
how-toVZCZCXRO5565 PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK DE RUEHGB #0528 0550222 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 240222Z FEB 08 FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5874 INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0242 RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0689 RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000528
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
REL AUS, CAN, GBR, NLD
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2018
TAGS: PGOV ECON MARR PREL PINR IZ
SUBJECT: NINEWA: TIGRIS BRIDGE CLOSURES SQUEEZE KURDISH
DELIVERIES TO THE WEST
Classified By: NINEWA PRT LEADER JASON HYLAND: 1.4 (B) AND (D)
This is a Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) message.
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000528
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
REL AUS, CAN, GBR, NLD
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2018
TAGS: PGOV ECON MARR PREL PINR IZ
SUBJECT: NINEWA: TIGRIS BRIDGE CLOSURES SQUEEZE KURDISH
DELIVERIES TO THE WEST
Classified By: NINEWA PRT LEADER JASON HYLAND: 1.4 (B) AND (D)
This is a Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) message.
1. (C/REL ACGU) Insurgent attacks in the last year on Tigris
River bridges north of Mosul have constrained the Kurdish
Democratic Party's (KDP) ability to deliver food and fuel
from Dohuk province to the contested Sinjar District of
Western Ninewa, in which the Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG) exerts major influence. Sinjar KDP leader Serbast, a
powerful figure within the KDP hierarchy, told PRT Leader and
Western Branch Office Chief in early February that these
basic goods have to come south from Dohuk because insurgents
control key transportation routes in the eastern part of the
province. In an environment where western Ninewa's Sunni
Arabs already suspect the KDP of political encroachment, the
Kurdish party's facilitation of food and fuel deliveries from
Dohuk - rather than Mosul - smacks of economic encroachment
to the Arab community.
2. (C/REL ACGU) River crossings north of Mosul to the Syrian
border are limited. Several key bridges north of the city
were blown by insurgents in spring and fall 2007. The Mosul
Dam crossing is limited to military vehicles to protect that
structure, and a Kurdish bridge project upriver from the
Mosul Dam is not yet complete. However the Kurds recently
put in place a ribbon bridge to facilitate traffic movement
from North to South. These bridges would not be so important
if Sinjar received its food rations and fuel through Mosul,
as do the majority Arab districts in southern Ninewa.
However, because of a lack of good governance in western
Ninewa and proper security on the trucking routes between
Mosul and Sinjar, KDP leader Serbast said the food and fuel
have to be delivered from the Kurdish provinces.
3. (C/REL ACGU) With the bridges to the Kurdish areas
destroyed, Serbast said Sinjar does not receive enough food
or fuel. In early February, he organized with local,
Kurdish-led Iraqi Army units for a one-time convoy of 30
large food trucks to be delivered from Mosul. He said he
expects at least one of the major bridges north of Mosul to
be fixed "soon." (Note: If the Kurdish-led Ninewa provincial
government truly is fixing at least one of the bridges, it
would mark the first bridge reconstruction in the province
since the crossings were first attacked in early 2007).
4. (C) COMMENT: PRT Leader has met KDP leader Serbast more
than a half-dozen times, and he has never raised economic
distress in Sinjar as a topic before. The fact that he
focused his discussion on the current delivery problems
highlights just how much impact the destruction of specific
bridges has had on his lifeline to the KRG.
CROCKER
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
REL AUS, CAN, GBR, NLD
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2018
TAGS: PGOV ECON MARR PREL PINR IZ
SUBJECT: NINEWA: TIGRIS BRIDGE CLOSURES SQUEEZE KURDISH
DELIVERIES TO THE WEST
Classified By: NINEWA PRT LEADER JASON HYLAND: 1.4 (B) AND (D)
This is a Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) message.
1. (C/REL ACGU) Insurgent attacks in the last year on Tigris
River bridges north of Mosul have constrained the Kurdish
Democratic Party's (KDP) ability to deliver food and fuel
from Dohuk province to the contested Sinjar District of
Western Ninewa, in which the Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG) exerts major influence. Sinjar KDP leader Serbast, a
powerful figure within the KDP hierarchy, told PRT Leader and
Western Branch Office Chief in early February that these
basic goods have to come south from Dohuk because insurgents
control key transportation routes in the eastern part of the
province. In an environment where western Ninewa's Sunni
Arabs already suspect the KDP of political encroachment, the
Kurdish party's facilitation of food and fuel deliveries from
Dohuk - rather than Mosul - smacks of economic encroachment
to the Arab community.
2. (C/REL ACGU) River crossings north of Mosul to the Syrian
border are limited. Several key bridges north of the city
were blown by insurgents in spring and fall 2007. The Mosul
Dam crossing is limited to military vehicles to protect that
structure, and a Kurdish bridge project upriver from the
Mosul Dam is not yet complete. However the Kurds recently
put in place a ribbon bridge to facilitate traffic movement
from North to South. These bridges would not be so important
if Sinjar received its food rations and fuel through Mosul,
as do the majority Arab districts in southern Ninewa.
However, because of a lack of good governance in western
Ninewa and proper security on the trucking routes between
Mosul and Sinjar, KDP leader Serbast said the food and fuel
have to be delivered from the Kurdish provinces.
3. (C/REL ACGU) With the bridges to the Kurdish areas
destroyed, Serbast said Sinjar does not receive enough food
or fuel. In early February, he organized with local,
Kurdish-led Iraqi Army units for a one-time convoy of 30
large food trucks to be delivered from Mosul. He said he
expects at least one of the major bridges north of Mosul to
be fixed "soon." (Note: If the Kurdish-led Ninewa provincial
government truly is fixing at least one of the bridges, it
would mark the first bridge reconstruction in the province
since the crossings were first attacked in early 2007).
4. (C) COMMENT: PRT Leader has met KDP leader Serbast more
than a half-dozen times, and he has never raised economic
distress in Sinjar as a topic before. The fact that he
focused his discussion on the current delivery problems
highlights just how much impact the destruction of specific
bridges has had on his lifeline to the KRG.
CROCKER